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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

James - for a girl

207 replies

GlitterPinkRubberDucky · 28/08/2012 12:21

Is this too "out there"? Have liked it since I heard of that actress James King.

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chipmonkey · 31/08/2012 16:30

Olympia, that sounds like something I would do!Grin

0lympia · 30/08/2012 15:01

My friend had me in stitches, she was asked by the teacher if she wanted to do the meeting (the yearly meeting) in Irish or English. She chanced her arm and said 'as gaelige! ', she spent the meeting nodding sagely...

Afterwards she was then saying quite cheerily 'haven't a clue how's he's doing really, i have only the teacher's facial expressions to go by'. oh how we laughed. She's going to do SI meeting in English!

chipmonkey · 30/08/2012 14:21

And I'd say very few of the parents actually speak Irish with any fluency.

squoosh · 30/08/2012 12:55

chipmonkey and Olympia The trend for the ancient Irish names seemed to be part of a revival that happened in the early 70's. I don't know many people over the age of 40 called Sorcha, Fiachra, Saidbh etc.

Pre 70's it was Seán, Paddy, Mary or Bridget. Anything else and either you had ideas above your station or else you were a pagan (pagan in pre 70's Ireland = non Catholic) Smile

squoosh · 30/08/2012 12:51

James for a girl seems like something that was a brief American trend in the 90's and early noughties. The model James King has even reverted back to Jaime.

It also reminds me of the American blogger bleubirdvintage.typepad.com/ whose real name is Amy (I think) but she rebranded herself as James in a effort at hipsterdom.

A bit contrived is what I'm trying to say. There are better names for a girl.

chipmonkey · 30/08/2012 10:54

But that's it Olympia, even the old ladies I know who have an "Irish" name, it's anglicised, so Kathleen rather than Caitlin, Maura rather than Maire ( sorry, cba to do fadas on this computer!) But in my ds's age group, there are loads of Sadbhs, Saoirses, Etains. Not just a revival but an extreme revival.

winkle2 · 30/08/2012 10:40

Love James AND love boyishj names for girls, but I think James for a boy is ridiculous

0lympia · 30/08/2012 08:06

I live in between two gaelscoils adn the names I hear taking my children to school. The mums are all rachel, alison, suzanne, jess ........ tiz funny the swings and roundabouts how their parents thought those names were so oooooh la la I guess, compared to Bernadette, Josephine, Brenda, Mary etc...

I am trying to think of hte oldest man I know with an Irish name..... Does Fintan count Confused Joes and Johns and some JohnJoes. No Oisins or Tadhgs.

0lympia · 30/08/2012 08:00

ha ha! couple of those wormholes I think!

chipmonkey · 30/08/2012 00:09

There must be a wormhole somewhere in Meath which leads to Islington and all the Gaelgeoirs fell into it!

seeker · 30/08/2012 00:06

"Not a Daire, Naoise, Maeliosa, Oisin, Oscar, or Fionnain amongst them. Boring as fuck!"

No- they're all in Islington!

chipmonkey · 30/08/2012 00:05

Has anyone else's font gone all weird? My typing has turned into the sort of letters in a child's handwriting exercise book.

chipmonkey · 30/08/2012 00:04

But honest to God, every old man I know around here is
John
Joe
Mick
Paddy
Sean
Bernard
Jim
Paul
etc, etc, etc!
Not a Daire, Naoise, Maeliosa, Oisin, Oscar, or Fionnain amongst them. Boring as fuck!

seeker · 29/08/2012 23:57

Daragh started life as Daire ( more or less the same pronunciation) very old Irish ( male) name!

scottishmummy · 29/08/2012 23:51

no one picks tallulah for boy as it's pretty name
I do wonder by picking masculine name do folk think girl will somehow be strong, or have masculine attributes?
and there are no obviously female crossover names for males

chipmonkey · 29/08/2012 23:47

Yes, people don't like boys names to be "pretty" do they? They're supposed to be "strong"
I really don't know any Daras/Darraghs over the age of 45. I had almost assumed it was made up this century.

chipmonkey · 29/08/2012 23:40

Although when I look it up, it's really not clear whether it was originally male or female in Ireland. I only know it as an Irish name, really.

seeker · 29/08/2012 23:38

Dara- or Daragh- is an irish boy's name. And has been for centuries. Only used by girls in the 20th century. My theory still stands!

chipmonkey · 29/08/2012 23:35

Don't they?
I went to school with a female Dara, had never heard the name before then, but now know lots of male Daras.

seeker · 29/08/2012 23:31

Funny how girl's names never become unisex.............

iheartmycat · 29/08/2012 23:24

I actually LOVE the name James for a girl. But would I want to be called it? No.

I do think it's one of those names that in a generation or two will become unisex tho!

bonkersLFDT20 · 29/08/2012 23:04

My DH had his hair cut by a woman called Jeffrey once. This was in Canada.

fruitpastille · 29/08/2012 23:01

What about Rowan? Great strong name for a girl. Not keen on James for boy or girl but each to their own.

scottishmummy · 29/08/2012 22:52

you're shouting
and clearly unable to tolerate other pov about a girl called james
if name threads wind you up so, maybe take wee breath and side step them til you can calm down

Original poster
GlitterPinkRubberDucky · 29/08/2012 22:49

ariel who said I was "determined" to use the name James. Show me exactly where I wrote this. Please show me where I wrote I was determined to use this name. No? Can't find anything? Right, exactly, because I only said I FOUND THE NAME BEAUTIFUL AND WAS CONSIDERING IT, then I conceeded that it it probably will cause a girl too much hassle in life and wouldn't use the name.
scottishmummy you come across as inflammatory for no good reason, and quite frankly rather nasty.

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