Active discussions

Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Baby names

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

Original poster

Willow for a boy?

86 replies

Almondinha · 26/12/2016 11:20

Hi! We just found out recently that we are having a little boy - our first baby. So if course we have been busy talking about names.
The other day while we were out on a walk, I came up with the name Willow which we both love and were really excited about.
I don't know anyone named Willow and to me it sounded like a perfect boys name and seemed perfectly suitable. However when we got home and looked up the name online, we found out that it is a girls name! We were quite disappointed.
I know that nowadays children can be called anything. However I don't want to give my child a higher likelihood of being bullied etc just because of his name.
Should we think about something else or does Willow work fine for a boy too?
Thank you for your opinions.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
acornsandnuts · 27/12/2016 02:52

I think you are thinking of a baby boy's name not a stinky 6ft teenager or indeed someone who wants to become a lawyer or police officer. He won't thank you when he's thirty.

Shadowboy · 27/12/2016 02:52

My daughter is Willow. Suits her not sure if it's because I have a daughter with that name but I can't see it on a boy

ChocolateCakeandSprinkles · 27/12/2016 02:43

Definitely a girls name. Sorry!

ColaSpangles · 27/12/2016 02:42

Any tiny thing can and will be used against a child at school by other kids. In an ideal world other parents would 'teach' their kids not to bully. But bullying and teasing exist and will always exist in schools. I speak from battle scarred experience of what one of my children has been through and many others I know of. Please lessen the odds for your little one, lovely though your name choice is. He'll thank you. Sorry that's unpalatable but it is the grim truth.

Out2pasture · 27/12/2016 02:33

it's a beautiful girls name.

Solo · 27/12/2016 02:30

What about Willman (I know a Willman) or even a Willowman?

BeastofChristmasIsland · 26/12/2016 23:03

No, it's definitely a girl name and much as it's fine to say that people should teach their children not to tease based on names, poor boy Willow will still have to live in the real world. Will/William is fine, Willow is not.

albertcampionscat · 26/12/2016 22:06

1horatio,

Yes. I agree there's an underlying sexism in how the name thing works (rather like how women can wear trousers but men can't wear skirts).

alltouchedout · 26/12/2016 21:26

Depends where you live really. In Brighton you'll get away with it, in Wisbech you won't.
Honestly though, the potential for really cruel mockery is just too high. Which is very sad and as a pp said we should all actually be teaching our dc not to make fun of other's names, but seeing as dc do mock their peers and Willow is regarded as a girl's name...

Giselaw · 26/12/2016 21:20

Hey, you could call him Per. Which sounds like Pear but is actually a lovely Swedish name.

Giselaw · 26/12/2016 21:19

Just call him Apple or Pear, if you want to be that speshul.

1horatio · 26/12/2016 21:11

albert

But people do give their DDs boy's names. But when somebody thinks about giving their son a girl's name or even a slightly 'wet' or soft sounding boy's name...

albertcampionscat · 26/12/2016 20:30

Would you call a girl Robert? Willow is a girl's name. Irrational convention, sure, but all language is a convention.

Pluto30 · 26/12/2016 20:23

And it is the name of a tree. Trees don't have a gender. But would I actually give the name to my son? I don't know

Sure, it's a nature name, but so is Daisy, and you wouldn't call your son Daisy would you?

1horatio · 26/12/2016 19:44

sorena

Very true! 👍

Rioja123 · 26/12/2016 19:43

Just no

SorenaJ · 26/12/2016 19:40

How about parents just teach their kids not to tease, instead of 'your friend Willow has a girls name'? Hmm.

Scrumptiousbears · 26/12/2016 18:51

Definitely a girls name.

Purplebluebird · 26/12/2016 18:42

I love it for girls, but not for boys. My other half says it's fine for both :P

1horatio · 26/12/2016 18:42

I really like the idea of a boy named Willow.

And it is the name of a tree. Trees don't have a gender. But would I actually give the name to my son? I don't know.

I think I'd go for Willoughby and use the nn Willow. Or I'd go for Salix, which I actually genuinely like :)

SoberSusan · 26/12/2016 18:41

Girls' name.

JustSpeakSense · 26/12/2016 18:39

Girls name

Lifegavemelemons · 26/12/2016 18:22

Girls name I'm afraid. I know one.

Amaried · 26/12/2016 18:20

Honestly I couldn't do it to my son. A lovely girls name but it is widely used as a girls name
It would be very unfair to do it to a little bit

Gallavich · 26/12/2016 18:07

How is Willoughby the 'boys variation' of Willow? They are completely unrelated.

Swipe left for the next trending thread