masculine names for girls

I'm not a fan. To me it sends the message that you'd rather have a boy instead. Plus when the use of a boy's name for a girl hits a point then it can no longer be used for boys and then another name is removed from circulation for boys. There are plenty of lovely/strong girls names in all sorts of styles without resorting to feminising a boy's name by changing a letter/adding ella or ina onto the end or downright just using a boy's name without changing it. It's as if it somehow makes your child, and you by association, so "cool"

Lesley
Hilary
Both boy/girl names.

How about Brian? Morris? Sinclair? Donald? Barnard? Wasn't Nursey in Blackadder called Bernard?

lumela

I know a male teen robin, they love their name.

Ah I didn't know Jocelyn was a boys name, I knew a male Joss and was always jealous of his super cool name.

I love Charlie, Billie and Bobby/Bobbie for a girl. Roberta nn Bobbie is top of my list for a girl. I also love unisex names: Kelly, Stacy, Kim, (though those three are a bit 70s-sounding now).

Ah I didn't know Jocelyn was a boys name, I knew a male Joss and was always jealous of his super cool name.

Bertrand makes a good point about it being socially acceptable for girls being given boys names but boys not being given girls names.

Op a good way to spot a masculine name is to hear what the ending sound is.

Boys names usually end in consonant sounds.

Girls names usually end in vowel sounds.

Once you see this it makes you look at all name trends differently.

Hilary and Valerie used to be boys names. And Jocelyn.

I don't know any male Robins younger than their late 40s.

Oh i forgot to add ones I like:

Pascale
Harri
Bobbie
Shaun
Devon

I like ryley/ riley for a girl or boy. Jamie and Charlie are good too

I really like masculine/unisex names for girls, my favourites are Frances and Bobbie.

I like masculine sounding girls names, Billie probably being my favourite.

I also have a male name with ie on the end. My version is pretty uncommon for a man or woman though but generally people think I'm male if they haven't seen me or think it's a misprint of the male name. Doesn't bother me anymore though.

Cross post Bertrand

Personally I think it's sad that there seems to be a double standard - while it's often socially acceptable for a girl to have a masculine name, it's rarely socially acceptable for a boy to have a feminine name. For that reason I would always give a girl a name that is strong but very firmly in the "girl's name" category, because I think girls' names should be valued just as highly as boys'.

That's just my two cents though, and I wouldn't judge anyone for giving their daughter a more masculine name. If it means she will sometimes get mistaken for a man (when a recruiter or employer reads her CV, for example) it's more likely to give her an advantage than a disadvantage!

There are very few names that are truly unisex, but that could be a good compromise. Alex or Sam for example.

There's no such thing as a unisex names-except possibly Frances/is ---there are boys names which girls have too. And they very quickly become girls names. Because people don't want their boys mistaken for girls.

I knew an Antonia who went by Toni and it was cool. Also know Alex, Jo, Geri and Erica. Erica has really grown on me

I saw Blake lively called one of her daughters Ines which is a beautiful and in Scotland Innes is a boys names

Would you call a boy Susannah?

Lee
Harriet (Harri)
Cameron

I agree with a previous post about being mistaken for male if they havent seen you.

My dd gets that alot. The masculine names i ve come across are..

Noa
River
Devon
Robyn
Bobbie
Billie
Charley
Ashley
Teddie
Stevie

Daniel or Danielle

Sam

Allannah
Terri
Bobbi
Danni
Charley
Alex
Dylan
Robyn
Jamie
Nigella
Thomasina

I like Elliot, Peta and Quinn. I have a distant cousin who has always been known as Fin - her full name is Fionnuala.

I went to school with a girl called Stevie and always loved her name, it really suited her.

Oh, I also went to school with a Jasper. Her name was very ahead of the trend, I think. She was super cool too. Really suited her name.

Didn't add my opinion on unisex names: I don't mind most of them. I looked at a couple of names that were unisex or had masculine shortenings for my DDs, but decided against them because with our two DS' names, it would've sounded like we had all boys. If I'd just had a girl, I probably would've considered a masculine name more strongly.

I went to school with a Billie. I didn't know until we graduated that her name was actually Wilhelmina as she had never been called it. Super cool name.

I like Harley. It reminds me of Harley Quinn.

I like Wren, Quinn, Roberta (Robbie or Bobbie for short).

Also, I'm always reminded of Thoroughly Modern Millie where Millie is adamant that she be called John. Who would've thought Julie Andrews could make John work?