Austyn for a girl?

Agree with your MIL, at least spell it 'Austin' if you do use it. The 'y' is
She'll spend her whole life correcting people on the spelling.

It's not a nice name and the spelling makes it worse. She'll have a lifetime of spelling it out, correcting people and autocorrect will be a pain in her arse forever. Don't do it to her!

I don't like it but agree with a pp, if you must have it, spell it Austen like Jane's surname. The y makes it very Utah

This.

But no one needs to approve except for you.

I’m sorry OP I don’t think it works at all. Adding a ‘y’ to a boy’s name doesn’t feminise it. I mean we don’t see ‘Myke’, ‘Olyver’ or ‘Wyllyam’ do we…

My name has a 'y' in it where there should be an 'i'. It still causes confusion, not only in how my name is pronounced, but also people insist on spelling it the traditional way. Even close friends often misspell my name and it drives me crazy.

Please, do not inflict your child to a lifetime of this.

I’m afraid it’s absolutely dreadful and your MIL is right.

Austyn looks like you can’t spell. Austin is a boys name and very American.

If you must, then Austen (like Jane Austen) is okay.

But please just name her Robyn, an actual girls name.

Well I quite like it 😄

Mn generally hates anything "made up" or "unisex" so you won't get many positive views here though...

I like it, but agree that it's spelt incorrectly and that would bug me. Austen would be better.

It's not up to your MIL that's the privilege of the parents

Surprised so many people on here dislike it

Like the name but not the spelling, agree with others Austen would be much better.

I have spent my whole life spelling out my name to people and it is tedious beyond belief. My mum took ordinary names for her kids and spelt them slightly differently.

For that reason I feel really strongly about people who decide to inflict that on their child as they aren’t the ones to live with the consequence.

I would say if you want Austyn make it a middle name with a correctly spelt first name and let the child choose.

None of the names you are considering are unisex, they are simply male.

I'm not keen on the name for a boy so really don't like it for a girl but it's your choice. Are you happy with the shortening to Oz or Ozzy though? I know an Austin and he's only ever called by the short version.

Sorry no, just no. It's a (misspelt) make of car, a surname. Give her a first name that is formal, to be taken seriously then shorten it however you like, if you must a quirky middle name that you can use at home.

It's not clever, it's not innovative giving weird names to your child.

I saw a longtime study and the name a child is given can affect their life chances, partly due to backgrounds (let's face it certain names are more associated with certain income groups), partly due to unconscious bias in education (teachers expect more from an Elizabeth than a Tracey) and partly due to filtering of applicants in jobs (I've done this myself, my boss only kept applicants if she thought they sounded bright and not embarrassing, and yes Gary's and Tracey's got discarded.

(Not just Gary and Tracey, they are examples)

A traditional name on your cv means you get taken seriously even if you don't go by it day to day

Sorry OP but really don't like it. Sounds and looks made up for a girl.

I do love a masculine name for a girl however I am never a fan of a misspelling. But this might be the exception, I really like it!

The only unisex name in your list is Robyn. Dylan at a push but I wouldn't expect to meet one. Also spelling it Austyn is just cruel. If you want to follow the "boy name for a girl" trend at least own itrathet than pretending that they're unisex (because they are not).

I like it op. I’m not usually one for random spellings and names but I actually like this one. She’ll get a lot of misspelling though so maybe Austen might be better but I think it’s a nice name for a girl.

I'd go with Robin because as PPs have said it's the only actually unisex name on your list. No need for any 'Y's either, spell it as it's meant to be spelt.

However, if you absolutely MUST use a surname/place name for your daughter (because that's what it is, don't try and pretend it's a unisex first name, own your decision) then as PP suggested spell it Austen because at least then there's the Jane Austen association and people might be more likely to assume girl rather than boy.

"No such thing as a unisex name except in very limited cases"

So there is such a thing, then.

Using boys' names for girls is just plain old sexism. Because being called a boys' name is a promotion for a girl and being called a girls' name is a demotion for a boy.

Nail on head @MrsTerryPratchett! You’ve explained exactly why I dislike this trend for giving girls masculine names.

Austin if you must call your daughter a boys name, but please don't make it 'younique' by spelling it wrongly. Personally I think it's awful and not considered unisex in the uk at all.

Well, you'd hope the child doesn't hate what they're given.

It’s a boys name not a unisex name. She will spend her life having to spell it for people and being asked “so your parents wanted a boy then?”

Are there really no girls names you love?

‘let Austyn have his swink to him reserved’ says one of Chaucer’s more disreputable characters ( swink means hard work, btw). Let’s hope she doesn’t have to read the Canterbury Tales Prologue in class. Though I supposed she will be used to people laughing at her name by then.