Unisex Name for girls

@CowboyJoanna there is probably a reason his parents call him Ray.

There are quite a few posters on MN who live in other countries.

Whoever mentioned naming laws, yes, this needs to be considered. If you give a unisex first name you will need to give a middle name that clearly identifies the child's gender. (This certainly used to be the way it was - I remember a newspaper story where parents were initially denied permission to register their daughter as Marie Christin because both of those can be male names - not sure whether it's changed with the ability to legally identify as a third gender ('divers')). There's also the fact that 'registered with one name and called a shortening' doesn't really happen over here IME - only very informally among friends, but you can't expect your daughter to have Charlotte on her birth cert and her teachers/GP etc to call her Charlie -, ditto girls' names being shortened to boys' or unisex names. Charlotte pronounced the German way doesn't 'lead' to Charlie anyway, but to Lotte. A lot of your other names will cause problems too - Jacqueline is considered quite downmarket, and Jack would be pronounced 'Check' (one of my children went to school with one). I think Jamie is actually one of your more practicable suggestions, if you can overlook the 'Ch' sound it will invariably get at the beginning - most Germans won't associate it with a particular sex and not much can go wrong/vary in the rest of the pronunciation.

There have been no boy Rachels since 1996.

Reminds me of "Ray Charles" too

Yeah I was quite shocked to hear "Rachel" was this boy's name but I've got to be honest, it does sound nice and it suits him very well. His parents call him Ray for short.

Now that I think of it, I'm more surprised it isn't more popular with boys. Daniel and Michael are very similar names, and Rachel sounds quite masculine to say too

The UK ... like everyone else on Mumsnet surely?

I'd say most of those nicknames aren't unisex. They are boy names. There is a trend at the moment where baby girls are given boy names. The only truly unisex names there are Jamie and Robyn (girl version of Robin).

You also don't know whether your dd will like a nickname. She might like her feminine full name or choose a different nickname to what you want eg Lottie instead of Charlie. Just choose a name you like instead of thinking about how to get people to think your dd is a boy.

My friend's mother is Robin and she's 91. That modern!

I think you are overthinking her future emailing. Just pick a name you like but is easy to pronounce in both languages.

Does nobody read Malory Towers anymore?
Wilhelmina - Bill!

Of the names on your list... I thought Joe was the boys' contraction and Jo was the girls'. Similarly, I've personally only ever seen Robyn for a girl and Robin for a boy.

Andrea can be either depending on the language. Claude too I think. And Jean.

I think I'd tend towards something which is obviously a girl's name that can be shortened to a unisex rather then a unisex name if that makes sense. Are you bound by name laws in Germany? Some countries don't allow a unisex first name unless giving a clearly defined middle name.

Martha could go to Marty
All the Georgina/Georgiana-s I went to school with were known as George.
Nicola-s were either Nicky or Nic/k
Edwina -Ted (to her family) and Ned to the rest of us
Caroline - Cal
Francesca - Frankie
Laurie (I can't remember if she was a Lauren or a Laurel. Maybe she was just a Laurie!)
Juliet - Jules
Nathalie - Nat
Philippa - Pip
Catherine or variant , can't remember, but she was always Kit (or Kitty)

Then there were some who were known by their initials. J-J or J which to me is a boy's name, no idea why. Or not even names. Penelope was Pen and Felicity was always Fish.

And of course, Darrell!

No way is Rachel a unisex name.

Rachel means ewe, so not sure it is a unisex name.

@CowboyJoanna "Rachel is a unisex name on its own even if its more popular for girls (one of my DS's best friends is a boy called Rachel),"

That's interesting. What country do you live in?

Jodie

Robyn

Lee

@CowboyJoanna , and if parents wanted to call their son Amelia, that could be a boy's name. There are boys called Noa.

I know it's been mentioned but I came here to suggest Rowan.

I also quite like

Perry
Harper
Ellis

My three DCs names are on your list. I never even thought about the fact they were unisex.

Rachel is a unisex name on its own even if its more popular for girls (one of my DS's best friends is a boy called Rachel), but can be shortened to Ray which is even more so

But maybe also consider

Alexandra -> Alex
Samantha -> Sam
Maxine -> Max
Thomasina/Tamsin -> Tom
Benetta -> Ben
Ryan, Kyle, Jordan and Cameron are nice unisex names too

Jamie can be a girl's name
So can Joe, if spelt Jo

Just so long as you know there is no such thing as a unisex name- just boys names that are used for girls. And so long as you think about the implications of that from a feminist point of view.....

It's not pronounced Shorn

Oh also Sean pronounced Shorn is lovely for a girl (and lovely for a boy too)

I think Charlotte is a very classic name but not pretentious - not in my circles anyway

The name that immediately sprang to mind is Morgan - which is strong as well as unisex.

i agree with @Scottyme though… you can control the nickname only as far as being a small child. As soon as they start school you will have no control over that.

• Charlotte (Charlie) (a bit pretentious but front runner)
• Alexis (Sasha) (exists in close family ATM though)
• Robin (a bit modern)
• Jamie (I really like this name but it does not really work in German)
• Samantha (Sam) (reminds me of SATC)
• Josephine (Joe) (super old fashioned)
• Jacqueline (Jack) (a relative we dislike has this name)

I'd assume Charlie, Jamie and Andy were boys but I wouldn't be surprised it turned out to be a girl (although you might find Charlotte prefers Lottie).

I'd be surprised by a girl called Jack, Joe or Sasha. They are boy names to me.

There are loads of girls names which have masculine short forms, like Georgina shortened to George, but if you really want people not to know or assume boy/girl I don't think those meet the criteria.

Others I think meet your criteria are
Pat (Patricia)
Val (Valerie, Valda, Valentina)
Riley
Taylor
Morgan
Frankie
Angel

I'm not down with the unisex name thing but each to their own, it's not my child

The only female Robyn I know is in her 90s and was named after her grandmother and her great great great grandmother so calling it modern I think is a stretch.

One thing, I would say is despite your best attempts at choosing their nickname from their proper name is, you don't get to choose either they choose or its what their friends call them at school. My friend is called Michael and his mum was hoping people would call him Mike only his family call him Michael/Mike, EVERYONE else calls him Mick, which his mother hates.

I know loads of Charlottes only one is Charli, the rest are Lottie or Charl. Charlotte to me is a very feminine name that personally I wouldn't say is unisex.

Ps this is a public forum so people will question everything from why you want such a popular name to why you have x y z restriction.