Fowey - boy or girl?

OneAliCat · 2025-01-08T09:57:53+00:00

As in the Cornish town. Pronounced Foy. Considering as a middle name since the place is special to us. Would you think of it as male, female or gender neutral?

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LittleBigHead · 12/01/2025 07:30

Neither. It’s a place name not a person’s name. Our surnames are often places our ancestors lived.

1dayatatime · 09/01/2025 23:39

HugoYorway · 09/01/2025 22:48

Has anyone suggested Mousehole or St. Austell?

Mousehole would be another one where you would have to continually correct the English mispronunciation.

HugoYorway · 09/01/2025 22:48

Has anyone suggested Mousehole or St. Austell?

Livingonbananabread · 08/01/2025 20:08

I think it’s fine. I’d automatically connect it with the place (and therefore pronounce it properly), but the only time I can think when someone else would need to know how to pronounce your surname is at your graduation or wedding! And I think middle names allow for something meaningful to the family which you wouldn’t use as a first name - one of mine is absolutely in this category while the other is very conventional. I don’t think the sex matters as it’s a place name so doesn’t have pre-existing connotations one way or the other.

westcountrywoman · 08/01/2025 19:30

I know a female Foy. Spelled that way too.

GetyourheadoutoftheovenIris · 08/01/2025 19:02

BunBabbitBun · 08/01/2025 16:11

Perranporth has red-trouser-tweed-blazer Peregrine vibes (although I know the place isn’t like that 😄)

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It’s more of the faux lifeguard/fat willys brigade imo. Good pubs though.

Likewhatever · 08/01/2025 18:58

Have to chortle at crackofdoom’s post, but if it’s a name that means a lot to you, why not use it? I think it’s interesting rather than attractive, you’ll need to tell your DC the backstory because it will be asked. My first reaction was boy.

Digdongdoo · 08/01/2025 18:37

OneAliCat · 08/01/2025 18:19

As a resident of Cornwall, I'm a bit insulted.

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The fact that you live in Cornwall makes it worse I think.

SharonEllis · 08/01/2025 18:36

KIlliePieMyOhMy · 08/01/2025 10:10

The rest of his or her life saying, "No, it's pronounced Foy!"
Don't do it.

This. I really wouldn't saddle a child with this!

devilspawn · 08/01/2025 18:36

OneAliCat · 08/01/2025 18:19

As a resident of Cornwall, I'm a bit insulted.

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Oh god it's even worse that you live there. It would be like someone living in Paris calling their child Paris.

JanefromLondon1 · 08/01/2025 18:36

Foy boy!!

LlynTegid · 08/01/2025 18:32

crackofdoom · 08/01/2025 17:46

As a resident of Cornwall I'd think you're probably the type to ignore all the fearsome notices at the top of town telling you not to drive down the hill, and that you have at one point or other got your colossal shiny black wankpanzer wedged in that tiny narrow street in the one way system, with a look of stony horror on your face. That type.

But I also think that you can give your kid a weird and wonderful middle name, it's not like a first name that gets used constantly.

I agree with you about the name, and like you would welcome restrictions on SUVs, Range Rovers and similar vehicles. I think just requiring anyone who wants one to take their driving test again but in one would reduce numbers greatly.

1dayatatime · 08/01/2025 18:29

HewasH2O · 08/01/2025 18:23

Resident or Cornish? Perhaps I should have called DD Snozzell. In your heart you know anyone local would smirk if ever you said it out loud. It would probably fit in nicely at a London day school though.

Edited

Please don't mention Snozzle - someone will pick up the idea and run with it, forever cursing a small child with the name of one of Cornwall's top crap towns.

Original poster

OneAliCat · 08/01/2025 18:27

Thanks for the many opinions and assumptions - not bothered by those who aren't keen, I'm sure some people don't like your kids' names either! For those suggesting Skegness, it's nothing to do with a few nice holidays or conception.

General consensus seems to be masculine or neutral which is what I was asking. Thanks!

OP posts:

HewasH2O · 08/01/2025 18:23

Resident or Cornish? Perhaps I should have called DD Snozzell. In your heart you know anyone local would smirk if ever you said it out loud. It would probably fit in nicely at a London day school though.

Original poster

OneAliCat · 08/01/2025 18:19

crackofdoom · 08/01/2025 17:46

As a resident of Cornwall I'd think you're probably the type to ignore all the fearsome notices at the top of town telling you not to drive down the hill, and that you have at one point or other got your colossal shiny black wankpanzer wedged in that tiny narrow street in the one way system, with a look of stony horror on your face. That type.

But I also think that you can give your kid a weird and wonderful middle name, it's not like a first name that gets used constantly.

As a resident of Cornwall, I'm a bit insulted.

OP posts:

toastofthetown · 08/01/2025 18:18

CrystalSingerFan · 08/01/2025 18:11

Ooh. My pharmacy asks my postcode but I don't recollect my hospital asking. Apologies if I'm misremembering. Maybe there is an NHS employee on Mumsnet who can quote the relevant guidelines for hospital outpatient admissions? Google isn't helping...

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It wouldn't surprise me if different hospitals all handled it differently (or even different departments in the same hospital!)

usernother · 08/01/2025 18:16

I'd think it was a typo. Get a grip OP. It's ridiculous.

SerenityNowInsanityLater · 08/01/2025 18:12

Any Curb Your Enthusiasm viewers here? Foots Zeckelman. Ziggy Zeckelman? Anyone?

CrystalSingerFan · 08/01/2025 18:11

toastofthetown · 08/01/2025 17:56

Interesting, at all of my hospital trips in various departments I've never once been called by my middle name (and my name is so common that there was another with the same first and surname in my primary school so not unlikely there are other with the dame name on the system). I've always had my identity checked on check-in with first name, surname, DOB and address/ postcode.

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Ooh. My pharmacy asks my postcode but I don't recollect my hospital asking. Apologies if I'm misremembering. Maybe there is an NHS employee on Mumsnet who can quote the relevant guidelines for hospital outpatient admissions? Google isn't helping...

Fink · 08/01/2025 18:10

I think use of middle name varies quite a lot. Every single time I've gone to give blood, they've read out my whole name (I have 4 middle names, luckily not all of them are recorded on the blood donation system!). I remember the second-hand embarrassment of various people's names being mispronounced at matriculations and graduations (my first matriculation was my first real time outside a majority Catholic environment; it came as a surprise to me that well-educated history professors wouldn't know how to pronounce Xavier or Aloysius) - tutors do not typically check with you before launching in. And I've had a couple of work colleagues who would always call people by their full name, as though it were a double-barrelled first name (both had a first language/culture other than English). I guess you never know when it's going to come up.

HewasH2O · 08/01/2025 18:09

Why don't you pick some more Cornish place names? How about Perranarworthal, Quoits, Sticker or Rock?

ElangaScores · 08/01/2025 18:04

This name is peak MN.

Souredgrapes · 08/01/2025 18:04

I have an uncommon middle name that sounds male and not pronounced how it’s spelt. I’m a boring middled aged woman who really doesn’t even suit the name . It’s come up a few times in my life but not many . I’ve even been asked “What’s a xxx” ?

MrsMoastyToasty · 08/01/2025 18:03

I suppose it makes a change from Wet Wang or Cockermouth...