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Baby names

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

Original poster

Fowey - boy or girl?

111 replies

OneAliCat · 08/01/2025 09:57

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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Whydoeseveryonewanttoargue · 08/01/2025 18:03

I hear phooey (no pun intended). I get you think it’s cute but consider how pronunciation and a kid who is most certainly going to get teased because of it will feel.

thestudio · 08/01/2025 17:58

Light engineering company?

SerenityNowInsanityLater · 08/01/2025 17:57

There are nicer ‘place’ names. It’s not a nice sounding word/name. My kids’ godmother lives in Fowey. Lovely place. It’s not name worthy though.

My friend used the Tamar river as a middle name. I love the Hebrew name Tamar (Tuh-mar), but as Tay-mar, the name isn’t really all that nice.

toastofthetown · 08/01/2025 17:56

CrystalSingerFan · 08/01/2025 17:43

Maybe on my regular hospital trips where it's quite important that they can distinguish the various potential Jane Smiths (not my actual name) who potentially share the same date of birth.

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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.

RubaiyatOfAnyone · 08/01/2025 17:54

Man, i bet Jr is glad you’ve never been to Polyphant.

MummytoE · 08/01/2025 17:53

Please don't saddle your child with this

Holdonforsummer · 08/01/2025 17:51

Don’t do it. No one will be able to pronounce it and it’s ugly, sorry.

crackofdoom · 08/01/2025 17:50

BunBabbitBun · 08/01/2025 16:10

Really like this idea (but I’m local-ish and have fond memories of Fowey too!). Not a place name but DS has a Cornish family surname as a middle name and it’s special to us. Doesn’t one of David Cameron’s children have Endellion as a middle name? And someone on another thread suggested Lerryn and Sennen, which is the same idea. I’d say Fowey would suit a boy more than a girl.

Edited

Yes, David Cameron did indeed give his daughter the same name as a cheese (St Endellion Cornish Brie, it's delicious) 😆

1dayatatime · 08/01/2025 17:50

Or you really freak English people out by using it's actual Cornish name : "Fowydh"

crackofdoom · 08/01/2025 17:48

FuzzyPuffling · 08/01/2025 13:54

Rubbish. I'm English and know full well it's pronounced "Foy".

How about "Tywardreath" or "Ponsanooth" as alternatives!

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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.

CrystalSingerFan · 08/01/2025 17:43

toastofthetown · 08/01/2025 16:16

When was the last time a stranger read aloud your middle name? The last time I can think of was at my wedding almost five years ago. Before that I really don’t know. My experience is it’s not something which happens at all let alone something with any kind of frequency that someone would get sick of.

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Maybe on my regular hospital trips where it's quite important that they can distinguish the various potential Jane Smiths (not my actual name) who potentially share the same date of birth.

CrystalSingerFan · 08/01/2025 17:39

oakleaffy · 08/01/2025 16:09

Like Frome- Not as in “ Rome” ( as I assumed) but Froom as in broom.

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And there's Stroud vs Strood if we're thinking about place names.

CrystalSingerFan · 08/01/2025 17:37

1dayatatime · 08/01/2025 10:25

Yes - same as Roy but with an "f".

I think this is the problem and presuming OP lives in England that it will always be mispronounced and you get to become one of those tiresome parents correcting the pronunciation every time.

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So maybe 'Foy'? Then the pronunciation will be clear and for the parents it'll be a lovely subtle secret?

Otherwise, for this Englishwoman, it's a river/estuary/town.

millymae · 08/01/2025 16:33

We love Fowey too but I’m not sure I’d want to saddle a child with it as a name. That said middle names are not used that much and there are lots of people who have second names that are meaningful for the family, so if you like use it. Boy or girl I don’t think it matters.
The only thing that would concern me is that the vast majority of people won’t pronounce it properly if it’s spelt like Fowey is. If I hadn’t spent lots of time there when I was a young I would say Fow (like how) ee

Digdongdoo · 08/01/2025 16:23

Boy, but it's not a name. I suppose it's not too bad as a middle name.
My dad used to work at the secondary school there 😂 would feel like naming my kid Solihull to me.

tonyhawks23 · 08/01/2025 16:17

Its lovely.no need for people to pronounce a middle name.

toastofthetown · 08/01/2025 16:16

oakleaffy · 08/01/2025 16:06

“Not Fowey to rhyme with Bowie” He’ll get sick of correcting people.

When was the last time a stranger read aloud your middle name? The last time I can think of was at my wedding almost five years ago. Before that I really don’t know. My experience is it’s not something which happens at all let alone something with any kind of frequency that someone would get sick of.

FKAT · 08/01/2025 16:13

I went to school with a Zelah in the 1980s by the way. Which is also a place name in Cornwall. Gorgeous name (and very pretty girl) which was on my longlist for a while. Only had boys though.

BunBabbitBun · 08/01/2025 16:12

Actually come to think of it, I think Mevagissey is two saints’ names in one? Meva ag Issey?

BunBabbitBun · 08/01/2025 16:11

GetyourheadoutoftheovenIris · 08/01/2025 15:59

I live near Fowey and find this hilarious.

Mevagissey on the other hand is a great name! How about Mevagissey Perranporth?

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

FKAT · 08/01/2025 16:10

Foy is a surname so why not use that if spelling is a concern? That said, middle names are rarely used except on forms so it's no big deal.

I like it (Fowey is gorgeous and I'm not usually a fan of Devon/Cornwall).

Hyperbolic MN response to any non-Sophie/James names as usual. Place names are perfectly normal as first names as they indicate heritage and even if they DON'T who cares - Ross, Chester, Alexandria, Charlotte, Georgia, etc get through life fine.

If you're called Clare (ALSO A PLACE NAME) you have to constantly explain the spelling so what's the big deal?

BunBabbitBun · 08/01/2025 16:10

Really like this idea (but I’m local-ish and have fond memories of Fowey too!). Not a place name but DS has a Cornish family surname as a middle name and it’s special to us. Doesn’t one of David Cameron’s children have Endellion as a middle name? And someone on another thread suggested Lerryn and Sennen, which is the same idea. I’d say Fowey would suit a boy more than a girl.

oakleaffy · 08/01/2025 16:09

Movinghouseatlast · 08/01/2025 14:53

I live there and believe me most English people don't know its pronounced Foy. Why would they?

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Like Frome- Not as in “ Rome” ( as I assumed) but Froom as in broom.

oakleaffy · 08/01/2025 16:06

“Not Fowey to rhyme with Bowie” He’ll get sick of correcting people.