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Baby names

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Original poster

Is Ezra is a girl or a boy

31 replies

Kieran152010 · 25/07/2025 02:49

Ezra is a girl’s name! just y’know who she is a girls name

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worrisomeasset · 25/07/2025 17:21

I've met quite a few boys called Ezra in my years as a primary teacher but I've yet to meet a girl with that name. I have met some girls called Izra/Isra, and they've all been from Indian or Pakistani Muslim backgrounds

MirandaBlu · 25/07/2025 17:14

A lot of Hebrew given names are unisex, and there's no linguistic reason that Ezra can't be (as someone said above, it means "help" or "helper" - which in many cultural contexts would be MORE likely to apply to a woman than to a man). Ezra (or Ezer, the old Hebrew form) has no trad female form, so if you want the Ezra meaning or wanted to honour some called Ezra you might be tempted to use the name as is for a girl. I'm guessing that it's mainly the very strong association of the name with the Old Testament character Ezra the Scribe (who led Jewish exiles back to Jerusalem from Babylon and helped reestablish the Torah as law) that has kept and still keeps it mainly male.

marcopront · 25/07/2025 12:39

I know a Turkish female Esra
I know a British male Ezra

Ddakji · 25/07/2025 08:52

latetothefisting · 25/07/2025 08:22

But its not an English name, so how English names usually end are irrelevant?

As pp's have said, it's a very ancient, biblical, Hebrew male name. The fact that some girls are also called it doesn't change that.

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What I mean is that I know, for example, than in Russia shortened forms of male names often end with an A (Sasha, Misha etc).

Thinking about it, most male biblical names used here for years were New Testament names, and I guess they’ve been anglicised over the centuries.

MrsMoastyToasty · 25/07/2025 08:36

It's a male name from the Old Testament.

cariadlet · 25/07/2025 08:36

I've never met anyone called Ezra but I know that it's a Biblical male name and the only characters in literature that I have come across called Ezra have been male.

The only famous Ezra that I have heard of is Ezra Pound - male American poet.

It could become unisex if enough girls are called Ezra or even evolve into a girls' name if many girls are called Ezra and very, very few boys are called Ezra. That's what happened to the name Shirley.

Mafaldaweasley · 25/07/2025 08:31

Ezra is definitely a male name.
i believe Esra is a Turkish girls' name.

BoleynMemories13 · 25/07/2025 08:29

I'd instantly assume boy still, despite actually teaching a female Ezra once. It's predominantly male. A name being used occasionally on the other sex doesn't automatically make it unisex, just like I fail to accept James as a unisex name.

For what it's worth, it took me weeks after receiving that class list to clock the F next to her name and realise she was female (this was before I met her). With classically unisex names you think to check, but it didn't even occur to me to check what sex Ezra was.

latetothefisting · 25/07/2025 08:22

Ddakji · 25/07/2025 08:11

I don’t think it really sounds masculine - masculine names don’t tend to end with an A (in English, at any rate).

I just “know” it’s a male name. But if I didn’t know that, I would assume female because of the A.

Show quote history

But its not an English name, so how English names usually end are irrelevant?

As pp's have said, it's a very ancient, biblical, Hebrew male name. The fact that some girls are also called it doesn't change that.

latetothefisting · 25/07/2025 08:22

Ddakji · 25/07/2025 08:11

I don’t think it really sounds masculine - masculine names don’t tend to end with an A (in English, at any rate).

I just “know” it’s a male name. But if I didn’t know that, I would assume female because of the A.

Show quote history

But its not an English name, so how English names usually end are irrelevant?

As pp's have said, it's a very ancient, biblical, Hebrew male name. The fact that some girls are also called it doesn't change that.

ErrolTheDragon · 25/07/2025 08:13

Ezra? Bloke who the eponymous book is about.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra

but while currently it’s a “boys’ name”,if people are starting to call their girls Ezra, the first ones may get queried but in a generation or two it’ll have become unisex and likely eventually to be seen as a “girls’ name”, as with eg Hilary, Vivian, Evelyn etc. It’s probably already happening to Elisha, another biblical male name.

Ddakji · 25/07/2025 08:11

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I don’t think it really sounds masculine - masculine names don’t tend to end with an A (in English, at any rate).

I just “know” it’s a male name. But if I didn’t know that, I would assume female because of the A.

AmeliaEJ15 · 25/07/2025 08:07

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This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

butterdish93 · 25/07/2025 08:06

Azra is a lovely girls name

DappledThings · 25/07/2025 08:03

It's a boy's name. Same as Aubrey and James.

PrincessOfPreschool · 25/07/2025 08:01

Only know boy Ezras but it could be unisex, sounds OK either way.

Concretejungle1 · 25/07/2025 07:50

Only ever known it too be a boys name

RobertJohnsonsShoes · 25/07/2025 07:23

I know an Ezrae which is a girl. I presumed that was the girl version.

Dayfri · 25/07/2025 07:00

I know 2 Ezras and they're both men.

Eastendboysandwestendgirls · 25/07/2025 06:53

It is both. I have taught several Turkish/Eastern European girl Ezras and two white British boy Ezras.

60andcounting · 25/07/2025 06:48

I know of two, female, one in her 40's, the other a teen.

cramptramp · 25/07/2025 06:48

i know a girl with that name. Never heard of it before I met her

SlenderRations · 25/07/2025 06:46

Clearly a boy’s name.

Needmorelego · 25/07/2025 05:40

It's a boys name.
I mean obviously it could be used for a girl because people can name their children what they want - but traditionally it's a boys name.

newhouseplans · 25/07/2025 05:40

I know a female Ezra. Ino idea how common it is, but it suits her.

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