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Baby names

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

Original poster

Frankie or Brynn for our baby girl?

119 replies

Abcd2026 · 05/07/2026 21:15

Frankie or Brynn for baby girl?

I prefer Frankie but my concern is it's more popular. We like uncommon names.
Brynn is very uncommon in our country.

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Calliopespa · 06/07/2026 20:30

NewGoldFox · 06/07/2026 17:09

If you post anything other than a name like Jessica or Emily you are just going to get peoples knickers in a twist on this site.

I don't like Jessica ...😂

Calliopespa · 06/07/2026 20:29

SleepingStandingUp · 06/07/2026 20:21

my child's middle name is Bryn so I doime it, but he's a boy. the fact your goal was ways to use a boys name is just, well, odd. did you want a son? do you want to be edgy and confuse people for the drama? there's so many cool girls names. please give her one.

oops... sorry.😐

Namingbaba · 06/07/2026 20:27

I’ll go against the majority and say I quite like Frankie for a girl but I’d have Francesca on the birth certificate.
Don’t like Brynn though.

SleepingStandingUp · 06/07/2026 20:21

my child's middle name is Bryn so I doime it, but he's a boy. the fact your goal was ways to use a boys name is just, well, odd. did you want a son? do you want to be edgy and confuse people for the drama? there's so many cool girls names. please give her one.

Calliopespa · 06/07/2026 20:03

Francesca is pretty. You could call her Frankie for short, but don't deprive her of the chance to have a lovely name like Francesca. If she grows up preferring the more boyish form, she doesn't need to use it.

I'm sorry, I think Brynn is not nice at all. Even on a boy it sounds like a Welsh uncle who wears y-fronts and hasn't had a date for fifteen years.

RandomUsernameHere · 06/07/2026 18:12

I’d go for Francesca shortened to Frankie. Both are lovely.

NamingNoNames · 06/07/2026 18:09

Spidey66 · 06/07/2026 17:24

In my teens I briefly dated a bloke called Lyn, though he was Welsh and it’s common there possibly short for Llewelyn.

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It's not common in Wales for men. Lynne was popular for women up to about 60 years ago.

Unlikely to be short for Llewelyn - they're usually Llew.

StrictlyComeMN · 06/07/2026 17:36

NewGoldFox · 06/07/2026 17:09

If you post anything other than a name like Jessica or Emily you are just going to get peoples knickers in a twist on this site.

You receive more truthful opinions and less insincere politeness on this site, though. What people say on this site is what many people are thinking in their heads in person. You surely wouldn't tell someone that you think their child's name is awful in person, but you'd give your truthful opinion on MN if someone asked. In person, lots of people will even compliment baby names that they know they don't actually like (to be polite)!

OchreSnake · 06/07/2026 17:29

Both awful, you are having a girl, why saddle her with a boy's name just to be 'different?'

OchreSnake · 06/07/2026 17:28

Both awful, you are having a girl, why saddle her with a boy's name just to be 'different?'

Daffodilsinthespring · 06/07/2026 17:26

Both awful for a girl. Both boy’s names

Spidey66 · 06/07/2026 17:24

RotatingPenguin · 06/07/2026 17:18

I know a woman called Frankie. She was horribly bullied at school with rhyming slander and changed her name to something completely different.

Isn't it funny that people are happy to give baby girls boys names. Would they call a son Amelia or Emma?

In my teens I briefly dated a bloke called Lyn, though he was Welsh and it’s common there possibly short for Llewelyn.

Spidey66 · 06/07/2026 17:22

Frankie is ‘ok’. Not a name I’d choose, but ‘ok’. I think it’s unisex.

brynn is awful though. It’s bad enough for a boy let alone a girl. To me it’s a boys name. You could possibly get away with it in Wales.

RotatingPenguin · 06/07/2026 17:18

I know a woman called Frankie. She was horribly bullied at school with rhyming slander and changed her name to something completely different.

Isn't it funny that people are happy to give baby girls boys names. Would they call a son Amelia or Emma?

NewGoldFox · 06/07/2026 17:09

If you post anything other than a name like Jessica or Emily you are just going to get peoples knickers in a twist on this site.

Zet · 06/07/2026 17:02

MrsSchadenfreude · 06/07/2026 16:14

I don’t know why you asked as you’re clearly not paying attention to anyone’s comments!

Exactly. More importantly, I don't know why anyone is even responding to the thread at this point. It's obvious that the OP is going to ignore all of the honest feedback and move forward with one of these names or a name that is similar to these. Some people simply cannot be talked out of questionable decisions.

MrsSchadenfreude · 06/07/2026 16:14

I don’t know why you asked as you’re clearly not paying attention to anyone’s comments!

PinkSunny · 06/07/2026 16:04

Abcd2026 · 05/07/2026 21:21

Where we live frankie is far more common for girls. Also girls with boys names doesn't bother me at all and in fact that was my original goal but all the ones I liked are already taken by my partners family.

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You're saying that girls having boy names doesn't bother you, but I've never met a girl that liked being mistaken for a boy or a woman that liked being mistaken for a man. The women that I've met with this sort of name find it embarrassing. Maybe parents should consider that rather than only considering their own wants. The child is the one who has to live with and introduce themselves as the name, not the parents. We've forgotten that.

Restcoz · 06/07/2026 15:45

Frankie is ugly for a boy and hideous for a girl. It reminds me of frankfurters. Francesca is lovely, though.

Hoopingblue · 06/07/2026 15:45

Brynn is pretty awful tbh,
but I like Frankie, I do agree if i were a girl going by Frankie that I’d prefer my legal name to be Francesca though

I like a unisex / masculine name for girls too, so some suggestions that feel a bit similar to yours would be

James
Blake
Dakota
Dylan
Kit
Riley
Robin
Tatum
Sage
Wren
Noa
avery

if you like the ‘ryn’ sound what about
kailyn
erin
katherine
wren (again)
Renee
Elloren
Ren
soren
Florence
Lauren

UrsulaBelle · 06/07/2026 15:44

I knew a lovely guy called Bryn when I worked in South Wales. He'd be 80 now. And that's my feelings on the name Bryn - nice name for an older Welsh man.

Herstruly · 06/07/2026 15:40

TheBirdintheCave · 06/07/2026 15:30

That’s because Frankie is a diminutive and could be short for Francesca.

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But it seems as though the OP is planning to make Frankie her daughter's legal first name. She hasn't mentioned Francesca, Francine, etc.

muddyford · 06/07/2026 15:33

Bryn is a boy's name, or a dog's.

Frankie has had its day.

DimwittedSkater · 06/07/2026 15:33

TallulahBetty · 06/07/2026 15:30

Brynn is not a name. Bryn is a boy's name.

Not in America.

DimwittedSkater · 06/07/2026 15:32

To me, Brynn is a girl's name. I'm not that keen on it, but anything's better than Frankie as a legal first name. That's every bit as bad as the Sussexes calling their son Archie. It shouldn't be allowed to call children the diminutive of a real name as their real name. Diminutives are, well, diminutive.