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Baby names

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Original poster

Gabriel for a boy...do DH's veto because they think he'll be called 'gay'?

35 replies

alannabanana · 18/02/2010 20:34

i think thats a very unenlightened view if its true, but my DH has all but said thats his fear for calling our boy gabriel - a name which i love!

this will be boy number 2, and boy number 1 was going to be gabriel up until the last minute, when we went with oren - another fave name of mine, which actually im glad we used because it really suits him. i reckon brother-in-law put him off by saying gabriel would get called gay at school and what not.

im just wondering if anyone has used this name and can vouch for its success and unhomophobia-inducing-ness.
????

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MaggieMaeve · 18/02/2010 21:35

I think of the sin of Onen when I hear any name even remotely similar... so, just another perspective but I think Oren was riskier!

southeastastra · 18/02/2010 21:34

he wouldn't be called gay round here, probably gabe though instead.

MaggieMaeve · 18/02/2010 21:33

No. It's too mainstream now to be automatically linked with Gay. Anyway, Gay Byrne lived it down in much harder times (when being Gay was a bigger deal).

my nephew, who lives in america, now calls himself Gabe I notice. That sidesteps the issue neatly I think. People are hardly going to bother shortening gabe to gay, if the gabriel in question has already 'offered up' the shortening of Gabe.

Tortington · 18/02/2010 21:29

i like the name -i'd call it a rabbit or somethng but wouldn't send my son to a state school with the name gabriel.

the kid will be called gay. and thats that. and whilst kids will pick on anything from hair colour to lunchbox style, i wouldn't want to start him off in life with that disadvantage

MillyMollyMoo · 18/02/2010 21:27

Hmm I know a little Gabriel and can see where your DH is coming from, not that anyone calls the 2 year old gay, but eyebrows are raised in that stupid way some people do, manly men tbh and many in the poor souls own family.

mathanxiety · 18/02/2010 20:50

And he wasn't concerned about Oren being called Oral?

All the Gabriels I know (there are 6 of them) are Gabe, and they are all Manly Boys.

cilitbang · 18/02/2010 20:48

I agree with your DH, I'm afraid. Nice name though so its a shame, but you'll be setting him up for name calling at school. Sorry.

BelleDameSansMerci · 18/02/2010 20:45

I thought it was because of Angel Gabriel and the common misconception that angels are female?

I think it's a lovely name. If DD had been a boy I wanted to use Felix but then DP vetoed thst for reasons of cat food...

runnybottom · 18/02/2010 20:42

The normal nn for Gabriel in Ireland is Gay, but it the UK its Gabe. Could get either though.

Pollybloodyanna · 18/02/2010 20:37

Mine vetoed it for different but similar reasons (ie he thought it was too feminine).