Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Feminism: chat

Original poster

silly topic: Feminist Girls' names?

77 replies

blackcurrants · 04/05/2010 16:08

I'm in a rather silly mood today - lighthearted topic time!

I mentioned on the 'which political parties' thread that my fabulously egalitarian DH has put a moratorium on my (mainly humorous) suggestions for feminist-heroine baby names. So sorry, Millicent Fawcett - no Millies in my house. Ditty Emmelines, even though Mrs Pankhurst was kinda awesome. Why? Cos his DS is Emily and it would be 'too confusing'...
Also no Florence (though Flo Nightingale's status as 'feminist' is a bit questionable), no Margaret.. basically, as he put it, 'no old lady names!'. Damnit, before I'd even suggested Edith!

So, which girls' names do you love that are strong, graceful, and sound like they could grow up to run the country/build their own empires in the future?

(Disclaimer: we might have a DS and that's ok, cos we've got a couple of boys' names that we mutually love. If it's a DD, though, the shortlist is rather less certain. No pressure, though - you're not actually NAMING our DD for us, I just like hearing cool girls' names, and if they're associated with strong, awesome women, all the better!)

OP posts:
Original poster
blackcurrants · 06/05/2010 11:58

It's clearly time to give Aphra the comeback she deserves! She was a completely awesome woman, and gets a chapter of my PhD too.

Well, DH cottoned what I was up to pretty much straight away. I am RUBBISH at keeping a straight face, as I've mentioned, but still, it was amusing suggesting some of the names. He did grin at "Dungaria" ('Is that "Dun-garrrr-eee-aa" or "Dunga-reee-aaah?"' - a good question! )

OP posts:
comixminx · 06/05/2010 08:17

Missus84 - fantastic! I don't claim to know enough about Theodoric to get his kingship right, sorry, but I'm sure DP could give us an essay - as could yours no doubt! I do like the stories about him once he got subsumed into legend. It's therefore got to be in there as an option, though other variants (Derek for instance) haven't struck the same chord as Theodore.

Blackduck - have seen various supporters of the name Aphra on other threads, lovely to see there is a small but noticeable minority who like it.

Blackduck · 06/05/2010 07:59

I love Aphra (well having written a whole PhD on the woman I feel close to her...), would have considered it for a girl.....

Missus84 · 05/05/2010 21:44

comixminx - me and my DP have had similar conversations about Theodoric It's his favourite name (though apparently he was king of the Austro-goths) and Theodore is our compromise name.

dittany · 05/05/2010 17:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

comixminx · 05/05/2010 16:34

Hands off Aphra - I love it and we're using it if we have a girl! it's unusual and lovely and we're having it. Plus, she was a spy as well as a playwright - so cool.

We're considering Ada too, mind, but Aphra is the front-runner for a girl's name.

The thing is that we want a boy's name that is not (too) associated with hacking & slaying - does that also count as a feminist wish? So far we have considered names like Alfred (wise king), Isaac (Newton and Asimov, for their learning), and the current front-runner Theodore (the nearest we can sensibly get towards Theodoric the Great, king of the goths; obviously was a warrior too, but big on law and peace and one of DP's fave historical characters).

sethstarkaddersmum · 05/05/2010 08:53

BoF - I sniggered - will that do?

OBM - Marion in The Woman In White is brilliant, I agree.
My cleaner is called Marion too and she can mend tractors.

Dungaria is rather pretty.

onebatmother · 04/05/2010 23:29

baboom BOF!

juneybean · 04/05/2010 22:31

GhostInTheBackOfYourHead love that name

BitOfFun · 04/05/2010 22:22

Thought I was losing my touch

onebatmother · 04/05/2010 22:17

Marion Halcombe in Wilkie Collins The Woman in White is pretty fab (although efemulated - ^is there an equivalent to 'emasculated' - at the end iirc)

Not exactly, erm, fashionable though

Molesworth · 04/05/2010 22:15

OH!

BitOfFun · 04/05/2010 22:14

Mis sojourner stwat...

DemonChild · 04/05/2010 22:08

My DD is Lilith as well Ghosts, I love the story and wanted a feminist name which is also pretty. Apparently she was a Mesopotamian or Sumerian Goddess before her legend was corrupted (like the witches)

I can't wait to tell her the story of her name (she's 4 months!)

Molesworth · 04/05/2010 21:58

BOF, I'm so dense I didn't get it

BitOfFun · 04/05/2010 21:58

I'll take a smirk if I can't gat a ROFL

TheCrackFox · 04/05/2010 21:46

Mae (West) don't know if she was a feminist but she always struck me that she took no shit.

HerBeatitude · 04/05/2010 21:43

What about literary heroines? Lots of Shakespeare's women are very strong characters who don't conform to expectations of femininity - Portia, Rosalind, Juliet, Miranda, Viola, Cleopatra.

He might not go for Lady Macbeth though.

HerBeatitude · 04/05/2010 21:41

Sylvia (Pankhurst)

HerBeatitude · 04/05/2010 21:40

Eleanor (of Aquitaine, Rathbone, Marx and Roosevelt)

Simone (de Beauvoir)

Original poster
blackcurrants · 04/05/2010 21:28

ROFL @ "Dungaria"

BOF: I smirked, if that makes you feel better?

OP posts:
Molesworth · 04/05/2010 18:32

Bessie (Braddock)?

trice · 04/05/2010 18:18

stumbled upon this. She sounds like an amazing woman but under no circumstances would I name a child Geraldyn.

trice · 04/05/2010 18:15

Amelia or Amy if you like flying heroines.

Molesworth · 04/05/2010 18:10

Or you could make one up

Dungaria perhaps