Why don't people give boys girl's names?

[CurlewKate]

Just that. Why do people think it's OK to call a girl Rory or Jamie or Michael but not to call a boy Daisy or Ada or Sylvia?

Lynn Davies was a male long jumper.

Kerry Mayo was a footballer (the only footballer named after two Irish counties 😂). His wife is also called Kerry, leading to the chant "there's only two Kerry Mayo's".

I knew a true Danish viking, built like a brick shithouse called... Fleur.

There was a female comedian whose name I forget who has since made a lot of money, apparently, suggesting English names to Chinese people, paying particular emphasis to meanings etc.

Her own daughter is called Beau.

(In case anyone gets confused, Beau is the MASCULINE form of beautiful. For a girl it should be Belle. Each to their own of course but if you make your living from anxious Chinese parents who want their child to have the perfect English name, you'd think you'd know the basics.)

I think Kelsey is a name traditionally more female oriented but has also been accepted as a boy's name.

My ds1 has a unisex name, but it was originally a male name because misogyny. Two different spellings - Asher for boys and Asha for girls, although over the years I have taught a female Asher and a male Asha.

Probably because of misogyny, people say I'm going to give my daughter a masculine name because she's going to be strong. A man with a feminine name would not be looked at as a strong man, unfortunately.

In Sikhism all traditional Sikh names are intended to be unisex, although over time quite a few have naturally ended up being used for one sex over the other. But it's still definitely not uncommon to see a name people associate as more feminine, used for a male.

Yes they do, remember the actress Michael Learned from little house on the prairie ?

then there is John Wayne’s real name- Marion

not to mention the actor Mandy Patikin

the wrestler Big Daddy was called Shirley Crabtree

Mandy Patinkin is called Mandel. Mandy is a nickname :)

The women's name Shirley comes from the book Shirley by Charlotte Bronte, where the eponymous character declares that she has "been given a man's name" . . .

I'm glad that some of us at least are addressing the inherent misogyny in this issue. Thank those of you who have.

What was your parents' reasoning for such an unusual name for a girl?

Michael was the name of a grandparent who they wanted to honour. Although not enough to have used it for either of my two brothers who came along first.
My sister was mortified all through school. She used to pretend that she was called Michaela (arguably a worse name) or Michelle.

It’s true that boy names often become more popular for girls, and rarely the other way round (Evelyn, Hilary, Kim etc).

But recently I’ve noticed a growing trend for names that I would have thought of as unisex becoming more popular for boys. Rowan, Sam and Alex all spring to mind - I’m middle aged and when I was growing up those were mainly girls’ names; now they seem to be used more for boys. Could this be a tiny step towards sexual equality? I do hope so.

Michael Learned - played Mrs Walton in The Waltons. Her Dad was convinced she'd be a boy and set on the nane Michael, when she was born a girl he didn't want to name her anything else

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Brown

I went to school with a boy called Jodie. I'd only ever heard it for a girl but apparently its unisex.

@WhisperingAutistic I worked with a boy Jody.
I actually like it for a boy.

I went to school with a bit called Daphne. He was mortified.

Sam and Alex are nicknames though. So it's that the names Samantha and Alexandra have become less popular. I don't think parents would have ever put Sam or Alex as stand-alone names on the birth certificate for girls. Samuel and Alexander are still popular for boys though.

Off-topic but this is a fun website to play with:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/dvc363/babyindex.html
I tried to delete the preview in my last post and it looked like the url was still there but apparently you can't do that...

Is Aiva pronounced like Ivor or Iver?

It doesn't read like it's pronounced Ava.

Though I think Ava would actually be quite a nice name for a boy.

Wikipedia says Kelly is "historically a male-only name, but has been used as a female given name since the 1960s, though with a significant minority usage as a masculine name, especially within Celtic families."
It looks like Tracy might have originally been gender-neutral.

But recently I’ve noticed a growing trend for names that I would have thought of as unisex becoming morepopular for boys. Rowan, Sam and Alex all spring to mind

I'd say Sam is less common for girls now as Samantha is no longer a popular girls' name. Although I would think of Sam as primarily a boys' name, probably because I'm married to one!

I only know female Rowans, even though it is/was a boys' name. I have two godchildren called Alex - one of each 🙂

SiL is Sandy.
Many of the girls names that started as boys names became that way after the First World War when sisters and wives named their children after dead husbands or siblings.
mum old enough to have known both a male Hilary and a male Beverly.

names for girls..... www.mumsnet.com/Talk/baby_names/3968184-boys-names-for-girls

This is a recent thread - the OP specifically wanted a boy's name, not unisex like Alex or Ashleigh, so lots of suggestions of James and how cool it is for girls. Nobody is calling their son Sophie.