to use James on a girl?

[AyGirl]

Am overdue. Baby has not arrived. Do not know gender. Have finally after much indecision, decided a girl will be Iris James. Mentioned to DB who got very upset and kept on saying it's not a girls name. Mother has rang me this morning and said he was so upset because he wants to name a son of his James. Keep in mind he is not married or having a child. I do think they are TTC. But I want to use Iris James!!!!! She said that I shouldn't and should save it for him because it will be his first child and a son. So what, the two beautiful little girls I've delivered into our family are nothing. A boy will probably be Gage Theodore.

My older DDs are Hattie Juniper and Cleo Annika so we use quite different names.

Cousins can have the same name. I have 3 sets if cousins called Jo and Chris.

James is widely used as a name name. I have had to explain my middle name for 45 years. I deliberately gave my children unremarkable names.

a bit not abig

If a celeb has done it surely it is a green light for us mere mortals to do so also without criticism.

You're kidding, right?

The one thing I leant when pregnant with my first was NEVER discuss your name choices with anyone; friends and family or randoms on the Internet. People will be opinionated and rude whether you ask their opinions or not. It spoils the moment when you announce the name as you'll know Sandra from work thinks your child has the most hideous name she's ever heard or you get situations with people bagsying names.
If I were you I'd tell anyone from now on that you've chosen a name but aren't tell anyone until baby is here then announce. FWIW, I think Iris James for a girl is beautiful and if James has meaning from your partners side of the family, even better.
Like a previous poster said, MN is full of liberal, gender neutral, unprejudiced post yet all of a sudden it's 'you can't have that, it's a Boys name'?

Yes yab to give another female a boys name. The only 2 saving graces are that 1)it's her middle name and 2)it's also a surname so she can explain away your madness quite easily.

Given that names can't be owned your brother would be within his rights to use it as well.

No, you're not unreasonable to use James for a girl, just ridiculous and stupid. - bit fucking harsh to call OP stupid.

I personally like it OP. I love different names and should names necessarily be gendered? I have a male relative named Kim which is usually a name given to females, never bothered him or anyone else.

I agree with whoever said this:
*Seems odd to be so keen on using James because it has meaning for a girl, but apparently not for a boy.

I would feel you were trying to annoy your brother.*

I don't think your naming choices should be influenced by our mother or brother. Or by someone calling 'bagsy' on a name. But I think you are doing the reverse, trying purposefully to 'shock' your family and friends by showing how cool and edgy you are. The notion of it being a tribute to your father in law is ludicrous when the name isn't even being considered for a boy.

I would hate to have a male name. You don't seem to countenance a female name for any boys. YABU to use it for these reasons, nothing to do with brother.

JAMES sounds great as a second name. Love the shake up of gender names and it's a GOOD name. Don't compromise turning it into Jamie. Nowhere near as nice, a bit naff for a girl too.

Your bro - leave him to calm down. He'll recover (hopefully!)

And good luck!

Kim has always been a unisex name!

Iris Jane?

James does sound as though it was your maiden name. If it wasn't, she isn't going to thank you. The brother issue is a red herring.

It will sound to her as if you wanted a boy after having girls and she will feel miffed. But I do hope you do have a girl as I shudder to think what it would be like for a boy living with the name gage.

Two of my GSs have the same name (i.e. cousins) and it is not a problem - we just have Big X and Little X.

Kim has always been a unisex name! I did say USUALLY given to females. It is far more common for women.

Kim is actually historically a male name.

Love the shake up of gender names

It only goes one way though, not many boys named Sue.

My DS has the same name as my DNephew. I used it first but they used it as a family name. No issues ATM as one is used as an abbreviated name. Although when the abbreviated boy gets called the full name for being naughty it does scare the full name boy!

Why not just call a boy James? It would make life much easier than having to continually spell Gage and pronounce it for people. Is it gauge or gaaj??? In years of supply teaching I've come across so many irrate teenagers that are utterly fed up of having to correct random illogical names that are tricky for people to get right first time. Admittedly this was a key factor in choosing very mainstream names for my DCs.

Middle names do have to be used on official documents. Some people like to use them as an alternative to their first name, so it is important to consider a name that's practical for a person to live with.

DB can't bagsy a name. If he wants it that much, he can use it anyway.

I really like it OP

I don't think you should not use in because your brother wants to use it for his as yet existing hypothetical son

What if he has girls anyway?

Do it!

Exactly Gloria.

James = boys names, not given to women.

Kim = unisex names, previously more common amongst men, more common nowadays amongst women but a unisex name nonetheless.

Totally different scenario.

Yy gloria

You can have a regular name with a nice story/connection behind it, but usually when people name their kids after favourite authors etc it's nearly always Harper after Lee, rarely Emily after Bronte or John after Updike

My dads sister is called Jamesina which is the Scottish feminine version of the masculine name James. She has always been called Ina though

love james as a mn for a girl.
do it.
your brother can still call his son james. he doesn't own the name. james is hardly an out there alternative name for a boy.

James = boys names, not given to women. - but it is given to women, so I guess that would make it unisex? Wiki believes so anyhow

Yanbu. What you name your child is no one else's business! Keep the name - it's pretty

Nice to see this thread has brought out the usual MN nastiness.