To wish people were more positive about my baby's name? <kind of serious>

[Truntscump]

DH & I loved the name Luca for a girl throughout my pregnancy. I know it's generally used as a boy's name especially in Italy but her middle name is Rose and I love that it means 'light'.

Anyway, my dear mum very sadly died last summer of Leukaemia and my (usually lovely) Granny (aged 96 and grieving) first said that Luca reminds her of the phrase 'dirty Luca' then a week later she asked if it was too late to change the name beaches it reminds her of Leukaemia.

I was so upset, my baby (3 weeks old) really suits her name and I love that it's a bit different but now I can't stop thinking about the link to Leukaemia :(

You've now made the Huffington post

(slightly different view) It can be excellent for your daughter in business to have a gender neutral name! Women are still far less likely to be invited to a job interview than men - sadly!! I know quiet a few ladies who have 'changed' their names for this purpose eg Chris instead of Christine

Luca Rose is beautiful, don't change it, I'm surprised by some of the comments on here. Unusual names seem to be a lot more popular these days, in fact I'm sure there have been several threads on unusual/posh & unisex names. You might have to grow a slightly thicker skin though!

Congratulations btw

It can be excellent for your daughter in business to have a gender neutral name! Women are still far less likely to be invited to a job interview than men

That's an excellent point. This kind of a sexism is often an unconscious bias, the people selecting for interview don't realise they are giving preference to men, yet it is a very real phonomenon.

So this name could be a gift that open doors for your DD throughout her life.

As well as being a beautiful name :)

Huff post link www.google.co.uk/amp/m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/uk_588f0e20e4b077309837dd6c/amp?client=ms-android-orange-gb

This link might work better - the one above includes all sorts of gumf about my phone at the end -odd!

m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/uk_588f0e20e4b077309837dd6c

mintchoc the Op has already had her baby girl/named her/registered her and she is 3 weeks old. Harsh.

I like the comments about the gender neutral name for business, that's good thinking.

Lol! I've never heard such nonsense on the comparison between the name Luca and leukaemia! The name Luca is Italian the English ecuvelent is Luke. It means 'Bringer of Light'. You grandmother doesn't know what she's talking about. The female form is Lucia which is probably the best name to giver her rather than a boys name.

"It can be excellent for your daughter in business to have a gender neutral name! Women are still far less likely to be invited to a job interview than men

That's an excellent point. So this name could be a gift that open doors for your DD throughout her life."

Yes, but by following along with this hideous fad whereby only things that are male are considered good, desirable or worthy, you are basically playing into the very patriarchal rules and restrictions you claim to be against. "Girls names are sissy. Give her a boy's name so people think she is strong, not weak!"

This story has appeared in The Sun too

"Girls names are sissy. Give her a boy's name so people think she is strong, not weak!"

FFS no one has done that.

We were just mentioning a positive but unintended consequence of the OP's name choice, partly IMO to counteract the frankly ridiculous handwriting about giving a girl a mane which has a long history of being used by girls but - shock horror - is better known as a boy's name.

• handwringing not handwriting! Stupid phone!

Haven't read 23 pages.

Has anyone suggested the spelling of Lucca - as in the Italian town?

Advantages - same name but the spelling differentiates it from the boy's name. Plus many girls are named after Florence and Siena (which are nearby).

As has been said 500 times, Luca is not a gender-neutral name, it's an Italian boy's name.

"Lol! I've never heard such nonsense on the comparison between the name Luca and leukaemia! "

Yep. Nothing' more ridiculous and risible than the sensibilities of a bereaved mother.

"As has been said 500 times, Luca is not a gender-neutral name, it's an Italian boy's name."

Yes, by posters ignoring those of us who have said we know female Lucas.

The origins may be a male Italian name but the reality is there are some female Lucas these days too. Language changes and adapts.

I would have said Sid, Stevie and James are boys names but there are plenty if girls called them these days. Hillary, Tracy and Vivien (sp?) used to get popular boys' names. Now considered much more feminine.

Language - and names - evolve. You can jump up and down shouting it's a boys' name all you like. But because people are also using it for girls (not just the OP) means it's a girls name too now.

So, the ONS record Luca as both a girls' name and a boys' name.

Dark Greener, which uses ONS stats, shows the popularity of Luca for both sexes is rising in recent years, to 2015 (from 1995 I think but not clear).

LUCA (boys): Up from 300th to 53rd
LUCA (girls): Up from 3795th to 2328th

Well, there are 170-odd female Lucas between the ages oh 1 and 18 in the U.K. That's 170 our of 6.5 million. Amazing how many mumsnetters have met, isn't it?

So, now government records show it as a unisex name, please can people get off their fucking high horses and leave the OP alone.

Just because you haven't met a female Luca within the narrow limits of your life experience doesn't mean they don't exist.

*James are boys names but there are plenty if girls called them these days^

James is definitely still a boys name, even though some celeb used it for a girl..

And no matter how many "edgy" parents jump up and down claiming "but we named our daughter James" (or Luca) it's still a boy's name!

Never mind. I'm sure a little girl named "Peter" or "John" will still be perfectly happy. And she'll enjoy breaking barriers in the process, every school break time, in the name of gender equality. As long as her mum knew a Zebedee who grew up without emotional scars. (As it happens, I too know a Zebedee. Nobody ever questioned his gender based on his name or thought it was strange? We'd all have done a triple-take at a female Luca though, but each to their own).

So, now government records show it as a unisex name, please can people get off their fucking high horses and leave the OP alone.Just because you haven't met a female Luca within the narrow limits of your life experience doesn't mean they don't exist.

The Sun readers have descended already Hooray.

Perhaps you don't grasp how tiny that number is if you look at the BMD data as a whole. (as Bert has quoted). That doesn't make it any more a unisex name than Alan, which also has been used for a tiny number of girls in those registers, along with other such names (including James).

Luca, for a girl, fell last year also. Somebody has also mentioned the average number year on year. Cutting and pasting the lot from dark greener when we've discussed those stats at length already. Tsk!

"It can be excellent for your daughter in business to have a gender neutral name! Women are still far less likely to be invited to a job interview than men

That's an excellent point. So this name could be a gift that open doors for your DD throughout her life."

I agree Niska ^ those comments are ridiculous. Completely agree with what you said.

breaking barriers in the name of gender equality.

I'm quoting partially and out of context, so sorry. I'd think that extremely unlikely. I'd think the parents had chosen the name in ignorance because they liked the sound it, and there's that 'universal' rule that an 'a' ending make it a name for girls also

The number of people on this thread, including the OP, who think it's different or unusual is also staggering. If you really think it's unisex then it's top 50 and it is far from unusual.