To wonder why it's OK - even considered a positive thing- to give girls names that are traditionally considered boy's names but....

[BertrandRussell]

.......not the other way round?

Is that what you see actually happening with the children you know/see HaveCourage?

I think it's stupid both ways round. Especially when it comes from a desire to be younique unique.
I twitch every time I see a girl called Beau.

Yes! I have personally been criticised for allowing my daughter to indulge her current pink, princess, unicorn obsession. She'll clearly grow up thinking she needs to marry a prince to be happy. (Or have a unicorn). Equally I've been praised as 'progressive' for having pink tops for my sons
I literally couldn't give less shits what anybody does, as long as they and their children are happy.
I do now get stabby now when I hear/see the 'I normally avoid pink' line, referring to daughters, trotted out by mothers who also encourage their sons to wear Elsa dresses. Can't bear hypocrisy!

(Disclaimer: What I am about to say is what I think is the case, not what I think should be the case!)

It's just because women who aim to be as "good" as men are lauded and men who aim to be as "good" as women are ridiculed. Tomboy v sissy. "Strong" woman v "weak" man. The sexuality of a woman who acts in a way that is perceived to be "manly" (job, attitude) is not automatically questioned in the way that a man who acts in a "feminine" manner is usually presumed to be gay.

Parents (usually) don't want to give their children a difficult childhood. Parents know that it is not the norm for a boy to be given a name traditionally given only to girls, and they don't want to use their child as a guinea pig to see what affect it will have on them.

As Johnny Cash sang, A Boy Named Sue might have grown up to be a strong (ie, aggressive) and "manly" (ie, violent) man. But very few parents deliberately give their child a name which will lead them to be taunted and abused, just because they hope it will help them "grow up strong".

Robin and Rowan are still predominantly male names.

But we still haven't come up with a man/boy with a traditional female name. Loads the other way round though.

I have to say my opinion is not from a sexist or blue vs pink place,but rather a mother tongue place. Everything is gendered in my language(nouns,pronouns,form of verbs,adjectives etc) and so are names. So I'd never name a girl James and a boy Ella,because it's just wrong in my head. Same with words from different languages(especially gendered languages ).

Also -- reinforcing the "direction of travel" of names (male ==> unisex==> only female) think about Jude. Unusual male name becomes female nickname and is now becoming a "girly" name therefore increasingly taboo for a boy. Depressing.

Oh how my linguistic teeth would itch if there was a boy called Ella! As bad as girls called Beau.

What about Jean?
Female in the uk,
Make perhaps in other countries?

It's a different name though, it's not pronounced the same way.

Assuming you mean as it would be pronounced in French.

Yes if you saw it written down, you wouldn't know would you if it was a he or she?

Wasn't the wrestler big daddy called Shirley?

I think Arena is a UK brand? It's the brand that most European swimmers wore at the Olympics a few months ago.

Well, if the surname was clearly French I'd assume boy. If an English surname is probably assume girl/woman. If no surname, I'd assume woman as I'm in the UK. L

I'm with you on Beau, Bertrand.

Btw are you a woman using a man's name just to exemplify your point...?

There was a thread last year about calling a baby girl James (I might be wrong though). Out of hundreds of responses, me and a mere handful of others thought it unreasonable. It sometimes some people do it to be trendy or different, not considering when their DD goes to secondary school and is teased.

Whereas, Mackenzie for instance, I like for a girl and have relatives in the US who have a daughter with that as a second name and it's not unusual (Taylor for instance is fairly common too).

Who was the famous male American Marion?

(Americans are a law unto themselves of course.)

Bertram Carol Reed, the film director. Evelyn Waugh, the writer. Though both names were originally masculine, now they are seen as feminine, but were still given to men.

In Scandinavian, lots of men are called Kim and Jan, which are feminine names in the UK, so dunno if that counts?

Marilyn Mason?

I knew someone called Hilary who found it very useful, professionally, that people often took a while to realise that she was a she (corresponding by email). Revealing.

Bertrand Beau for girls is my biggest pet peeve. Especially when people insist it's a known girls name and there's nothing male about it. Grrrrr