AIBU to not understand this recent trend of giving baby girls male names?

[LaLuz7]

James, Ryan, Dylan...

I can't wrap my head around the idea of purposefully choosing a very traditionally male name for a girl.

Why would you? What message are you trying to send? Why don't you ever see it done the other way around (female names for boys)?

I personally feel that if I had gotten a male name it would have made me feel like my parents really wanted a boy and were disappointed in me. It would feel almost spiteful and it would give me inadequacy feelings.

My other gripe with this is that it doesn't sit well with me from a feminist perspective. By giving girls male names (but never ever the other way around) you are perpetuating the idea that masculinity as a trait is desirable and valuable above femininity.

Can someone explain it to me?

They only really sound more masculine because girls names date quickly whereas boys names tend stand the test of time!

I'm a bit lost then. If it's not inherently a good thing to give "girl's names" to girls and "boy's names" to boys, why is it problematic to give "boy's names" to girls? Why would you have felt such extreme negative emotions if your parents had given you a "boy's name"?

I do agree about the double standard bit. I think it's still more unusual for parents to give names that are commonly used for girls, to boys. And as PP have pointed out, once a "boy's name" has become associated with girls, boys stop being given that name.

And Michelle or Michaela was not an option?

Rowan , Robin and other nature type names are really unisex aren't they? Keith Richards has a daughter , Dandelion. Although she uses her middle name , Angela.

Michelle or Michaela don't have the same religious connotations.

Talking of religion, I remembered I went to school with a girl whose middle name was StJohn.

There was no archangel Michelle!

Dylan Emily really wound you up, eh OP?

I think you point is lost OP, it's been disproved really. There's plenty of 'male' names used by women and obviously'fe ale' names used by men.
I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter

Recent? I remember as a small kid learnIng that the drummer in the all-girl band The Bangles was called Micheal. Cool. 😀

Julian was a very popular girl’s name from around 1067-1400. Whether it was also a boy’s name at that time, or just swapped to generally become a boy’s name later, I’m not sure. In fact, DD had a Julian (female) in her class at primary school.

Well no, because there are no female angels. Presumably her mom knew that.

Dandelion must be ' Gender neutral '
Surely ?.. I quite like it , but not that much for a boy oddly enough. You wouldn't call a boy Daisy.
I heard one little girl was called Tiger , which I'm
Not sure would suit a boy as much. The boy in outnumbered , his real name was Tiger , but with a y and that isn't as bad for either sex
Maybe people just don't like traditional names that much ? One celeb called their child ' moon unit ' I think , which is just cruel

Yes, it really did.

You don't say doctoress and doctor do you? So why do certain professions/jobs require you to distinguish between make and female?

Do you mean Michael? Her given name is Susan.

Which was presumably why she chose Michael, lol.

I just can't get worked up about it, but then I know quite a few men with what we think of as typically female names - Lesley, Tracey, Stacey, Vivian, Dee and Jamie are the ones that spring to mind, though I'm sure there are others.

Isn't Bob Geldof's daughter called Tiger Lily?

It is sexism, pure and simple. Giving a girl a male name is ‘strong, fierce, cool and unusual’. Giving a boy a female name is ‘wet, wimpy, silly and strange.’ Which is why, as soon as a name becomes unisex, boys are no longer given it.

The patriarchy, it is live and well.

Not necessarily true - I have a boy Max, I’d say that I know more females with the name Max than males. Although admittedly they might be a nickname (for either sex - my Max isn’t really a Max either!)

I had names picked out for my girls hea that I was told were boys names, I just felt they were unisex. I had Rhys, Rowan, Alex and Quinn on my lists for example. I know that they're not quite the same as Ryan and James but I also don't think they'd even get a second thought now when we have such a diverse range of names. A lot of names have switched genders as well like others have pointed out there are a lot of female names that were originally male names, it's not a new thing. Lauren was a boys name up until the 1940's. I heard the name Dylan used for a girl about 15 years ago and remember thinking it was actually quite a pretty name for a girl though so maybe I'm not the right person to be commenting 😂

My mum and brother both gave "unisex" names. When my mum was born, her name was used more on men than women. Nowadays the only men you come across are in their 70s or older (my mum is in her 60s).
My brother on the other hand, rarely any girls were given his name when he was born mid 80s and now nobody would give their boy the name as it's seen as female.
My mums name isn't used on either sex now.

I would only ever use a 100% boy name on a girl in the middle name spot if itnwas to honour somebody and there was no chance I'd be having another child/boy. I know somebody who used James as middle name for daughter as it was the daughters dad's name and sadly he died before she was born.

I quite like Tiger for a girl tbh, but I know I wouldn't have named my girl it ( if I had had one that is )
Was Lauren then changed to Lawrence maybe ? Maybe the names just changed over time to whatever was seemed as more 'manly ' sounding ?

Storm is nice, but if you saw it written down on its own without any prefix , photo or some clue or other , I wouldn't know of that person was male or female! Maybe this is a good thing ?
Although there aren't many times that would happen I suppose. I'm defo overthinking this

No - it's got roots as a male name going back to the 5th century or so. The feminine version is very 20th century.

Clare wasn't a woman's name. How is this a new trend?