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?

I know two 40 year old female Jamie's.

And 2 female George's

John Wayne was called Marion

YANBU, it’s such a wanky thing to do and so annoying for the girl. But also for boys…

When I was choosing a name for DS I was saddened to see that in the name dictionary the ‘girl’ section was more than twice as big as the ‘boy’ section. No wonder there are so many boys called Tom, William, Edward etc, there’s just less to choose from!

And then when I noticed that mums of girls were pilfering names from the boys section that really pissed me off.

It does all have a flavour of sexism to it. Certain mums who promote sexist stereotypes and don’t respect anything they see as ‘girly’ then reject all female names as not good enough for their child and see masculine names as somehow superior.

😕

WTH 🤯

Name dictionary?

I just used Google.

And looked through name lists by country, language and religion.

Some names in one culture are female, in another are male and in another are unisex.

Or you might just be giving your daughter a name that means something to you. I’d rather name a daughter James or Ryan than Nevaeh and alike.

Andrea is a female name, except in Russian what's is a male name.
No, it's not. The Russian male name you're talking about is Andrey. It's pronounced differently. Andrey is the Russian version of Andrew.

Many males from Eastern Europe have Carol as a name including a couple of Kings of Romania and a recent Pope (John Paul II).

The Eastern European Carol is a form of Carl. Has nothing to do with the female name Carol (different name meaning).

This.

There are so many girl names, and yet people feel the need to steal boys names because of course their girls is not like those other girls, so no girl name is good enough for her. 🙄

The Eastern European Carol is a form of Carl. Has nothing to do with the female name Carol (different name meaning).

The point was that it looks the same and is spelt the same, not that they mean the same thing.

How do you feel about men named Stacey, Vivian, Lindsay and Marion?

people feel the need to steal boys names

😂

Are parents of girls 'stealing' boys' trousers and tractors too?! LMAO.

I don’t like names given that could be surnames… but guess that’s a whole different thread

I think Carol in English has two origins, one in reference to song and the other as a feminine form of Charles from the Latin Carolus.

Ooh! Begins with M @CellophaneFlower? 😊

St Hilary was a bloke. As was St Florence. Tara also male, King of Ireland.

I have a male name. I'm in my early 40s, so well before any recent trends. I did/do get people doing double-takes or checking they've got the name right. It has never really bothered me, and I've never felt that my parents wished I had been a boy. My name is the the same as my father's, actually, but still no feelings of, "Oh, clearly they wanted a boy!"

As for why my parents chose this name? They thought it would be unique, and yet still a family name. And it wasn't entirely unheard-of, even 40-odd years ago. An actress some 30-40 years my senior had the same name.

The only reason my name gives me pause now is because of the whole trans thing. I don't want people thinking I'm a woman trying to be a man or vice versa. I think it should be obvious that I'm a woman from how I look and present myself, and I don't look like a woman trying to pass as a man (based on how I wear my hair, if nothing else), but it does cross my mind from time to time.

YANBU but parents just want to stand out and be all look at me without considering their child.

I wonder if it was Jamie Lee Curtis that inspired their mums?

Right.

No one can just like a name, it have a special meaning or be the name of someone that the parents want to honour regardless of gender. It is all about stealing boys’ names. Quite ridiculous assumption.

LOL at the idea of parents "stealing" names from boys! How ridiculous!

If you don't want a "standard" name for your son, feel free to make one up. 😂Of course, there are still plenty of ready-made names available from which to choose, including the ones that are being "stolen" and used for girls.

Why not let a name become unisex without deciding that it's now somehow tainted by association with females?

I've never heard anyone in any part of the US pronounce Carol "Carl." It's pronounced "Care-uhl."

And the (albeit fictional) Captain Michael Burnham of Star Trek’s USS Discovery is a woman.

Aww no, I'm wrong. Mine's a C. Bugging me what yours is now 😂

Allison Becker doesn't seem to have done too badly in life, same for his brother Muriel.