Rowan or Eilidh for a girl?

[gastrognome]

Hello,

We had pretty much settled on Rowan as our favourite boy's name but have just discovered that our baby is probably a girl.

What do you think of Rowan as a girl's name? We'd probably pronounce it to rhyme with "Cowan" (as opposed to "roe-an").

Is Rowan definitely a boy's name for most people, or do you think it works well for a girl?

The other name I love is the Scottish name Eilidh (pronounced Ayley). My only issue is that as we live abroad nobody would have the first clue how to pronounce it and she would spend her life being called Eyelid. Or am I being daft?

Does anyone have any thoughts?

These are 2 of my dd1's best friends names!! Roan is definitely Ok for a girl, with the pronounciation that you suggest.

Eilidh is lovely too, but it is unusual outside of Scotland I think. Mind you, the one in dd1's class was born in London and her family have never said that it was a problem (though they do no live in Glasgow).

I have not heard of your pronunciation of Rowan....still like it as a girl's name though.

Eilidh will confuse people if it is unusual.

sorry - bit of a problem with my w!

Its Rowan as in Rowan tree, right?

My name's Saoirse (pronounced sairsha) and no one can ever pronounce. I've been called all sorts in the past. I really like Eilidh.

I love Rowan for either a boy or a girl, one of my favourite names.

Eilidh is a pretty name, but you probably are going to have issues with people spelling and pronouncing it wrongly, so I might avoid it for that reason. People get my surname wrong all the time, and it is annoying, you do get used to it though...

Rowan is lovely for a boy or a girl.

An alternative spelliing for Eilidh is Aillie the scottish version instead of Irish

I've never seen Eilidh spelt Aillie!

Rowan is a very lovely name for a girl, and is my daughter's name (not biased). Couldn't imagine her being called anything else.

Oh am so glad people like Rowan as a girl's name too.

I've always pronounced Rowan (the tree) as stated above, apparently (or so I'm told) that's the Scottish way of saying it. My dictionary gives both pronounciations for the tree...

Anyway we've got a while to decide how to pronounce it, if that's what we go for!

Still love Eilidh though but am hesitant due to people constantly saying and spelling it wrong... Another issue of course is whether the Belgian authorities even recognise it as an acceptable name! (they have rules for stuff like that here!)

I have a Rowan (second name Elizabeth), and her name is regarded as unusual (but pretty)

She was always the only one in her school.

Also we have a special rowan tree that is the same age as her, which she loves.

weegiemum - I know two, I'm over in the east . Apparently it's a variant of Alice

Love rowan for either sex, prefer it pronouced roe-an though.

I'm not keen on the name Rowan (for either sex), sorry. I think Rowena is much nicer for a girl. I also like Eilidh.

I love both names, and I think Rowan is perfectly lovely for a girl. But not pronounced as in 'Cowan' -- more Roe-an.

Eily is a nice variant of Eileen that is very pronounceable and close to Eilidh in sound without the 'eyelid' complication.

I know only one Rowan it really suits her, but I love Eilidh very pretty.

Rowan is definitely OK buand can't work out how you are going to pronounce it (I'm always a bit crap at this).

I would be careful with Eilidh despite it being one of my favourite names. I know one (they live dahn Sarf) and they are plagued by the eyelid pronunciation.

Up here (Scotland) it's fine. In the SE it appears to be tricky.

Rowan is lovely for a girl. I've only ever met one, but thought it a great, go-anywhere sort of name.

The wonderful midwife who delivered my son was called Eilidh (in London). I had the impression that she found it a nuisance to explain and that she was bothered by the similarity to the rather downmarket Hayley. Which is a shame, cos it's pretty, but my vote would definitely be for Rowan.

I love Eilidh - it's pretty common up here in Scotland; I know several. FWIW, my English best friend doesn't like it because she thinks it sounds like someone who isn't well (ie 'ail-y', which had never struck me.

Not so keen on Rowan, but think it's nicer as a girl's name than as a boy's name.

I know both girl and boy Rowans. It works well as a girls name. They both pronounce it like Cowan.

I see your problem with Eilidh,though it is prettier, IMHO. Are there any names easier in Belgium that sound much the same?

I like both Rowan and Eilidh.

If you dont live in the UK then Eilidh might be a difficult name for people to know how to pronounce.

I instinctively call my friend's daughter Rowan to rhyme with Cowan - it's the Scots pronunciation - and I have to check myself each time. It's definitely a proper unisex name for me. Eilidh is pretty - my cousin who lives in Canada now chose to spell it Ailey to ease spelling issues.

I love Rowan, wanted to use it for DD, but DH wasn't so keen. Would pronounce to rhyme with cowan for a girl, the roe-an pronunciation reminds me of Rowan Atkinson, and therefore feels much more like a boys name. Eilidh is OK, but I wouldn't use it unless she was going to grow up in Scotland.

DD's mn is Rowan - love it. I wouldn't have had a clue how to pronounce that other name. It's pretty, but she'll be correcting people forever.