Polar opposite name ideas! Boyish vs V girly..help!

[mamawhoboreme]

Hello,
Would be extremely grateful for any help! Hubby is American and we are expecting a girl. Apparently in US it is/was quite de rigeur to name your dd after a family surname or a surname in general. Eg. Sloan in "Ferris Bueller" (hubby's example) or Harper, or Blythe. Our son is named Lorcan Alexander which is an Irish name as I have Irish roots. We don't want an Irish name for dd as I'm not keen on most apart from Keavy which is an Anglicised version. My ideal naming situation would be a very "girlie" name, perhaps French or Italian-inspired, I want a name which, similarly to Lorcan, is a normal name but not very common. Hubby of course thinks it would be "awesome" to name dd a really unusual kind of surname-as-first name type thing like many of his cousins in the US. He has a cousin named Karson and one named Tanner. Both girls. I like certain names in this theme but not all.

What do you guys think a good compromise would be? Also what do you generally think of these names...

Spencer Rose
Blake Elizabeth
Blaise Elizabeth
Sawyer Grace
Keaton Grace
Mason Elizabeth

I quite like Spencer Rose, I will admit. I also like Blake. But not sure if I want it for dd.

These are the names I like:

Isoline Grace
Emmeline Rose
Celie Rose
Lisle Rose
Greta Elizabeth
Gretchen Elizabeth
Beau Elizabeth

Thank you for your opinions...much needed and valued over here!!

Only read the opening post, but I like:

Keaton Grace
Emmeline Rose
Gretchen Elizabeth

The name Beau would be for a boy, for a girl it would be spelt Bo.
Ulrika Jonnson has a daughter called Bo.

And there is an actress called Bo Derrick

there is a beau in my ds3's class, she is a girl and its spelt like that, so i guess it varies?

also my dd is called Merryn, but we have now found a boy also called Merryn, some names can be spelt many ways and be for either sex.

i like Emmeline rose, none of the others appeal but they dont NOT appeal either, iykwim?

we also liked Casey, which i think can be male and female?

Bo can also be a boy's name, if you're Scandinavian. There's a boy Beau at DC's school. Aside from it being the old vocabulary word for a (male) dandy,and a male character in Gone With The Wind, it is quintessentially male in France and so will remain a difficult female name in Europe.

Emerson is normally a boy's name too.

I've been trying to think of surnames that have transferred and become definitely female, or commonly unisex, and have come up with:

Shirley, Tracey, Kimberley, Ashley, Lesley, Greer, Beverley, Carey, Cary, Darcey, Hayley, Innes, Lindsay, Brooke, Scarlett, Sidney, Wynne

any of them any good?

I think your list is pretty, especially Greta.
Actually I don't mind surname type names for girls, in fact DD has one but hidden as a middle name (in contrast to her rather girlie first name). Could you do it this way round perhaps?
I do like Sidney for a girl though, don't ask me why!
Blythe is also gorgeous I think.
Congrats!

Spencer - boy
Blake - boy
Blaise - quite pretty actually, and I would expect it to be a girl. But possibly only because of the stripper Immodesty Blaize
Sawyer - boy
Keaton - boy
Mason - boy

Isoline - sounds a bit made up. Isolde? Isobel?
Emmeline - pretty
Celie - Celia or Cecily better
Lisle - pretty
Greta - ok
Gretchen - bit ugly to my ears
Beau - boy

Some of the more unisex names might keep your DH happy - Robin, Morgan, Rafferty, Rowan, Casey, Paige, Darcey. But don't know if you would like these.

Blythe is pretty.

I like Hadley as well, which is surname-y.

I really want to know which way the OP is going now!

Come back! :o

I prefer more feminine names but how about a surname type name as a middle name?

I don't like the general US trend for surnames as some of them are hideous. Tanner is horrible for either sex, for example - do they have any idea what a tannery is like?? Carter, Parker etc are equally horrid for a girl.

Some of the surnames are okay, though. I quite like these ones:

Bellamy (maybe you could nickname her Bo?)
Hollis
Ellis
Avery (although I understand this is quite popular in some parts of the US)
Darcy
Harper
Marlo (I actually think this is really cool)
Lorimer
Embry

Lorcan Alexander is beautiful!

4madboys- your right Casey can be a boys and girls name.
I prefer it for a boy but I would say that as my son is called Casey.

If he had been a girl I wouldnt have used the name Casey.

Hello all you fantastic ladies, thank you so much for your insights and opinions - it is very hard to get any sort of name advice in the "real world" as I think people are a bit too afraid of offending...that or they are just downright rude. But you have all been marvellous. Unless we have a big change of heart we are thinking of going for

Blaise Aurelia Rose

or

Emmeline Blythe

We have decided that we are going to wait and see what she "suits" when she is born out of these two.

If she is Emmeline she will be Emmy for short.

And we have decided next child - God willing - we are aiming for four - will be Blake whether a boy or girl and we aren't going to find out the sex.

Thanks so much for your help!!

Those are lovely choices :)

Blaise would be very similar to Blake.

Ah thank you...hmm you are right...maybe subconciously we've acually decided on Emmeline? Haha, well maybe we'll have Blake as the middle name if baby is Blaise.

Glad that between us we managed to help. Hope all goes well.

I think both Spencer and Blake are very boyish, like Beau.

Of these sorts of names I like Saywer and Scout the best, which I believe are both used as girls names in the US.

Aurora, Aurelia and Emmeline - are all lovely. Especially Emmeline as it is a name with a great history (am thinking Pankhurst).

If DH thinks it's cute to call her by a male/surname, then surely he can use her actual surname as an nn? Why do her out of an actual first name?

Gretchen and Greta are lovely, not as girly as some on your list and not as, er, horrible as his list. Can you convince him that his choice of names really would sound ridiculous in the UK? There must be names which work well in both countries?

What's wrong with your middle name choices as first names, Rose, Grace and Elizabeth are all beautiful names.

SOrry hadn't seen your response, Emmeline is nice!

Emmeline Rose. (hate the American ones)