Rowan - is it unisex and does it matter?

[Kezmond]

Hi there, your help needed please!

We are having our first child and it's a boy. I wanted to call him William after my dad but my other half is keen to call him something a little more unusual. We've found it really hard to agree on a name, and after getting close with Zachary, Joseph and Harvey we've settled on Rowan - my partner thinks it's a lovely gentle sounding name, we liked the natural connection to the tree and also the irish heritage (our families are irish).

So his full name would be: Rowan William Sutcliffe

A few of my friends have intimated that it's now more trendy as a girls name - does this matter?

Any views welcome! I am due next week so the clock is ticking ha ha!

Kx

I think of it as a boys name when pronounced Roe-an (Roe as in fish roe, or Row as in to row a boat), but as a girls name I would pronounce it Rou-an (the ou as in ouch or Row as in arguing with your husband!). I think it's lovely for either but would stick to the male pronounciation for a boy.

What Pepsi said, made me think Rowan Williams. Love the name but not with William!