'Masculine' sounding girls names.

[mixedberrymilkshake]

I cannot abide overly twee girls names, and am hoping to find something that sounds 'masculine' and almost surnamey.

At the moment I like-
Sloane
Tate
Blair
Peyton
Quinn
Whittier

Any other suggestions? Ideally they'd go with classical, albeit more feminine name like Charlotte, Alice, Jane...

Avery with your surname sounds great btw

I do think some of them sound very American or wannabe celebrity, or as though parents are just trying to think of something 'different'. I'm not personally into names that just seem to be random words like hunter, sky, heath, etc.

If you were going down the surname-for-firstname route, how about an existing family name - perhaps your mother's or grandmother's maiden name? If that happens to be Winterbottom, then I can understand why you wouldn't want to go there. But if it was something more firstname friendly like Brooke, Blake, Beckham (!), Sullivan, Carson, Emerson, etc then it would tick your preference boxes but also be personal to your family rather than plucked out of thin air like the many McKenzies that are the subject of DNA tests on Jeremy Kyle (it's true - it's a popular name!).

Failing that - Michael is often used as a girls name. But I think you're going for something more unisex than a boy's name for a girl option.

writes down Emerson

Emerson Jane how about that?!

I like Emerson! And if she wants too later, she could be Emme or Emma.

Still wish someone would use Hadley though...

Emerson is lovely,weirdly when I first suggested it I did think of Jane as a middlename.

I thought of a few names (as I love unisex names), but then with your name they didn't really work. I think you should avoid 2-syllable names as they sound too sing-songy with your surname, so even if the name itself isn't twee, the overall sound might be.

You do seem to prefer 1-syllable or 3-or-more-syllable names anyway, so it's not such a problem.

If your surname is Brown, then I think Sloane doesn't go well as only one syllable and has the 'n' sound at the end, sounds bad. Emerson is much better even though also has 'n' as there's a lot more sounds in it to distract.

I like Avery Charlotte

Not sure about Jane with your surname...maybe it's the 'n' thing again, just sounds a bit too plain Jane.

Emerson Grace is better, I think.

"Michael is often used as a girls name"? Really? I've never heard of any female Michaels.

I don't think the surname is Brown... I think the surname is Wendy, John, and Michael's last name from Peter Pan. In which case Michael is definitely out!

Ahhhhh, I see. DEFINITELY not Sloane then. Can you imagine!

I was like you - wanted a non girly name for dd. Called her Sydney.

Sting has a DD called Michael.

I always think the name Timothy is nicer as a girl's name. It is actually quite pretty.

Curtis (like the author: www.curtissittenfeld.com/)? Maybe because of the book Prep, I always associate this name with strong, preppie Ivy League kind of girls
I love Parker and Sidney (like Neve Campbell's character in Scream).
I'm also a fan of Harper, disregard the Beckhams if you love it.

I just had to google the list of chancellor's to workout your surname . I can understand why you would prefer something masculine. You really shoudl consult the American baby name websites, you will get plenty of suggestionson there. What about Meredith?

One of The Bangles (and The Runaways) was called Michael. She did look a bit like a bloke though iirc.

Bernard
Richard
Thomasina
Nigella
Roberta
Leslie/ey
Kim

I do see your difficulty with the surname, but I can't see how a masculine name solves it. Think Blackadder Goes Forth :o

I think whatever name you choose, be it butch, girlie or unisex, there will always be the occasional irritating twat who tries to make a joke out of it. Same goes if it was a boy. Actually I think it's a nice name, jokes or not, there are many much worse.

For a brief moment I wondered why a twee name with the surname Brown would be an issue.....then I though some more on ex-chancellors!

You are right, I have just said these not too twee names and they sounded twee with the surname:
Jennifer
Catherine
Susan

However, these are some names I think stand up well to that surname:

Joanne
Jocelyn
Caitlin
Catriona
Rachel
Seren
Lorna

And more masculine
Brooke
Frances (I think this sounds great)
Thomasina
Drew

Couldn't you lose the L in your surname to make it sound a bit more feisty!

So many amazing suggestions :) Thank you all so much!

I always loved Dale. Reminds me of a sassy private eye from the 1920s.

And Rae was my choice if we'd had a girl, I also don't like overly twee/feminine names .

Frances D...g sounds REALLY great.

And strangely enough, most girl's names do sound really twee with Brown as well. I think it sort of shows them up.

Haven't read whole thread, apologies if this has been done.
American top baby names here

Looks like Harper is 32nd so not that unusual after all.

Ooh yes, Frances is great! :)

Aubrey for a GIRL is no. 20 on that US list

Whatever next?!