Alex

[MonstersDontCry]

Okay so I'm due in 5 days and we've finally decided on Alex. We like the name but don't love it IYKWIM? It's the best one we're going to come up with, so we're happy with our decision.

It will just be Alex, not Alexander. What do you think?

I love Alex as a girls name too.

Another one with a handsome Alexander- but always Alex. (Unless he's being norty, in which case it's the full name) It's a fab name.

When he was smaller, and we'd call him a cheeky rascal, he'd shout back crossly "I'm not a cheeky rascal. I'm an Alex!"

I didn't know what gender your child was until I read Alexander. For that reason I don't like. I don't mind androgynous nicknames, but a full, CV name should indicate gender imo.

My terribly handsome, kind and lovely teenage Alex(ander) is one of several in his school year, both M and F. I think of it as one of those hardy perennial names - there's always a few around, but it's not super-fashionable and doesn't date.

Why is it necessary for your gender to be apparent on your cv???

I actually agree with allegra about a name suggesting a gender. There are very, very few unisex names, and Alex is I think the main one (other like Frances/Francis etc have a different spelling for either gender). At work I sometimes have to complete forms based only on a name, and Alex is one name really trips me up - most of the Alex's I know are girls so I tend to go for 'Ms' on the form but you never know. So I know what allegra is getting at, though I am probably biased because I prefer longer names on birth certificates.

I did used to really enjoy it, though, when DD was a tiny baby dressed in white and people would ask the standard "what's their name?" to figure out the gender. "Alex", I'd reply chirpily, and enjoy watching their face fall

I still don't get it! Especially as you point out there are so few unisex names. Not a problem at all. Not like you want to call the kid Barbara, which is traditionally unisex.

My nephew is Alex. Just Alex, no middle name either.
I quite like it despite it being pretty popular but would definitely put Alexander on the birth certificate personally.

My DS is just Alex. Alexander we'd never use and he and I have a double barrelled surname so too much of a mouthful!

DS is 2.6 and I know of one other Alex who's almost 4, and that's just a friend of a friend, so not someone who's likely to be in his class etc.

I know an adult 'just Alex' and he's never had any problems.

My ds2 is an Alex/Alexander. He's nearly 10 and very popular, kind, sensitive and creative. Lovely name but he definitely took a long time to grow into it, especially with our long surname, but it suits him perfectly. The only issue we had is that there are 4 other Alex's in his class. Strange really that its just that year as it's not consistently that overused.

It is very popular ( which I didn't realise). My Alexander has one friend called Alec and another two called Alex.