Can I, as a Feminist, call my daughter Violet?

[Laetitia1]

After many a year of adoring botanical names for girls, it suddenly dawned on me (and I hate myself for this, so do forgive me) that choosing a flower name is perhaps not the most feminist thing to do, for the reason that flowers are above all valued for their appearance and fragrance and are ultimately useless. Then I got all cross at the idea that it is only females who are given flower names, presumably because males are not prized above all for their aesthetic qualities. I am Most Miffed that I have had this thought, as it has quite put me off all my girls' names. I have also put myself off names with an 'ee' -sounding ending for the reason that it is the way of signalling the diminutive in English, which, once again, does not sit well with my feminist ruminations. Am I insane?

So would giving a girl a traditionally masculine name be more feminist? That's a different brand of feminism than the one I subscribe to, but whatever floats your boat. None of us would last long without flowers though, so not sure why you think they're useless. Do you think all feminine things are useless? Like breasts for e.g, or vaginas? Totally useless, not at all important for the survival of the species, things.

And why are pretty things only feminine, anyway?

I think the associations with the suffragette movement are fantastic. I suspect with any name (unless you made something up) you could find associations that you like or dislike. I'm not keen on names that end in the 'ee' sound but I do like Emily for example (good feminist name that!).

I like names that end in 'a' though. DD1 has three (!) names that end in 'a', I deliberately avoided them for DD2 because I wanted them to have very different names (but Elsa was the top rejected name for that reason, and I still love it), DS would have had 2 names ending in 'a' if he had been a girl (Frida and Rosa) but there are famous women with those names that I would be happy for my putative daughter to be associated with.

Yes, you're being silly. Violet is lovely - has a link with the Suffragettes, as mentioned and Violet Baudelaire is a bit of a literary feminist icon imvho. Unless you want to call your child Boadicea maybe?

Seriously - Violet is a brilliant name; don't overthink it.

Yes you are insane. Violet is a beautiful name and nothing wrong with that!

You are over thinkin to the point of not being feminist. Feminism is about equal choice. Therefore name your daughter whatever you choose