Boyish girls names

[patienceisvirtuous]

If I like:

George (Georgina)
Max
Beau
Robyn
Ollie (Olive)...

..what else will I like? They are not quite hitting the spot but are along the right lines.

Don't even know where to start with boys names!

Bernard...

I LOVE Aurora with Rory for short.

And Christian for a girl

Ray or Rae .

Hakluyt, why can't it just be that the OP likes the sound of them rather than she's making a sexist statement?
I personally really dislike the sound of names like Ellie or Sophie. Just because those names sound quite feminine does not mean I have an issue with feminine women. This is one case where the personal is not necessarily the political.

Toni (Antoinette)

"Hakluyt, why can't it just be that the OP likes the sound of them rather than she's making a sexist statement? "

I don't think she's making a sexist statement. It's just worth thinking about. I don't like frilly "girly" names either. I don't see why that means giving a girl a boy's name. And I have never, ever heard of anyone giving a boy a girl's name. And once a traditional boy's name becomes associated with girls, generally speaking it's not used for boys any more. ( think Hilary, Joscelyn, Vivian........) All worth wondering about.

I know boys called Casy and Jesse and Sasha. I know they are unisex but they sound feminine.

Jesse and Sasha are traditional boy's names. And anyone who suggests them on here will always be told by some people they can't use them because they are "girl's names"

No sexism intended, I just prefer short, no frills names, and the unisex ones just appeal more to my 'taste'. No significance other than that.

Tbf I actually like Jesse and Cass as boy's names. Being labelled as 'girly' names wouldn't put me off using them!

jaundiced I think Bernard might be a winner :o

*boys names

Frankie
Sydney

Nell
Ann
Thea
Emma
Kate
Grace
Fran
All short, no nonsense names that won't end up with her being left stranded at a airport because the person meeting her thought he was meeting a man (as has happened twice to my niece who is Dr Sam.............)

Charlie
Alex
Jo
Jaye

Has anyone suggested Bobby? I met a little girl called Bobby, she was so chic and cool!

Tamar is a wonderful name. And an actual girls' name to boot.

I think hak is making a good point (although I understand that the op wasn't planning on starting a debate). You'll find loads of traditional female names that are short and unfrilly without having to label them as 'boyish'. I guess the comparison is implicit: because being a girl who is seen as boyish is 'cool', but a boy seen as girlish is 'wrong'. Reminded thus of that Madonna lyric (again):
"Girls can wear jeans
And cut their hair short
Wear shirts and boots
'Cause it's OK to be a boy
But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading
'Cause you think that being a girl is degrading"

moxon I get the general point obviously.

However, it's certainly not implicit that I want my dd to be seen as boyish because it's 'cool'. I would want her to be whoever she is and to be proud of that.

As it happens, I think the boys names I am drawn to are quite 'girly' - say Jude, Tristan, Jess, Cass, Tristan, Beau etc. No?

For girls, I'm liking Blake, Nell, Emma and those in my OP (thanks all for the ideas btw) :)

Ainsley
Adrienne
Jules as nn for Julia
Also I think calling a girl by two initials is boyish (thinking CJ on the westwing
Percy as nn for Persephone.

"As it happens, I think the boys names I am drawn to are quite 'girly' - say Jude, Tristan, Jess, Cass, Tristan, Beau etc. No?"

The point is they are all traditional boy's names. Well, except for Beau, which isn't a name at all. Most of the names you list for girls are actual boy's names. Not unisex. Boy's. Names which mean that somebody would automatically assume she was a boy if they couldn't see her.

I've always thought Blaise would work for a girl.

It's been said on another thread and touched upon here, but Beau is not a girl's name. It's the French masculine form of an adjective that means 'good-looking'.
So to call a girl 'Beau' is the equivalent of calling a boy 'Pretty'.

Yes, there was a medieval French queen named Ysabeau of Bavaria, but that was a nickname for her real name, which was Elisabeth.

FWIW, Blaise is a boy's name, also: www.behindthename.com/name/blaise

I know Blaise is a boys name (in fact I even know a boy called Blaise). I just think it works equally well for a girl.

Hasn't there been some research that suggests women with names that sound male are more successful than those with obviously feminine names? Might be another side to the well known 'identical CV, interview is more likely to be offered to the male candidate' experiment. Depressing but I wonder if the effect will be even stronger for this generation where very feminine names are so feminine.

No offence meant, Hainault; my apologies. Live and let live etc.

Discussion forums are just that, so here is just one point of view. Many may disagree:

Names such as Blaise have been used (in various forms) for boys for at least 2000 years and using a name traditionally given to boys tends to bring with it the expectation, at least among most people, that the person with that name is male. It's like calling an orange an orange, rather than an apple.

Of course there are exceptions, and always have been. And of course, it is the OP's absolute right to name her baby anything she chooses.