A girl...with a boy's middle name?

[MrsPotatohead1]

Hi, what do you all think of a pretty girl name with the middle name James?

E.g. Elizabeth James... (Not our name choice)

I really like the sound to it, plus it's DH's name... Here in Wales it is popular to use the father's first name as the child's surname, e.g. Cadi Rhys...

I like it and wanted to do the same for DD but her Dad didn't agree. If you like it go for it x

No don't do it.

I have one and I hate it. It's really embarrassing as a child at school etc.

I just don't use it. It's on my passport, that's it. I just leave it off everything.

No thank you! I'm a girl with my paternal grandmothers maiden name as a 2nd middle name, it's also used as a boys name. It was not popular with me as a kid and I don't use it much now.

Could you use Jamie or Jaime instead as they are more acceptably used for girls?

Really dislike it.
Makes me think the parents wanted a boy and were disappointed when they had a girl. Not a positive message to give.
There are literally thousands of girl's names - why would you give her a boy's name instead?

In Scotland, it's quite common to have a family surname as a middle name and some of those can be similar to boy's names. My dd has dh's mother's maiden name as her middle name. If the names fit together, why not?

James is fairly inoffensive, but I still think it might be a tiny bit mean. But hey, it is just a middle name. I would go with Jane or something like that as a compromise

Some of my great aunts (all in Wales) had family surnames as middle names, and two of those would also work as first names - for boys. Never thought anything of it (they all had unusual first names, too, even for their generation.) Not sure if I'd do it myself.

I say go for it, I know several people with their mothers maiden name eg Adams as their middle names and a little girl with her uncles first name as her middle name.
I myself have a fairly extensive list of middle names but they've never caused me much hassle, when I want to use them I do and when I don't I don't.

Our dd1 is Jude .
She's 7 and loves it.

Missed much of the type- meant to say 'first name' Jude 'surname'.

I have a surname as my middle name which is also a boy's first name.

Hated it as a kid, don't really care now, but sometimes folk get confused and think I have a double barreled surname, which I don't.

James for a girl is just not nice IMO. She won't thank you.

James was a unisex name for hundreds of years across Britain, and only fell out of favour for girls in the 18th century, so it's definitely not unprecedented. If you like it, go for it.

I would hate to have a boys name as a mn. Nope. I wouldn't.

I know a woman who's middle name is Stuart - a family surname. She likes it. I can't see any issue with it at all.

My daughter has my surname, which is also a man's name, as her second middle name. I don't really expect her to use it though, I probably won't put it on school forms or the like. I just wanted it on the birth certificate. If she likes it and uses it when she grows up, great, if not, no problem.

I also have my mums maiden name as a middle name. And it can be a boys name. This is an old Scottish custom to emphasise ties to the maternal line.

The difference is that in this case the girl will know her parents deliberately gave her a boys first name, not a surname that also happens to be a first name.

Why not give her your name as a middle name and do the same with DHs if you have a DS?

Agree with Katie. Also in Scotland, the mother's surname was sometimes used as a first name for a younger son (the first son was often named after the paternal grandfather, though not everyone followed this custom).

And, until the 19th century, when UK-wide government documents such as censuses standardised naming customs, Scottish women often kept their maiden surname after marriage.

Why are you giving a girl a boys middle name? Curious.

Hi Flora - have you come across the naming traditions in Scottish fisher families?
1st son is named after father's father
2nd son is named after mother's father etc.

One family I know, it turned out that both grandfathers had the same name, so son 2 got his mother's maiden name (Stewart) as a first name. It was not uncommon to have villages full of men with identical names, and you'd find legal documents referring to "John "Silver Waves" MacDonald", where Silver Waves was the name of the boat he worked on. (they were known as "boat names"). Or John "Farrier" MacDonald.

Scotland is different in that women never lose their maiden name upon marriage and for legal purposes become Jane MaidenName or Surname - known as "or women" for short!

I believe JM Barrie's mother used her maiden name.

Hi Katie - I don't know about fishing traditions, but I've come across similar grandsons-named-after-father's-grandfather-then-mother's, in the past.

My grandmother's middle name was her mother's maiden surname, just like you!

Also in Scotland, I've met men and women with two first names - eg Jimmy Angus. Both are used, not just the first one. Like your fishing boat names, that helps distinguish people with similar first names and surnames living in the same small community from each other.

I know Scottish people, usually from Gaelic speaking areas, who have two first names. I find it hard to get used to calling someone Iain Robert or Catriona Seona, just feels really clunky. And none of them ever abbreviate to just Iain or Catriona.

Squoosh - I think it's partly/mainly because there are relatively few Gaelic names, and people need/want/like to express a bit of individuality.