'Unusual' names: less criticism for girls?

[Porcupinetree]

Was debating with friends and we have concluded that parents of girls given 'unusual' or even unique names meet with less criticism than parents of boys with 'unusual' or unique names.

Do you agree?

I agree that this is the general thoughts, but possibly as girrls have always had more variation?

But i think ALL unique names are odd if i'm honest

Personally I love names that are well known, classic but outside the top 100 or 250, for either boys or girls. In other words I love beautiful classy names that aren't trendy/fashionable/faddy.

However, truly 'unique' names aren't a good idea for either gender.

So no, I don't agree with your view!

I'm not a major fan of unusual names for my kids but glad they're out there or the world would be a very boring place.

Defo think people are more adventurous with girls' names and this seems more acceptable for some reason. Similar to it being ok for girls to be tomboys but not for boys to be girly in a way.

Yes babyblabber I think you may be right, it's like the fear of inadvertently feminising boys. Shock horror!

Yes it seems to be more acceptable to give a girl a very unusual or "unique" name than a boy. Probably because there are more girls names or at least it feels that way but also possibly because some people think it's a good idea to give a girl a boys name but nobody thinks it's a good idea to give a boy a girls name...

In my DC's year groups there are actually more boys with unusual names than girls.

No one ever comments on them.

As someone with an unusual name, please don't do that to your child. You will be condemning them to a lifetime of people mispronouncing their name all the time (they will dread new teachers taking the register) or assuming they have misspelled their own name or that their name is not theirs but actually a more common name that is spelled vaguely like it.

Rather, do what Pipilangstrumf (love the username) says.

I have an unusual (but “real”) name and I actually love it. And nobody has ever "dared" (or wanted?) to openly criticise it ;) (Does this sound conceited...? If yes, I'm just complimenting my parents' taste....)

But I personally don't like names that are made up. Or when parents use adjectives...

I agree with this idea.

DD has an unusual name, although on here it is often debated. We would have liked an equally unusual name for DS but he ended up with one within the top 100 mainly because so many others we came up with just seemed utterly crazy. Much more so than the similarly unusual names for girls.