Aubrey or Beau?

[TheWillowsAtNight]

These are the final 2. Which do you like more?

Aubrey is miles better than Beau.

Aubrey is 100% better than Beau! I would try to add a more common or boring middle name though just in case he doesn’t like it when he’s older ... Aubrey John?

There are a few widely known unisex names, yes. However, if they're not yet widely known to be unisex, it is going to be an issue for a while.

Names like Chris, Alex, Sam, Robin and Pat - most people would know they are unisex.

Names like Billy/ie, Bobbie/y, Terry/Teri, Nic/Nick and Andy/ie - most people hearing them and not seeing the spelling are likely to know they're unisex.

Less common names, not so much. Evelyn, for example, or Vivian/en. I'd say Aubrey falls into that group now, whereas until very recently indeed it was clearly in the male camp in the UK.

Beau. Don’t like Aubrey at all.

Pretty irrelevant, but I have just come into contact with a pair of 8 year old twins names Beau and Belle

I don’t like Beau but it’s 1000x better than Aubrey for a boy. I know it may have been traditionally a boy’s name but it’s a top 50 girl’s name in the US and also becoming popular for girls in the UK too. If it turns out the scan is wrong and you have a girl Aubrey would be lovely though! Just don’t do it for a boy, it’s not ‘out there’ or different, it’s just girly.

Aubrey is beautiful. Love it.

Aubrey. Because I love the books linked by a pp with a passion, too. (And because my DH wouldn’t let me call one of our cats Aubrey)

Love Aubrey. Hate Beau.

Aubrey is an absolutely super name.

I'm not at all keen on Beau, unless you hope that he will be joining the French Foreign Legion.

Hate Beau. Think people will laugh in French class (or French speaking countries) that he's called Beau.
Aubrey is much better imo.

I much prefer Beau although as per other posters I don't like either much

Much prefer Aubrey. I find Beau a bit cute and nicknamey and I think while it would suit a child, I'm not so sure about a middle-aged man.

Plus, as a pp pointed out, the Aubrey/Maturin series is brilliant and Jack Aubrey is a great character.

Not sure why so many pps were confused about the gender: Aubrey has been a male name for a very long time and only recently a girls' name in America. Beau is very clearly masculine...

People are so rude! Granted the names are not to my personal taste, but life would be boring if we all liked the same things!

So to answer your question I prefer Aubrey. Could be shorted to Rey as a nickname and it's definitely the nicer of the two IMO.

Personally I'm really not a fan of Beau. But if you like it then that's what matters OP.

No.

Definitely Beau.

I really can't imagine a school-aged boy would appreciate being called Aubrey. In the last five years it has been used more for girls than boys and last year was twice as common for girls as for boys.

I therefore prefer Beau. Hope you don't mind the explanation OP, but I was always taught to show my working rather than just writing the answer

Aubrey has been a male name for a very long time and only recently a girls' name in America

And in the UK, where it has been used more for girls than boys since 2012. For this generation I imagine it's very much going to be a unisex name used more for girls. In the UK I mean. I don't know about US stats.

Beau is simply awful unless you're a popstar so you can pick any name you like. Aubrey is slightly less so but still dire. But it's all only a matter of individual preference.

They're both absolutely dreadful. Why would you wish you child to go through life saddled with a name like that?

@DiegoMadonna

Ah, interesting. Still, as you said, that only makes it a unisex name, not solely a girls name. There are still male Aubreys. And anyway, Beau is definitely male, so as I said, the earlier confusion over the gender was still a bit puzzling.

@BertrandRussell has often pointed out that once a traditionally male name starts to be used as a girls' name it very rapidly stops being used for boys. This is because in our deeply sexist world it loses status by becoming associated with girls. So I would assume that Aubrey will become an exclusively female name within the next few years. This has already happened to Madison and Addison and I suspect Courtney and Jordan too. Paris used to be a boys' name, not now.

Beau is for the want of a better word chavvy IMO.

Although not keen on Aubrey. Would be concerned he'd be called Orb or Bree as a nickname.