Too Girlish?

[priscillamacduff]

Hi everybody! I'm Australian, and my husband's Irish, and we're expecting a baby boy but we're not quite sure what to call him. No "Aussie" names have really appealed to me but my husband brought up the Irish name "Carroll" and I must say I love it. We are a bit concerned about his future, though, because how many boys do you see these days with the name "Carroll", even though it is a unisex name?! Any thoughts? Thanks!

Hmm not sure, it's a surname to me ! Never heard of it as a first name for a boy . Being Scottish it's pretty much a no from me because of the rr sound , sounds awful in my voice lol

To me, it's about as unisex as kate. Definite no.

I've never known a male with this name.
To me it's a 60/70's female name.

I'm Irish and I've never heard of a guy with this as a first name. It's definitely a woman's name.

Sorry mistyped! meant to say to me it's definitely a woman's name, not that there's no way it's a boys name also. It's just I've never heard it.

As an Australian, "Carol" and any other spelling of it are only applicable to females, and, even then, only to females over the age of 55.

So, no.

No..... make your son's life easier and give him a name that is never used for girls. Things like Taylor that are used equally for girls and boys are not so bad but I would personally completely avoid Carrol because to me it is a name only for girls. (My Dd knew a girl called Jamie and she changed it to a girl-only name at about the age of 9).

Sorry OP, but it doesn't work for me.

What about Cole, Cameron, Callan, Calvin, Calum/Callam, Cian?

I am going to disagree with everyone else. Carroll is a lovely name for a boy. It's traditional and has a nice strong sound to it, plus it actually means "manly". There are plenty of boys' name in the current top 10 which have a very soft feminine sound to them- Luca, Noah, Alfie. Compared to them, Carroll sounds very masculine. I do know a Carroll in his 70s and he wore the name very well all his life, even when many women his age shared the name. Believe me, your son won't have any little girl Carols in his school and he's unlikely to know any mummies called Carol. There might be a couple of kids at school vaguely aware that their granny is called Carol but that's about it. I think any negative comments would come from your generation so if you don't care, then go for it. Your son's generation will get to know him and assume Carroll was only ever a boy's name.

It will be a girls name for 99% of people. And not really a very nice one at that. I think that it could prompt teasing

I like it, especially if he is due around Christmas time. Yes Carol is a dated female name but the extra l makes it seem more surname-esque and as a PP states it's highly doubtful he would have any female Carol's his age so his peers may not strongly associate it as a dominant female name. I think it could work.

Note: I also think Lesley, Jocelyn and Lindsey could work well on boys these days too - Beverely and Kelly less so

I had no idea it was ever a male name, I’ve certainly never met a male Carol. They’re usually middle aged women with short hair .

greencatbluecat I’m still gutted that DH vetoed Jamie/Jaime for eldest DD but then I also worry she would have been teased for having a ‘boy name’
Although I know blokes called Stacy, Sasha and Kelly and no one bats an eyelid.
Carroll is not even a nice unisex name OP. Cameron?

I've met men called Karol - Polish name - but not usually Carol.

Ive never met a male Carol/ Carroll.

I do know a Karil but I’ve never met a male Carol/Carolle
I think he would probably hate it

My son has a more feminine name but I love that they can be carried off as unisex

How about Cyril instead?

I didn't know this was man's name / unisex name. How interesting!

I prefer Carl/Karl. Or Carlo.

I’m with Petra, use it. I love it. Although my son has a name that is spelled the same as a girls name but pronounced differently and is a very old boys name. He does sometimes have to correct the pronunciation but it doesn’t bother him and he likes that there are no others with his name.

Btw OP I do know both men and women called Carrie/Carey/Kerry.

If your husband is Irish he'd know that Carroll is a surname, not a first name - people just don't use the name that way here. It's awful. Marks the kid out as a wannabe American with a name along the lines of Mackenzie etc instead of an Irish person.

I really like Cary as a boy's/man's name.

I would say yes, definitely too girlish as its pronounced the same way as Carol. Callan perhaps?

I quite like it, but maybe that’s because I can remember the film director (I think) Carol Reed.

Using a surname as a first name may not be an Irish think but it’s certainly a Scottish thing and not necessarily bad, depends on the name. But then I’m not particularly snobbish about ‘American’ names, though I’ll admit to being a bit about some Aussie names - Summah, anyone?