Why is choosing a girls name harder than a boys?

[Jakethekid]

I am currently 18 weeks pregnant (seccond child) and have been thinking about names. I do not yet know the sex so I am just generally thinking about both.

With my first child I somehow just knew he was a boy before I had my 20 week scan and I had a name chosen from very early on, never swayed and this is the name we kept. It just felt right. This time around however I am finding it so hard to think of one which led me to think. It may just be me but how come it's easier to think of a boys name than a girls? For some reason when I think of girls names I get an idea of what that person looks like /personality is like and for some reason girls name seem to bring more negative feelings than boys.

Is it just me? I see the name Matthew, John etc etc and I just think, nice normal name. Then I see a girls name (won't say any particular ones because I wouldn't want to offend anyone) and many names make me picture what that person would be like.

Obviously I don't know what the sex is yet so I needn't worry too much, I just don't know why it is I think this way. There is not one girls name that just feels right, yet I could easily pick 10 boys names that it would be happy with.

Girls’ names do tend to go in and out of fashion more quickly, which is probably why they bring up stronger images/associations for you. Lots of common boy names eg. Henry, William, James, George, Samuel, Edward have been in popular use for years so feel much more timeless.

If it helps, girl names that have a similar timeless feel to me are:

Elizabeth
Katherine
Helena
Susannah
Meredith
Annabel
Philippa
Jemima
Georgina
Harriet
Naomi
Emma
Lucy
Polly
Anna
Flora
Clara
Alice
Eve
Rose
Grace
Elise

I know old and young beaters of all of these names!

I also think boys’ names often feel more “classless”, whereas girls’ names do tend to bring associations there too, perhaps? Not sure all of the above tick that box, but some do (I think).

Completely the opposite for me. I have two girls that we named easily and adore their names. Currently 34 weeks with a boy and so far DH and I haven’t found a single boys name we like, let alone one we agree on!

Eleanor90

One of those on your list will be a middle name if it is a girl but the first names are hard. Your user name is also a name close to my own funnily enough.

I do think it could be something to do with possible years of women being judged off their name and what connotations certain names bring. I'm not sure. Every name I can think of either reminds me of another person with the same name or seems to be a very popular name.

I tend to like longer names that can be shortened because for some reason I think a long name is more 'professional' when they're older (which is probably a load of crap). However my two favourite names are Anne/ Anna and Fiona.

I'm a very indecisive person so I am one of those that worries that I will never be able to make a decision I'm happy with.

soydora

Are you wanting a classic name or a more modern name? Are you and your husband similar in the names you tend to gravitate towards?

All the names I have been thinking of that I like all begin with the initial as my son's and I don't really want to have the same first name initial. Maybe it's a subconscious thing, I don't know.

Tell me about it!

We 4 gorgeous boys names, which I love. We'll make a final decision when it's born. But if we have a girl...

For me it's partly the associations with real people. The bigger problem is that DH doesn't like longer names. Which is fine for a boy, but for a girl I much prefer something longer that we can abbreviate.

It doesn't help that we also want Welsh names but live in England, so have to be very careful about pronunciation.

Ha! Complete opposite - love so many girls names but boys? I really struggled naming my boys , none of them were registered until they were a month old as we were still deciding/arguing about names!

I'm the opposite, I have two girls, both pregnancies I struggled to find any boys names I really liked never mind loved ! Had both my girls names easily .

I'm now pregnant with #3 , really early days so not really properly thinking about names but I already know it's going to be difficult to find a boys name that 'fits' !

Opposite here!

DP and I have had a girl's name picked out for years, and have others we like a lot. When pregnant we couldn't settle on a boy's name and decided to cross that bridge when we got to it, if we had to (didn't find out sex before). Of course, we had a DS. Who didn't suit any of the names we'd discussed during pregnancy and went without a name for a week.

I adore his name, but boy names were HARD. Still set on a DD's name, but if we have another DS I anticipate another struggle!

I just feel there's more judgement with girls name for some reason. I may be wrong.

I recently read a thread about names and how they rhyme with other things and you have to be warey of the name as it could become the thing people use to make a rhyme ro take the mick out of them. The majority of names on that were girls names. I wonder if it's society that makes us judge a girl more on her name than a boy . If I said Sharon/ Deborah/ Patricia for instance I think of a middle aged lady around 45-65 but if I say Matthew/Samuel/Jonathan I don't picture anything. It's just a name then.

It's hard picking a name when that's what your child will be addressed as (more or less) for the rest of their lives.

I think boys' names are much harder. I find lots of boys' names rather dull and bland - safe, if you like. Even though they're nice, they don't blow me away. It's hard to get an interesting, unusual boy's name that isn't wacky. It's probably because I think it would be harder for a boy to live up to an unusual name than a girl. It's easier to have something more interesting, unusual, creative for a girl without it being completely weird.

I’ve been looking through girls names and what has struck me are just how many there are they sound very similar. Sooo many A and E names and ask just so many variants of the same few names - Elle, Ella, Ellie, Ava, Eva, Eve, Evie, Evelyn, Emily, Amelie, Emilia, Amelia etc. I just don’t find that as much with boys names.

I completely agree with @daisypond. We have several girls' names that we love and they are probably erring towards more unusual. But the boys' names that we would consider are very safe, traditional and dare I say, a bit boring. It makes it very hard to love those names as much as I love the ones we have picked for a potential girl!

Anna is lovely.

Im the opposite. Lots of girl names i loved. Could not agree on a boys name. Good thing I only had girls.

We're the opposite too.
We have one son already and he was hard to name and now pregnant again and still finding boys names harder!
We don't really like traditional/top 100 names which doesn't help.

I was exactly the same as you - down to the problem with the first initial! In the end we decided that we were going to use the only name we’d both vaguely settled on even though it meant that the children had the same initial - it’s not ideal but it’s better than picking a random name that one of us didn’t really like. She’s 2 weeks old now and I still don’t feel 100% about the name.

I have lots more girls names on my lists than boys as I find girls names more appealing if that makes sense? If I have a boy it is 1 of 3 names but if it's a girl I have to agonize over 6 names that I love equally lol Girls names seem to be more interesting imo

I definitely agree! We are expecting our THIRD girl, and I genuinely don't know where to start with a list, the second girl was hard enough. I had so many boys names I would have been more than happy to use!

'If I said Sharon/ Deborah/ Patricia for instance I think of a middle aged lady around 45-65 but if I say Matthew/Samuel/Jonathan...'

What about an Ian/Brian/Gary/Wayne/Keith 😂

I don’t have kids, but I like writing stories which means naming characters. There are far more girls’ names that I like. (Not a published author or anything like that, just a fun hobby).
I imagine that when it comes to naming actual children it’ll be much harder, as I’d have to take a partner’s opinion into account (the bonus of fiction, you get to use names you like). I also like more unusual yet not too out there names, and boys are harder for me. Sometimes I’ve browsed baby name threads out of pure interest and very few suggested boy names appeal.

Completely the opposite for me. I could happily use any one of 10 or 15 girls' names and be happy, but there are very few boys' names I like and I can't really imagine any of them being my child.

I agree with a pp, it's much harder to find an unusual but still reasonable boy's name. So many are dull and overused, but anything a bit more uncommon seems too much.

I didn't want to give a pretty pretty name. It seemed a bit anti feminist. But then not an ugly name either. Boys' names seem much more sensible and solid. We considered
Anna
Maria
Olivia
Megan
Lucy
Rose
May

Complete opposite for me. I’ve always liked an abundance of girls names but struggled greatly with boys. If I ever had another and it was a boy I would have absolutely no idea what name to choose! I’ve used the two I liked with my DS’s whereas I could name a girl in a flash.