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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Cool/tom boy/no frills - girls names

292 replies

Pippathenippa · 20/02/2019 12:01

Appreciate this style isn’t to everyone’s taste & ‘you won’t know what she’ll be like’ has been thrown around but then you don’t know if she’ll be sickly sweet when you call a little girl daisy? You may recognise me from the Connie or Frankie thread! Grin I still feel like I’m looking for that perfect cool name for our second little girl! Please give me all your amazing suggestions, you’ve all been so helpful so far!

OP posts:
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GreatDuckCookery6211 · 20/02/2019 22:02

James and Michael? They are boys names, it would be like choosing Arthur or Douglas for a girl, that would be ridiculous!

MidnightMystery · 20/02/2019 22:09

Billie
Bobbie

CoperCabana · 20/02/2019 22:25

Call them whatever and teach them to be whatever they want to be. Calling them bloody Michael or John is ridiculous and is insulting to women. We don’t have to have men’s names to be great. Ffs

BertrandRussell · 20/02/2019 23:00

“Calling them bloody Michael or John is ridiculous and is insulting to women. We don’t have to have men’s names to be great. Ffs”
This. Oh, so much this.

Sophronia · 20/02/2019 23:03

Devon
Morgan
Rowan

taxiforme · 20/02/2019 23:06

My D niece called her daughter Peta (pronounced Peter)
It suits her - they are very cool

BettyUnderswoob · 20/02/2019 23:14

Would all those suggesting James, Michael, Jeremy, John, Evan etc. consider calling their sons Olivia, Sophie, Grace and Annabelle?

If not, can you explain why not?

SilviaSalmon · 20/02/2019 23:18

Jim or Trevor

BertrandRussell · 20/02/2019 23:25

“If not, can you explain why not?”

Oooh oooh I know this! Pick me, pick me pick me! Is it internalised misogyny?

feliciabirthgiver · 20/02/2019 23:31

Has Piper or Willow been suggested?

Tillygetsit · 20/02/2019 23:32

My 5 year old is very much a tomboy. Her name? Susannah. Now that wouldn't make your kick arse list would it?!

FrozenMargarita17 · 20/02/2019 23:33

My girl is called Cali

BettyUnderswoob · 20/02/2019 23:43

In one, Bert !

And boys/men themselves would never countenance living their lives with a girls’ name, lest they be thought variously cissy, poncey, effeminate, weak, with compromised machismo etc.

Girls called Bob and Kev are strong and cool though, or something.
I blame Enid Blyton with her George and Darrell.

BettyUnderswoob · 20/02/2019 23:46

And jeez you can’t decide in advance that your unborn or just born daughter will be a “tomboy” (hate that phrase).

sweatybettee · 20/02/2019 23:53

Marnie

wellhellothereall · 21/02/2019 00:15

Sydney I live that name

BettyUnderswoob · 21/02/2019 00:38

Jim or Trevor Grin

mathanxiety · 21/02/2019 01:56

Romy
Greta
Frieda
Eden

I agree with all the comments about how misguided it is to equate 'tomboy'/ masculine/ unisex names as cool and the alternative as sickly sweet.

No, you can't guarantee that someone named 'Daisy' will prefer to sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam over a life spent mucking around with slugs and snails, but there is no reason why a child named Daisy wouldn't choose either one, and there is no reason why a child named Daisy could not choose both. You are the one choosing the name so it says more about you than the child that you have a preference for names that reinforce the hierarchical concept of gender that hits us in the face every so often.

SilverBirchTree · 21/02/2019 04:55

So feminine names aren't 'cool' by you @Pippathenippa ?

Another one who finds the whole premise of this OP fairly sexist.

I suggest you google Daisy Pearce, an Australian footballer and see if her name still seems 'uncool' or sickly sweet to you.

RiverTam · 21/02/2019 07:24

I think some of those putting actual boys names down might be taking the piss...

BettyUnderswoob · 21/02/2019 07:35

Yes, some of them certainly are, River but there some apparently genuine James and Michael suggestions, where those names are tucked in beside otherwise reasonable names.

Barbarafromblackpool · 21/02/2019 07:36

What's your other child called?

Sakura7 · 21/02/2019 07:54

Eleanor
Genevieve
Freda
Marianne
Olwyn
Robin
Simone
Stella

I do kind of agree with PPs though. You can't tell what your girl's personality will be like, and anyway, there are lots of strong girls names that haven't been 'donated' to us by boys.

longestlurkerever · 21/02/2019 08:20

I do get the premise, especially the point the boys are never given girls' names, but I do think people are being a bit harsh to the OP who didn't actually say she wanted a boy's name (her suggestion were Frankie and Connie) but something that didn't immediately conjour up delicacy and frills in her mind. I think that's fair enough. Names are an expression of taste and the image we have for our children and there is no reason why the OP must prefer a pretty, delicate name for her DD. I wouldn't pick Arabella or something for the same reasons. Not that I don't think an Arabella could run the world but it's such a frilly sounding name it just wasn't the style I would go for

Twisique · 21/02/2019 08:29

Lois