"Girls" Names For Boys?

[Jossina]

I've just read a fantastic article www.kaseyedwards.com/the-subconscious-bias-of-unisex-baby-name-trends/ that made me think what "girl" names I think would work for boys. They are:

Grace
Natalie
Abigail
Kathryn Katharine
Rachel
Dora
Deborah

Not sure I can see a boy called Catherine

Let me be the first to say the wrestler known as big daddy is /was called Shirley.

I think all virtue names can work for both genders; say this all the time.

I don't think any boys/men would thank their parents for calling them any of those names, op.

Sue?

Very interesting article. Maybe the solution is not to call our boys girl's names but to give out girls girl's names so they don't think they have to be a boy to have any value in society

Download the song " A Boy Named Sue".

Artemis is a female name - Artemis Fowl. That's it. Can't think of any other. I'm sorry, I live in a world where it makes it much harder for a boy with a dainty girl's name like Grace. I know a few women with boy's names and have female cousins with gender neutral names. Sorry, MN. Not the other way around. Not unless they choose it themselves in later life.

My son has a name people would probably think is a "girls name", but he can pull it off.

Kim
Robin
Mackenzie
Brooke
Troy
Dion
Alex

All common for both sexes where I live.

Jude, Harper, Dara, Pat, Jo, Frances Frankie Toni ...have seen some star recently with James for girl

Shirley was originally a male name. Charlotte Bronte changed that by using it for one of her heroines.

Loopylou17 It has nothing to do with girls. It's about how people think of boys. That they need to be masculine and anything associated with being feminine is wrong. That if a boy is named something like Grace (which bellinisurge calls "dainty") he'll be bullied and thought girly. Why? Grace means: simple elegance or refinement of movement. Courteous goodwill. In Christian belief the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings. How are any of those things something a boy can't represent and still not be respected? Misogyny and the obsession with making boys be non feminine hurts women because it devalues things that are considered feminine.

junebirthdaygirl Mon 20-May-19 07:32:32
Jude, Harper, Dara, Pat, Jo, Frances Frankie Toni ...have seen some star recently with James for girl

Yes, but if that star had a son would she ever consider naming him Elizabeth?

I don't think any boys/men would thank their parents for calling them any of those names, op.

Yes - the question is why. I don't know any reason other than the shame of boys being seen as 'girly'. 'Girl' names being seen as weak (even the ones which don't end in 'ie' sounds)

Everyone know who Marion Morrison was?

Leslie is used as a boys name....

There are quite a few names which seem to have changed from boy to girl names, off the top of my head I can think of Lindsey, Hillary and Shirley, but I know there are more. It’s very much once the name has made the jump it never goes back to being a boys name.

Leslie is used as a boys name...

It is (always was) a boys' name - yes, there are some which end in 'ie' but quite a few of those are ones which have become 'girls'. In that case, as Lesley, but as mentioned Lindsey, Hillary and Shirley.

As the piece said, this isn't new and it's pretty much only a one way street. Growing up in the 60s and 70s, I was surprised by finding that many names of girls I knew had once been 'boys' names - Kim, Vivian (spelled that way, not the 'feminised' Vivienne), Hilary, Evelyn, Beverly. Leslie/Lesley was about the only one I can remember which was used for both at that time that I knew of.

I remember going about 26 years ago and a women was expecting.
I wasnt friends with her but knew her to say "Hello" and exchange pleasantries, anyway.
She named her dd Robyn and I remember thinking.
" What a weird name for a girl."
Yet Now I couldnt Imagine it on a boy.
Also weren't Florence and Evelyn originally boys names.
So perhaps it could go like with James for example.
One day in 100 years time Ava could top the name charts for boys and it could become unheard for girls.
Then 30 years after that someone could use it for their dd and people may say "Ava? That's a funny name for girl". And older generations will be saying. " Well it was originally a girl's name".

dont know if these are originally girls or boys names but are defo unisex

Kyle
Rylie
Lesley
Cameron
Alex
Chris
Francis
Ashley
Blair
Casey
Drew

Leslie IS a boy's name. It's the male version of Lesley.

Op, a gender neutral name is fine. You want to virtue signal via your child and call him Fifi, that's your call.

Francis is the male version of Frances.

Also weren't Florence and Evelyn originally boys names.

Afaik 'florence' derives from St Florentina who was female.

Evelyn is (I think?) somewhat unusual in having been used for both sexes for quite a long time (I bet it's declined in popularity for boys as it rose for girls though). Evelyn Waugh's wife also had this name so they were known as 'he-evelyn' and 'she-evelyn'.

That article is so true, and it's something that I've really noticed in myself, to my shame - I know if I'd had a DD I would have dressed her in dinosaurs and blue, but I never even glance at the girls' section for DS. I once dressed him (as a newborn!) in what I thought was a unisex vest with a tiny bit of pink on it and I was met with confusion when I said he was a boy, even at my local sling meet, the home of hippiness!

I do think it's interesting and true that Blake Lively can call a girl James and it's just slightly weird, but if she'd called a boy Lucy everyone would think she was totally mad, and a bit cruel. They also would have thought she 'really' wanted a girl, which no one ever thinks about the girl-named-a-boys-name, in part because we seem to be in a place where, even though we don't value teen or adult women at all, little girls are now considered to be obviously and clearly more desirable than little boys

Op, a gender neutral name is fine. You want to virtue signal via your child and call him Fifi, that's your call.

That's not the point of the article or thread.