Eden - is it too 'feminine'?

[namechange097]

DP and I both loved the name Eden for a boy (I've loved it for years), but have had several comments that it's a girls name and that a boy would be made fun of with it.

Opinions? Would it cause confusion/bullying? It is a unisex name.

I've only met female Eden so it's female in my mind.

My dd has a unisex name and even teachers say "I was expecting you to be a boy based on your name" which annoys her.

There’s no such thing as a unisex name.

BertrandRussell given unisex means "suitable or designed for use by both males and females" how is there no such thing as a unisex name?

Because I can’t think of a single unisex name that didn't start as a boy’s name, and become rapidly unpopular for boys once girls started using it. There are some abbreviations this doesn’t seem to apply to, but apart from that it’s pretty universal.

And names never go the other way. There are no girls names that have been adopted for boys. People don’t mind their girls being mistaken for boys, but not the other way round.

Ellis is very unisex - I’ve met 2 boys & 1 girl with that name

BertrandRussell that's true. Possibly with the exception of some of the surnames as first names or abbreviations. Obviously there are full names with only tiny spelling variations to distinguish male from female - Frances and Francis for example.

There are names currently in accepted use for both males and females. They all started as male names or as surnames.

I'm not sure I agree that they don't have a unisex phase, though they probably all eventually become female names, the way Shirle and Lindsey did...

There are clothing items which began as traditionally male clothing but are now worn by both sexes, I think there are things which can begin as traditionally associated with one sex and become genuinely unisex...

I don't like unisex names though, just from my own experience of having a unisex (or as you say originally male) name myself. I can't think of any advantages, and as a pre teen and teen it was embarrassing.

I also used to teach a class with a male and a female Ashley in it and they both found having the same name embarrassing.

“Ellis is very unisex - I’ve met 2 boys & 1 girl with that name”

There are nearly 4 times as many girl Edens than boy Edens in England and Wales.

I think Eden sounds more masculine than the likes of Lindsay, Hilary, Ashley et al.
Many female names end with a vowel whereas not many female names are two syllable names which end in a hard consonant.
Its always perplexed me that people actually choose Eden for their daughters as there are, to my mind much nicer 'female' names.

I wouldn't use it as a name.

And yes I know that Y isn't a vowel before anybody decides to pounce upon me
Its the sound that it makes when spiken that sounds like a long E, which I think makes a name sound particularly feminine.

“Obviously there are full names with only tiny spelling variations to distinguish male from female - Frances and Francis for example.”

Yes- but I bet if you heard the name nowadays for a younger person you’d think “girl”.

Trying to think of other homophone boy/girl names. There are some which are recent distinctions- Robyn/Robin, Leslie/Lesley spring to mind. But I can only think of Frances/is as a proper “historical” difference.

I think it sounds masculine. I'm not keen on it because it sounds phonetically too close to the Aiden/Jaden/Brayden/Kayden trend for boy's names for my liking.

But definitely a boy name to my ears.

I thought of Eden Hazard when I saw this. He's a he. I think it's a lovely name and works for both males and females.

I only know girls called Eden at the moment. I do know a male Eden who must be in his late fifties.

I think it's lovely as a girls name and I considered it myself. I just don't really like it as a boys name.

I'd also assume you were Chelsea fans - but Eden Hazard is pronounced Ed-en, rather than Ee-den and I think Ed-en does sound a lot more masculine.

I think (without looking up stats) that Taylor, Ellis and Morgan are all genuinely unisex names; I've known equal numbers of each...but they're all surnames, aren't they (although also two are Welsh and, I suspect, did start as boys' names, too).

Nope- all still significantly male. Particularly Ellis-a tiny number of girl Ellises. All three on a rapid decline too. I suspect Ellis because it’s traditionally Welsh, and regional names like that are becoming less popular as people become more “global” in their approach to naming.

And Taylor and Morgan because they were very much of their time -my ds is 18 and had girls and boys called both in his group. They don’t have “stickability” though.