James as a girls name?

[CaitlinEJ]

Hi all,

I met a little girl called James the other day, at first I thought it was weird but now I’ve got to know her it’s really cute and suits her. I’ve heard of a few other girls names James and I was wondering what everyone thought of it as a girls name?

There are so, so many girls names in the world. I just have no idea why people now use male names for girls, it’s extremely irritating.

Irrelevant fact - the actress who played the mum in The Waltons is called Michael Learned

I wondered if this was a stage name (one of the Bangles was called Michael but it wasn't her real name) but, no. Wiki says

"Learned said that her parents never explained why she received a masculine first name, her father telling her elusively: "if I had been a boy, I would have been called Caleb, but I was a girl, so I was called Michael."" Thanks dad.

I would think it weird but I don't know why, I like Jamie for a girl and love names such as Stevie, Frankie, Terri and Toni etc which are all boys names but just spelt differently

I thought it was quite well known that James can be used for a girl ...apparently not.

I really like it for both sexes. Don't see any reason why it can't be a girls and boys name. Much stranger names out there!

DS has Teagan girl and Tegan boy in his EYFS class. Tegan boys Mum took him out after a term and moved his school because she had "chosen a unique name for him which someone else had and that someone else was a girl." Tegan boy didn't seem to mind at all and had to restart EYFS at a new school all because of his name-poor kid.

I know someone who is male but is called Michelle.

My dd has a name that is a male name but has recently over the last 10 years gained more females named it.

James is a common girls name in America. Blake lively and Ryan Reynolds daughter is also called James.

@FrancisCrawford I just feel like your attitude about some names being factually "boys names" and some being factually "girls names" doesn't make any sense. I would call it outdated but it isn't - PPs have pointed out many names over hundreds of years that have become unisex or have started as boys names and are now girls names (and I am sure there will be opposite examples - in fact yes I can think of Artemis off the top of my head - a Greek goddess, now given to boys). Names are constantly in flux, and anyway nowadays gender is more important than sex - and gender can be very fluid. Sorry to rant but it's nonsense to pigeon hole names by sex - especially when they are names like James that genuinely sound like they could be for anyone (I admit that Brian might be a tougher sell for a girl )

names like James that genuinely sound like they could be for anyone

Oh come on. I suspect 99% of the population would be 'huh?' if they were introduced to a baby girl called James.

Nerd that I am I've just done a search on the ONS website for girls' names in 2017. Nearly 6000 names used but no mention of James.

Love it

Alice Cooper is the stage name of Vincent Furnier. Chosen for the shock value of a man having a feminine name; that name in particular as she was a notorious medieval witch.

I once knew a very elderly lady called Nicholas.

Bloody awful calling a girl James. So try-hard.
Parents would only do such a thing to make themselves look cool, but in fact it makes them like ridiculous twits. And their poor child is the one who will bear the brunt of the ridicule.

And yes, “James-but-a-girl” would be their inevitable moniker.

It's becoming more fashionable in the US to give girls boy's names. Cameron, Elliot, James are all girls I know in the US.

Laughable.

Jamie is more often used as a girl's name than a boy's but James definitely a male name . Appreciate people should be able to call their children what they want but also have to think about the hassle it's going to cause the child

There was a girl in the Norwegian football team last night whose name is Graham.

origami- her name is Caroline Graham Hansen. It may be that she has decided to use her middle name now but she was given the very normal female name Caroline.

Also the "surnames as middle names" is very common in Scotland, the northeast of England and I daresay in Scandinavia too.

I have two friends called things like Laura Ross Jones and Sally Matthew Smith - Ross and Matthew are surnames with family meaning, just like Graham.

Eliot, Cameron and James are boys names, whatever American filmstars might call their kids.

James is a common girls name in America.

No, it isn't.

[]] It doesn't feature in the list of top 1000 names given to US baby girls in 2018. Jamie is 614 for girls and 722 for boys. James is no. 4 for boys.

Forgot link! www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/popularnames.cgi