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?

I know someone who is male but is called Michelle.

Not French Michel or Italian Michele, both of which are equivalent to Michael? Poor sod if it is Michelle. I'd have hated to go through life with a name of any sort that constantly led to tiresome repetitive questions.

I always think of a woman I met once whose parents thought they were being incredibly clever and original calling her Innogen, which is apparently a name from legendary early British history. Imogen only arose as a name from a misreading/misspelling of Innogen, so it was much more authentic to go for the original spelling, even though Imogen has completely replaced Innogen and Innogen does indeed look like Imogen written down in certain fonts and when handwritten, so was bound to lead to confusion.

Predictably, their daugther had spent her whole life saying 'No, it's Innogen, not Imogen' and then having to talk about it. She looked utterly fed up when I made the mistake of saying 'Oh, that's unusual!'

I wouldn’t have any problem with Innogen, as I know that Imogen is meant to be a mis-spelling or printer’s error - one of the reasons I dislike Imogen as a name! But I get the point.

I'm interested in whether the people who are adamant that James is a boys name because it is more commonly given to boys would also think that a name like, for example, Lacey-Rae, is a "working class" name, because (and yes, I am guessing) that the statistics show it is overwhelmingly given to children in working class households.

I have seen many threads on mumsnet arguing that there are no names that "are working class" or "posh", despite statistics (likely) showing that certain names are in fact associated with different social-economic groups. Would it be cruel for one group to give their child a name associated with another group?

I personally think there is a difference between saying that a name is "more commonly given to [boys; children in working class households; Scottish children; etc]" and saying blankly that "its is a boys name" and that anyone who does differently is doing something wrong/abusive to their child etc.

I knew a girl called Felix.... Not a nickname. As she was a baby when I first met her, I had assumed she was a boy.

Diddle what are you on about this is about james as a girls name nothing to do with perceived class.

There is a female form of James- Jamesina.

@Mrsjayy 🤪 it's called an analogy! Read the whole thread...

I love it! If my DC was to come out a girl I really want to call her James... if my dp would let me but he wont 😂

There's a food writer called Jack Monroe who is a woman.

Jack Monroe deliberately uses a gender neutral pen name. Her real name is Mellisa.

Jack Monroe writes almost as much about gender politics as she does food, but she is not an example of giving a girl a name traditionally far, far more commonly used for boys, from birth.

I thought Jack Munroe was Jacqueline but read she identifies as gender neutral (or something) so goes by Jack

Sorry cross posted

it's called an analogy! Read the whole thread...
Doesn't work though. When a baby is born they are very definitely physically male or female (barring a very small percentage), and this is not the case with class.

James for a girl are you kidding? Think of the teasing she would suffer when she's older

Calling a girl james is the same as calling a girl William you just shouldn't .
Diddle your analogy makes no sense

Jamie is a boy's name.
Surnames as first names occurs in the USA, because there was a tendency to give the first child the mother's family surname as a first name.

I like James but not sure on a girl, instantly thought I'd think "your parents are very pro gender neutral and using your name to make a point". Having said that Joey and Andy were both girls names on TV shows I liked as a child and they quickly became unisex names in my head as I got to know the characters and Jamie to me is equally feminine as it is masculine so I guess she'd be changing perception for people she meets. Xx

What? a mum moved her kid out of the school because he happened to share the same name as a girl? What a completely bonkers thing to do. Poor child. I do hope there was more to moving him than that.

@diddlediddle I can see what you are getting at but I agree with pp's that the two ideas are not comparable. I think perception of a name in a social context is individual, the names you consider "posh" may not be considered so to others. Names that are historically gender specific are different as they have always been so, for example I'd say Victoria is an English name, used by royalty among many others from wealthy Middleclass backgrounds and you could understand people thinking it's a stereotypically well to do name but I also know many Victoria's (aka Vicky's) who are very working class, including Vicky Pollard... Its ambiguous iyswim, not sure you'll find anyone who would tell you they know a girl called James, Arthur, Archibald, Matthew etc nor consider the name unisex?

I like it! But would i use it or want to be called it? No.

I actually prefer it as a girls name! I never thought much of it as a name at all, would never ever consider it for my sons, but hearing it for a girl puts it in a new fresh light!

I do prefer Andy, Joey, Sam for girls though.

However I think Alex is nicer for boys.

SpelledRong, would you consider calling a son Elizabeth or Jessica or another traditional girls' name?

I know women called Andy, Jo, Tom, Sam, Alex and Ben, but all these are abbreviations of traditional girls names (two of them work together and the reaction from new suppliers when they meet them fir the first time icN be entertaining.). With James, there is no widely used well known girls name that is anything like it.