“Strong”/ unisex girls names

[aprilfools19]

Some that I like are

Alexandra shortened time Alex or Andi
Helena shortened to Lenny
Dylan
Juliet (obviously not unisex but I think it’s strong sounding)
Brynn
Theo
Edie
Ellen

I tend to shy away from frilly very “girly” names as they tend to only suit girly girls. Can you imagine Ellen Degeners or Cate Blanchett or evening someone like Michelle Obama being called Poppy or Daisy? (Nothing wrong with those names- lovely names but I want something that’s more adaptable to all personality types).

Forgot to add Robyn

I don’t think Juliet is strong. Rather the opposite, with the “et” ending. It means little Julia.
Edie is weak too - it’s a diminutive with a cutesy ie ending.
Theo is a boy’s name. Thea for a girl. Dylan is a boy’s name too.

A frilly name hasn’t held back the prime minister of New Zealand.

You might like:
Rowan
Tess
Liv
Anouk
Aster
Sonnet
Jet as a nickname for Juliet
Tamar

Morgan

I think pretty much anything not ending in ie feels “ strong”

Margaret is pretty powerful

I know a couple of little Theo’s short for Theodora. Why is it any more a “boy’s name” than Alex, Charlie, Sam? Same for Dylan? Lots of female Dylans out there!

dame I suppose “frilly” is very subjective as I would never say Jacinda is a frilly name.

Charlize?
Mischa?
Michael can be a girls' name (shortened to Mischa)
Joan (of Arc)
Hillary (bonus pints - was a cool Blyton Head Girl)
Wallis (Mrs Simpson)
???

It’s multiple syllables ending in an ‘a’ so fairly girly, wouldn’t you say?

dame not at all! Then again I wouldn’t call names like Isabella or Gabriella “frilly”. Feminine yes but not overly frilly or girly. Again, all subjective. Frilly to be is Lucy, Daisy, Poppy, susie etc

I love JAMIE for a girl

Edina - nn Eddie

I think Edie is girly. It’s so close to Evie etc.
Bryn and Dylan are very much boys names.
Juliet certainly sounds feminine to me.

I like Robin but I know one who dislikes her name. She was teased with Redbreast at school.

How about Lindis?

I really don't think name type is necessarily linked to personality. For instance, just look at the names of female athletes and sports stars. They're clearly powerful, determined, successful and have names that range over the entire spectrum, from perceived 'tough' to perceived 'frilly'.
And - very sorry if this is impolite - I don't think that giving a girl a boy's name does anything to advance respect for women. If anything it diminishes it.
As previous posters have said, some of your suggestions are boy's names - even if in the past few years they've been used by minor female celebs. For example, when I see Brynn I can't help thinking of a large Welsh singer with a big deep voice:

Noa (female Noah)

I think it's a matter of opinion if you think a name is frilly or strong. Personally I don't think Robyn sounds strong at all and Juliet sounds very feminine to me.
I also think Michelle is also a very frilly feminine name and Michelle Obama would still be the same if she was called Daisy or Poppy.
Just chose a name you like, the name will not define your baby.

Aurora (Rory)
Georgina (George, Georgie)
Francesca (Frank, Frankie)
Thomasina (Tom, Tommy)
Antonia (Tony)
Leonora (Leo, lee, Leon)
Raya
Michaela (Micky)

I've never met a female Dylan tbh and only a couple of male ones!

A lot of your 'unisex' names will be read by most people as male I think.

Why do you associate 'strong' with essentially male names? The names you list are all male but adopted by girls as well over the years. Why can't a 'girls' name be 'strong'?

Some questions to mull over.

I'd pick a name which is generally known to be female with a unisex shortening if I were you. Your daughter then gets a choice based on her own preference.

What about Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of Sydney?

Or Betty Friedan, or Coco Chanel, or Lulu? All strong, successful women with “cutesy” names.

Anyway, you might like...

Hero
Quinn
Anna
Piper
Greta
Honor
Erin
Fallon
Morgan
Blair
Greer
Wynn
Maeve

This is what we were aiming for with DD - I’m not a fan of fussy or cutesy names either, although with a few exceptions (Robyn, Rowan) I prefer ‘feminine but unfrilly’ names to actual unisex ones.

From your list I like Robyn and Helena/Leni - we considered both of these. Some other ideas from our list:

Honor
Vita
Rosa
Athena
Merryn
Rowan
Greta
Cleo/Clio
Gaia
Aster (odd that this one’s been mentioned already as we rejected it as being too out there!)
Frida
Iris
Anya
Tessa
Katherine (with nn Kit)

Agree with PP that Edie feels a bit cutesy compared to the others. And Juliet clearly gives off both vibes as we liked it but couldn’t decide whether it was strong or girly!

Theodora, lots of nn options
Elliott
Josephine
Raphaela
Micah
Margot

Thanks for the input so far! I’ve never said I’m against feminine names. a few have commented that some of my names are “feminine” which I have no problem with.

Perhaps this is a nationality issue. I lived in the US for 3 years where I met an abundance of brynn, Dylan, Noah, Ryan etc. Then back in the UK for a few years and now living in Melbourne. Definitely met a few female theo Dylan and brynns! I do think in the UK we are more “conventional” with names.

Male names = strong and female names = weak is a subtext here

This thread is very interesting

Some unisex names you might like are:
Riley
Blake
Drew
Cameron
River
Winter

YY which names are 'for' which sex, and which are used varies enormously between countries.

USA does seem to use 'male' names for girls more. Meanwhile other countries use names that are more obviously sexed eg I know a woman called princess. She's not weak, by the way.

To give your daughter max options I'd go with something not too unusual for UK but that can be shortened to unisex if she wants.