Baby name help

[sprinklyrache]

Hi everyone. I’m expecting my first baby, I do not know the gender yet, but I have put together a list of names I’m considering for a boy and a girl. I really want to narrow it down and eventually have 1 girl name and 1 boy name picked out. I would like to know which name(s) are best and your opinions on each one if possible.

Boy names:
Carter
Logan
Lucas
Crew
Asher
Ash
Flynn
Ayden
August
Ayden
Braxton
Rhett
Rexley

Girl names:
Eliana
Maci
Piper
Ava
Avery
Luna
Darcie
Annora
Addison
Scarlett
Finley
Braelynn
Alana
Lilliana
Delilah
Braylee

I can get past the disease thing, and Amelia is also a disease and many people still use that name.

Boy Lucas or Rhett although personally I prefer Brett to Rhett

Girl Avery

I love Flynn, August and Asher is ok. Really don’t like the others sorry!

Piper, Delilah and Luna are lovely for girls but again really don’t like the others! Sorry!

@sprinklyrache

I know it’s a boy’s name, but I think it could also work for a girl as it sounds quite feminine.

I mean this kindly OP but you are naming a person. They have to live with it not you, and they will spend most of their lives as a grown up. Don’t give them a name that will be a strange liability for them just because you think it sounds cool. If you want something unusual, there are lots of names that are rare, but recognisably names, and gender appropriate.

Finlay literally means 'fair-haired warrior'.
And on the whole, in spite of Boudicca and modern fantasy fiction, the Gaelic and Irish speaking peoples who created the name did not have female warriors. They used the name to describe a male.

irishimbasbooks.com/the-truth-about-irish-woman-warriors-when-celtic-mythology-goes-bad/

If you like the sound of Finlay there are related female names 'Fionnuala' (approx: Finoola), Finella, Fiona . Also Fiadh (Fee-ah), though that's not related.

I prefer Finlay as a boy's name to any on your list; for girls, I like your suggestion of Annora. It's not a mash-up, as some have suggested but a very old variant of 'Honor', which has an excellent meaning.

I was thinking of using Finley as either a boy or girl name because it’s gender neutral

Doesn't Lisa Marie Presley have a girl called Finley?

It really ISN'T gender neutral. It's a male name linked to a specific culture/ place and era. It has a male meaning: it would be like calling a girl 'Swordsman'. It's only 'gender neutral' if you think ALL names are gender neutral (and meaningless) - ie if you would call a boy Susan or Jennifer.

I think in the US Finley is more popular as a girls' than boys' name.

Names continue to evolve and several names that were traditionally used for boys have become unisex.

I like Logan, Asher, Lucas and Flynn.
I really like Avery but Scarlett and Piper are also nice.

I am a great admirer of many American things and many American people, but everything in America is not automatically a good idea or to be followed. Naming patterns are different there.

In the UK, Finlay is among the top 20 names for boys (it is 16th); there were almost 3000 boys named Finley or Finlay in England and Wales (and many more in Scotland) in 2020.
In contrast, there were 8 girl babies named Finley and zero named Finlay in England and Wales in the same year. names.darkgreener.com/#finl

That really does not make a name 'gender neutral'.

Yes, a FEW names have evolved, but, as is often said on this thread, there are very few names that are truly 'gender neutral'. And they are mostly modern names (often nature names or names of things or places) or they are surnames. Robin and Rowan are probably the two most often mentioned. Yes, there are some boy's names occaionally used for girls, but they remain boy's names. Names would only be truly 'gender neutral' if they were used approximately equally for both males and females.

Nicknames are another matter, but even they are often spelled differently. Think Jo (female) or Joe (male) or Billie (female) and Billy (male).

Of course, people should call their children whatever they like. But giving a girl a very popular boy's name does not make it gender neutral.

Lucas and Ava

Asher and Darcie. Really dislike a lot of the other names I'm afraid.

Just because people very rarely use it for girls doesn’t mean it isn’t or can’t be gender neutral.

But giving a girl a very popular boy's name does not make it gender neutral.

Actually that's exactly how names change - by increasing numbers of parents naming their child a particular name!

August is lovely. The only name in the girls list I don't think is awful is Finley. I also like Riley for a girl.

If that were always true, Blubell, then I would agree with you. It probably IS true for Rowan. www.britishbabynames.com/blog/2016/10/rowan.html But for Finley it most definitely is NOT. Not at the moment. (And the OP said that she considered Finley to be 'gender neutral'; that is why I first posted)

Name patterns and trends are complex; I think we really have to look carefully at actual records of each name.

In the UK there is no evidence of 'increasing numbers' of parents giving the name Finley to girls. In fact, the reverse is true.

• There were almost twice as many girls named Finley in 2000 than there were in 2020.
• And there were over seven times as many boys named Finley in 2020 as there were in 2000.

In other words, Finley has been very substantially increasing in popularity as a boy's name during the past 20 years, and decreasing in popularity as a girls name (though it has always been extremely rare during that period).
In the UK, in recent years, 'increasing numbers' of parents really have not been giving the boy's name Finley to girls.

Carter - surname
Logan - no
Lucas - yes
Crew - no
Asher - yes
Ash - no
Flynn - no
Ayden - no. Yes if Aiden
August - no
Braxton - would make the midwives giggle
Rhett - yes
Rexley - no

Eliana - ok
Maci - no
Piper - surname
Ava - yes
Avery - no
Luna - no
Darcie - ok
Annora - no
Addison - no
Scarlett - ok
Finley - not nice on a girl
Braelynn - just no
Alana - yes
Lilliana - yes
Delilah - no
Braylee - definite no

Boy names:
Carter - Dislike
Logan - OK
Lucas - Too similar to mucus.
Crew - Awful
Asher - Dislike
Ash - OK
Flynn - OK
Ayden - OK if spelled Aiden
August - Like but prefer Augustus
Braxton - Awful
Rhett - Dislike
Rexley - Awful

Girl names:
Eliana - Dislike
Maci - Dislike
Piper - Dislike
Ava - OK
Avery - A bird prison
Luna - A popular dogs name
Darcie - OK
Annora - Sounds nasal. How about Eleanora?
Addison - OK
Scarlett - OK
Finley - OK for a boy
Braelynn - Awful
Alana - Like
Lilliana - Dislike
Delilah - Like
Braylee - Awful

Have you considered Linnea and Jocelyn for a girl?

Linnea and Jocelyn aren’t my style.

Well said @scottishnames

Your naming style is VERY different to mine, and my favourites of your names are those closest to “my” style so not sure how helpful this will be.

For boys Lucas or Asher (it’s a biblical name for those saying it’s American/made up)

For girls I’m struggling - Darcie or Alana I guess. And I actually don’t mind Finlay for a girl.

Being Biblical doesn't make Asher not American? Americans are way more Christian than we are. I just meant it's a very popular name in the US and quite rare in the UK.

But, from OP's list, I'm assuming she's in the US anyway.

August
Alana

Sorry but the others really aren't my taste at all.

Lucas and Ava or maybe Luna