Alexandra but known as Alex - too boyish?

[whatshallicallDD2]

After my thread of yesterday DH and I reviewed out list last night and decided out top name is Alexandra. Although her full name would be Alexandra we would call her Alex. What do people think of Alex for a girl? Is it too boyish? Will it be confusing at school? Is Alex very popular for boys and will she have 3 in her class and then be the only girl???

I Surely

alex is great! one of my favourites. sassy and go-getting. there aren't so many boy alexes around that it would be difficult at school. go for it!

I have an alice and it hasnt been shortened yet

lovely name imo

My Alex is lovely! She is now mid teens and currently loves her name, although she was a bit iffy with it when she was younger. She is rarely referred to as Alexandra, although ds has always called her Ally, and she is quite often Al.

Like my own name, for some peverse reason I quite like the fact it can be male or female.

My dds friend is Alexandra and everyone calls her Ali (some useless info coming up lol fashion designer Tommy hillfigers daughter is Alexandra and she gets called Ali) and i think is is lovely! My sister is a Allison and everyone calls her Al ! Whatever you call your dd if you use her shortened name everyone will prob use the same also x

Great name, goes really well with Anna.

DD1 is Alexandra shortened to Alex and we have never had any problems or mistakes with gender. HTH

DD2 is Alexandra Grace known as Alex or 'lexie loons' when she doing something silly as only one year olds can .

I am Scottish, my mum's neighbour is Alec, sometimes Alexander up there can be shortened to Eck as well as Sandy.

I too like Alice. I know one, who does go by the nn Ali or Al.

Alexandra Kate sounds nice

Its nice, prefer Lexie though

If you make it Alix, which is the feminine shortening of Alexandra, you'd get round the problem.

I like Alex for a girl, also like Alexa.

Love it,
I have a niece called Alex and she is gorgeous,v girlie

I don't like using the same initials for children, so wouldn't do Alex and Anna, but that's a personal view formed from the confusion re post between dh and I (both J's). Your dd will occasionally get mistaken for a boy from lists, but I don't think that's a big deal, unless it upsets her. It's just something to remind people. She may of course choose one of the other shortenings of Alexandra if she doesn't like it. But that's the nice thing about a name with many options. She could go for Alex, Alix, Allie, Al, Sandy, Xandra (that one is probably more boyish), Alexa, Lexie, or Leckie. Lots of choice

I like Alexandra but I wouldn't use it with Anna; it's the "andra" ending that I think sounds too similar to Anna. I would use Alexa though, think it's lovely.

I love Alex vfor a girl

I have an Alix; we deliberated over whether to go for 'Alex' or 'Alix' and decided on Alix so that when people see the name written down it would be more obvious that she's a girl. (She's just Alix, not Alexandra because we have a long surname and wanted a short first name.)

On a couple of occasions casual acquaintances who have heard me mentioning her name have assumed she's a boy, but that's happened twice in 3 years so it's not exactly a big deal. Sometimes when she introduces herself people mishear and think it's 'Alice', but she's only little so her speech isn't that clear yet; I'm guessing it won't happen much/at all when she's older.

I think Alix / Alex is a wonderful, strong yet friendly name.

I love the name Alex, but then i am biased . I didnt find out the sex of our 3rd bub but i knew he or she would definately be called Alex.

I'd already sorted out a middle name if we had a boy, and that is James, but we really struggled to find a middle name for a female Alex so its good job he came out with a willy!

When he was a lot younger, people couldnt tell if he was a girl or boy cos of his mad curly hair - see pics - , and when they found out his name was Alex they were still none the wiser

Alex is great, for a girl or a boy.

Cool, not poncey, yet not common(in any sense).

Hmmm, I think I'd like to be called Alex.

I like it; Alex is much better than Alexa, Lexie or Ali.

Yes, Alexandra is a great name.
Sacha is yet another alternative for a shortened version...

Alexandra is a fab name. And I like both Alex and Lexi. I also think it goes very well with Anna. But, keep in ming that you don't really get to choose the nickname. Other people will her what they like. And she might have different opinions from you as well.

I like it, and I'm a strange person who wouldn't assume that Alex is a boy - my cousin has a girl Alex, and my colleague an Alix - in fact I did make sure that the Alex invited to DD's birthday party was in fact a boy, for party bag purposes!

We've just gone through this conundrum with DD2. In the end we pulled back from the brink and decided not to call her Alexandra/Alex (this was the only shortened form of the name we could agree on). This was on the basis that most Alexes these days are male and I knew that I wouldn't like the confusion and thought that she would at least go through a phase (or two) of feeling the same.

Alexandra is a gorgeous name though and reading this thread has made me wonder whether we did the right thing not using it...

Lovely name.