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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Giving my son a 'girl' name

454 replies

Bowa · 21/04/2025 22:27

I am due soon to give birth soon to my first child who will be a boy. I struggled to think of any boy names that felt right. I had a long list for girl names, but I couldn't think any for if I had a son.

I found out I was having a boy at my 16 weeks scan and I still couldn't find a name that felt right at the time. Kinda like a missing puzzle piece if that makes sense.

A few weeks later, I was thinking about a movie I loved since childhood and one of the main characters (the character is male) and something clicked and I knew that was the name I wanted for my son. It felt perfect and exactly what I was looking for. I became excited and looked into how I could make things with his name for the nursery, nicknames and that.

I haven't told anyone what name I picked out for him as I wanted to get everything ready beforehand. I have also had some 'complications', so it felt like bad luck if I told people his name before he was born. When I'm by myself, I talk to my son and I will use his name then.

I was looking at something and saw the name I picked for my son. It had a few different spellings, but what stuck out was that apparently it's used more as a girl name. It didn't say anything about it being a unisex name. I assumed because the character who had the name was male (and refers to himself as a male) that it was wasn't a girl's name or maybe it could be a unisex name. Even the way it is pronounced sounds more masculine than feminine.

I feel conflicted. I can't think of any other name that feels right for him (he has middle names that are boy names), but I don't want him to be picked on if people knew it was used more for a girl. I have an unusual first name, so I have experiences with people not spelling it correctly or pronouncing it right.

His name isn't common for this area either, so I don't think anyone would assume it is used more as a girl name and the way it is pronounced is easy.

I know people have named their daughter with names that are more boy/unisex sounding like: Blake, Parker, Dylan, Toni etc.

His name isn't like: Daisy, Penelope, Sophia, Jane etc.

Would it be OK to stick with the name even if it's used more for a girl?

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deeahgwitch · 04/05/2026 13:05

Mel is nice.
It’s the name of an Irish male saint.
There is a cathedral in a town called Longford, St Mel’s Cathedral named after him.
In the UK Mel is usually the diminutive of Melanie obviously.

luckymumandnowluckygranny · 04/05/2026 18:25

The only way to find out if folk think it is a girl's name is to tell them what it is, sorry

CurlewKate · 05/05/2026 12:45

Kim is another one of those names that used to be male-but “diminished” into a girl’s name.

HumphreysCorner · 09/05/2026 09:42

I know a female and male Harley.

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