Comments on: BOYS’ NAMES FOR GIRLS: A Key To Success?

By: Joan

Joan — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 03:57:33 +0000

I’m a second year law student in San Diego and the only surprising thing about the girls’ names at my school is the what I deem the level of “serious”. I’m named after my grandmother and I don’t meet many Joans my age (24), but I was surprised to find not one, but two Camilles at law school. Along with Rachel, Sophia, Ann, Heather, and Vienna (who, I later found out, was actually named Pippa by her British parents and changed it in college), I have found myself among girls-names-for-girls, but not of the Kimberly, Britney, and Tiffany variety. Just some food for thought.

By: Karen

Karen — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:57:46 +0000

I find it at least interesting to think about. We talk a lot about “image” of a name on the forums, and to me, this is an “image” thing. A merely masculine name is nothing. Some of them sound kind of fluffy on a girl, actually. When I think of a name’s strength, I try to think can this person be a judge, particularly – how does this person’s name sound when arriving to the bench and being announced. I’m not against male names for girls, but this “study” doesn’t seem to account for image, and as well, most of these women were named a few decades ago, and trends change so fast.

Some male names and some female names just sound weak. Not that the person can’t be strong, but they will have some prejudices against their name on paper before anyone meets them, unfair as that may be. A kooky, trendy boy’s name on a girl does no better to set her on the right foot than a kooky, trendy girl’s name that sounds great for preschool, but doesn’t stand up to time or development and maturity.

As I was reading the article, however, my mind started to drift over the “image” I felt in my mind over many feminizations of male names, or names that used to be boys’ names but are now mostly common on women. A Charlene might not sound as serious as a Charlotte, but in my mind, they both are. Dylan, by contrast, just doesn’t sound like a strong name for a boy or girl. They sound very t-shirt and jeans and likeable, but not very aspirational academically, career-wise. Shirley, as in Temple, gives us an iconic image of the name (to the detriment of diminishing her career as an ambassador), but on an adult woman, I think it sounds dead serious. All these names also have the capacity of defying their overall image – it depends on the child, their parents, and what they want to achieve and how hard they want to work to achieve it.

Mostly, I think it is a shame that parents are so worked up over their child’s success this way, to try to determine what will make them happy before they are born, and thinking their name is such a leg up over their peers, while at the same time, producing a study that encourages MORE competitiveness in this area. By contrast, I don’t think it will increase “competition” for law schools and careers in law more than it already is – not all of these children will aspire to a career in law, and their success if they do will still not depend on their names.

By: Olivia

Olivia — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 06:03:47 +0000

I like Dylan on a girl. Because I want her to be a judge. Heehee.

By: CarolynR

CarolynR — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:14:40 +0000

Sounds like a study done for the sake of getting some attention. For the record, the female partners at my firm (13th largest law firm in the world) are called Carolyn, Angela, Amanda, Michelle, Jacinda, Mitzi, Linda and Caroline. Not a blokey name amongst them!!!

By: Toni

Toni — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:59:56 +0000

Having lived my life with a masculine name, I can honestly say I hate it! I wish my parents had given me a feminine name and used the masculine as a nickname instead. I’ve had professors, interviewers, and customers be shocked when they were expecting to see “Tony” and they meet me, “Toni.” I was teased mercilessly as a child for having a “boys name” and get asked ALL the time what my “real” name is. Toni IS my real name, tyvm.

There are so many beautiful, strong, feminine names out there. I just do not see the point in stealing from the boys. I was very cautious when selecting the name for my baby daughter and chose a classic name that is undeniably feminine.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:22:24 +0000

I take this sort of study with an enormous grain of salt. I don’t think names have that huge an impact. Boys names are popular for girls because they’re in style. If anything, I’d say that the sort of parents who give a girl a name like Riley or Dylan are maybe more likely to encourage the kid to fill typically feminine roles because they maybe are more fashion-minded. These are the sort of name I associate with cheerleaders and beauty queens, not necessarily with Supreme Court justices and astronauts.

By: teabee

teabee — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:22:12 +0000

If people want their daughters to be successful career women it’s more helpful to teach them to be assertive, ambitious, fearless, and meticulously competent than to give them masculine names. I think Jenny brought up a great point about parents who name their daughters masculine names possibly raising them in a more traditionally masculine manner, which is a considerable possibility but difficult to measure. There are so many factors with a greater share of responsibility for success or failure than names, even if one has an unusual or horrid name. Class status is definitely more of a limiting factor in my mind, and accounts for what we’re often really referring to when talking about names that sound a certain way in terms of success. Of course, the ultimate name of female success is a funny one: O-P-R-A-H!

By: Pam

Pam — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:26:59 +0000

A note on Dylan: I too was VERY surprised that it skewed so heavily male. I think of it as pretty androgynous and also leaning feminine. But I also was surprised that Riley, Peyton, and Morgan were predominantly female. And that Devon, Cameron, and Jordan skewed so male. It was eye-opening to boil it down to relative numbers vs. impression or even standing on the Top 1000.

By: JustADad

JustADad — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:49:48 +0000

My own name is an entirely masculine name, and I am named after my grandmother, who had this masculine-style family name, and she often wished she’d had a more feminine name (like her sisters). Guess what part of the country I’m from? Yep, the South.

By: redridinghood

redridinghood — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:44:26 +0000

Personally speaking if I had to be called a beautiful feminine name and give up my chances of being a judge, I would choose a lovely name every time! Speaking as a Brit, I think it is codswallop! Sorry. I just got more and more cross as I read it through.

xxxx