Would you give a boy a girls name?

[jocelyne]

I was just wondering would you ever give a boy a girls name? I mean, whether you like it or not girls are being given 'boys' names nowadays (Rory, Eliot, Frank etc) but boys aren't getting given girl names to my knowledge. I'm not talking about unisex names or softer sounding boys names but a name you'd actually consider only a girls name. I know a boy named Erin and for years to me Erin was a unisex name until I found out it was pretty much a girls name. However it still doesn't sound odd on him. What girls name would you ever consider giving a boy or have you? And is there even such thing as a 'girls name' or 'boys name' - where do you draw the line? Thanks

P.S Be warned this thread turns into quite a complicated debate, I only started it to talk about the names.

[east93]

There are definitely such things are "boys names" and "girls names".
Madison means "Son of Maude", it is a boys name. Regina means "Queen", it is a girls name.

I would not use a boys name on a girl, nor would I use a girls name on a boy.
Boys have boys names, girls have girls names.

A lot of boys names are now unisex, and I will admit I see appeal, and may even use a few of them myself, such as Aubrey/Avery.
Some boys names are almost exclusively female like Ashley, and Madison.

I would never take an inherently girl name to name my son, nor would I do the same for my daughter with a boys name. I don't understand it, and I find it silly and unnecessary, and problematic in the future.

Also, Erin likely doesn't sound odd because it's a place name so there's no distinctly female meaning, as well as it's close in sound to Aaron which is often and commonly used on boys. :P

[catloverd]

The boy version of Erin is Aaron, so it's unisex, spelling depicts what gender it is usually, you sure he doesn't spell his name Aaron?

I would never give my girl a boy's name and I would never give my boy a girls name. Giving a boy a feminine name sets him to be the one that gets picked on by the other boys for having a "sissy" name, while giving a girl a boy's name sets her out be a tomboy.

As much as people say boys and girls are equal and try to deny gender. Gender exists because men and women have different brains and we were made to function differently. However, these people often give their girls male names, but don't give their boys feminine ones, I always thought they were very hypocritical. Trying to make the girl more masculine rather than making the boy more feminine....

[east93]

The boy version of Erin is Aaron, so it's unisex, spelling depicts what gender it is usually, you sure he doesn't spell his name Aaron?

Erin and Aaron are two different names.
Erin is the Irish and poetical name for Ireland, and Aaron is a Hebrew name meaning exalted, high mountain, enlightened.

[stripedsocks]

Erin and Aaron don't have the same root as names, they just sound the same.

I would give a boy a name relevant to me that felt masculine to me - in my culture. I don't really care if it "goes to the girls" though on the popular side, though. I've been told Gabriel, Asher, Hanan, etc. are "feminine sounding" but they don't sound feminine to me and aren't historically girls names, they're Biblical, they were used for males, and one's my granddad's name.

But I wouldn't name a boy a name I thought of as feminine - or a girl a name I thought of as masculine.

[catloverd]

Erin and Aaron are two different names.
Erin is the Irish and poetical name for Ireland, and Aaron is a Hebrew name meaning exalted, high mountain, enlightened.

Only berries would know that, lol! We had Erin and Aaron's in my class and grew up learning that Aaron was for boys and Erin was for girls, I don't think their families really put much thought into origin..... the kids probably didn't care. But my mistake!

[ninanoo]

I would never give my daughter a boys name, or my boy a girls name. I also refuse to use unisex names. To put it midly it pisses me off when I hear people giving their daughters names like Mason, James, ect. I am pretty upset that Avery is a girls name now. I think it is very HANDSOM.

To name a boy Susan, Jane, Rachel, Hannah, ect would be psychologically damaging. And to be honest I believe the same thing about parents who give thier daughters boy names. They are not doing thier daughters any favors, especially those who go to the extreme and try to blaze the path for a new cross over. I don't believe in blurring the lines of gender in anyway. In fact it is something I am passionate about. Stripping away a persons gender is stripping away the building blocks of thier identity.

I could go on, but I won't because this really isn't the place for it. But there you go, there is my answer.

[dantea]

I know a male Erin. I never though of it as a girl name and felt weird when I had a girl in my group a few years ago name Erin. To me, the spelling felt streamlined and spunky, like him.

I list some boys I know with names that others might see as "girly". These are friends kids, friends, things like that. I know people from a lot of different cultures, so I get a wide range of names.

Rohan Artemis -- Artemis is traditional feminine in Greek culture, but has been used on boys in the modern times
Gale Hawke
Winter Gregory
Jalon -- said like Jay-lon
Zachary Taylor
Harper Dmitri/Whistler ?? -- twins, I used to consider Harper very girly
Emilian -- Harper and Whistlers younger brother -- pronounce em-ee-lee-an
Simionce -- another of the same family -- sim-ee-unce
Kailyn Jacob
Noel pronounce no-el -- I actually know several boys named Noel pronounce No-el between young child and older than me
Azariel Blake -- pronounce Az-ah-reel
Hyperion Isidore -- Isidore is actually a make name meaning "gift of Isis" but sounds feminine
Evander Quinn
Izra -- They're indian I think
Ashur Quinn
Kohana Alain
Ninian Clay
Jarah Koren
Shiloh Larken
Sage


It seems to be the thing where I'm living with people who aren't "white" -- Native American, Greek, and Black are the majority of the people I know with those names up there.
Personally, I wouldn't use a girly name on a boy (or a masculine name on a girl) unless it's more like a unisex name and I don't usually like those either. I work with a Riley Shane, Brooklyn Michael, and a mother named Tony, and none of those girls like the fact that they have boys names. I can't imagine a boy named Sarah, Jane, etc would like it either. Unisex or slightly feminine, like the boys I know up there, are different (but I still don't like them a lot).

[thuja]

We're all dancing around the point. Masculinity is highly valued in society, for the most part, across cultures. Hence it becomes acceptable to name girls Evan, Emerson, Elliot, Harper, Avery, Sloane, etc., but not acceptable to name boys Eliza, Ellen, Gail, (I know some will quibble here and add Gale, but again, not the point--no one is choosing Gail), Alison, or Ruth, all of which, sound wise, could be used for boys.

Sound wise, Ruth isn't so far from Seth, but still, it isn't heard. Soft masculine names such as Philip, Noah, Ezra are just waiting to be gobbled up.

[dayken95]

I wouldn't give my son a name that was original for a girl but if you look at my favorite I want to use Madison, Aubrey, & Sage(which I don't find feminine at all but others do).