Avery for a boy?

[nessamaria]

Avery has long been my favorite name for a boy, but I'm worried it has become too girly. I think it's just too popular in general now for me to use, but I'm still curious what other people think - would you still name a boy Avery? And would a little boy Avery be in a class with 5 girl Averys?

I'd also love to hear other boy name suggestions from others who like Avery. This baby is a boy and I fear he will be nameless...it was so much easier to name our daughter!

[dantea]

I love Avery on a boy and hate it on a girl. I've only met 1 girl Avery but I've met a few boy Avery's and recently discovered I had a male Avery in my family tree.

Names that feel like Avery to me:

Riley
Peyton
Chase
Asher
Oliver
Kendall
Everett
Griffin
Phoenix
Bailey (I've actually known more male Bailey's than female)
Ridley
Amos
Hugo
Milo

[ashthedreamer]

I would absolutely use Avery for a boy! It's on my top 10, potentially even my top 5. I absolutely adore it, and I think it works so well for boys still. I paired it with two clearly masculine MNs (Avery Ian George) so he has something to fall back on should the dreaded worst happen, but I can't imagine that it would. Despite the fact that Avery is so popular for girls, it's the most popular it's ever been for boys (sits at number 201 on the SSA list for 2011), and it's very much on the rise! As far as unisex names on boys go, I think Avery's a clear winner.

Then again, Avery has a lot of meaning to me. Its meaning honors my sister, and it's a very popular name in my grandfather's ancestral line, so I feel like it honors both of them very well. And there's this radio drama I grew up listening to (and I'm sure my children will, too, when they're old enough to appreciate it!), and the main character's name is John Avery Whittaker. He's such a great role model and such a perfect character, and I know any Avery I might have would get a huge kick out of being named after him. I am guessing none of those would mean anything to you, haha, but all the layers of deep meaning to me make the name so usable and so charming and handsome. I'm not sure I'll ever get to use Avery, but I absolutely hope that I do one day! My only concern is that it's rather close to my second favorite boys' name, Everett. Still, I think it's perfect.

I can't really think of anything to suggest, apart from my own list, haha. The FNs I love:

Caleb
Everett
Asher
Jack
Grayson "Gray"
Avery
Brody
Spencer
Beckett
Henry
Zane
Booker
Bailey
Boone

I think Samuel suits Avery's style quite well, too. Feel free to take any of them if they appeal!

Good luck!

[lucystone]

I love Avery for a boy. It really ticks me off that people are starting to use this for girls. It's a boy's name! You wouldn't name your daughter William or Michael or Walter, so why are you naming her Avery?

As to popularity, I think it's popular on NB, but IRL it's not as common.

[nat108]

I don't know how popular Avery truly is, I don't know any. The name is masculine to me

[sheflieswithherownwings]

I live in the UK where the name is basically unknown (I think there were 7 female Avery's and 6 male Avery's born in 2010) but I was quick to check the SSA list for Avery because I adore it on a boy and find it so trendy and unattractive on a girl. I was happy to see that it is still rising for boys in the US and hopefully it continues too - it's time that people started fighting back for those boy's names!

[ashthedreamer]

You wouldn't name your daughter William or Michael or Walter, so why are you naming her Avery?

As to popularity, I think it's popular on NB, but IRL it's not as common.

lol, people actually are naming their daughters Michael. I've come across it several times.

And really?! I didn't think Avery was popular at all on Nameberry! Everyone always complains about how tired they are of hearing Avery on girls. Sure, quite a few people like it, but I think others outside of Nameberry love it so much more.

[cdeb]

If you love a name you should not give up on it easily. And I too have only met 2 girls named Avery. That being said, the SSA list has Avery as #18 for girls with 7,303 being given the name in 2011. For boys it's ranked #201. So the girl Averys might not live in your neighborhood, but in real life I would consider it a popular girls name.

[nessamaria]

Thanks, everyone! Many of your other name suggestions suit me quite well, too, so that's so helpful!

It's true that Avery isn't all that popular for boys, but it is way up there for girls and I see it on several lockers at DD's preschool (in pink). My assumption is that our little boy will be a bit on the nerdy side, given his parentage, so I don't want to give him a name that his classmates will associate with girls.

DD's name has never been in the top 1000, so while popularity and sibling matching isn't a huge issue for me, I would like something fairly unique so it doesn't sound too strange when I call them together! Avery fits the bill very well when you consider it as a boys' name, but those people using it on girls are ruining it!

[partlycloudy]

Avery sounds like a girl's name to me, it just sounds feminine to my ear. It's also a name I could easily see taking off in popularity for a girl name. Just my honest opinion.