Taking babylemonade’s thread one step further, I thought it would be fun for those who like these types of names to share what names they like/would consider and even those that they would love to use but never would. Feedback is encouraged.
I have a list of about one hundred names that I’ve taken from different sites and discussions, some of these are my own, but many have been suggested by other people too on different sites and when I’ve liked them I’ve added them to my list. To try and keep this more manageable I’ve cut away about half of them and put my current top 50 here. Some of these are traditionally boys names, some traditional girls names that aren’t used so much, some more popular than others both as boy and girl names. I wouldn’t use all of these on my list, but I’d consider a lot of them.
[name]Sawyer[/name] – really like this for a boy because of [name]Tom[/name] [name]Sawyer[/name], but it seems quite heavily feminine.
[name]Skylar[/name]/[name]Schuyler[/name] - similar to [name]Sawyer[/name]
[name]Elliott[/name] – love this for boys and amazed the [name]Ellie[/name] thing (and maybe [name]George[/name] [name]Elliot[/name]?) has moved it over.
[name]George[/name] - classically masculine, but [name]Georgia[/name] seems so much more in style than [name]George[/name] that it’s changing the feel. Also [name]George[/name] [name]Elliott[/name] : D.
[name]Charles[/name] - in a similar position because of [name]Charlie[/name] for [name]Charlotte[/name]
[name]Sage[/name] - to me, it’s a spice you put on steak, which seems very manly “a sage” sounds more like a wise old man than a wise old woman, it seems Western, somehow, but it’s just again really popular for girls
The one that stands out to me is [name]Emlyn[/name], mostly because when I read my father a list of names I’d been told off for liking on men (all of them traditionally masculine and including things like [name]Evan[/name] and, believe it or not, [name]Rhodri[/name]) his only response was an emphatic “[name]Emlyn[/name]'s a man’s name!”, which just goes to show how much of a difference culture makes. Though [name]Evan[/name] could also be added to your list, which is probably being used on girls because of [name]Evan[/name] [name]Rachel[/name] [name]Wood[/name] and the nn [name]Evie[/name] (admittedly cute, although I personally prefer feminine names on girls, not for any silly girls-should-know-their-place type reason because ick, but because there are so many lovely ones to choose from!). I think people might have the that’s-a-girls-name reaction to [name]Rhodri[/name] because it ends in -ee, but the Rhod part makes it difficult for me to see as girly/unisex.
I’ve also recently been taken with [name]Angel[/name] for a guy, possibly because I watch too much [name]Buffy[/name] (Although that’s weird, because I never really liked the character [name]Angel[/name]). I think it sounds much more dynamic on a guy.
[name]Angel[/name] is interesting because Ahn HEL in Spanish speaking cultures is usually pretty masculine (and then often they will say it with English prn when speaking English, although not always). I think it’s interesting too that in Catholic cultures [name]Maria[/name] is (or maybe “was” is the right word?) pretty common on men (think [name]Rainer[/name] [name]Maria[/name] Rilke), kind of like [name]Joseph[/name]/[name]Jose[/name] on women being not that infrequent, either.
I think in general I’m a fan of softer sounding names for boys. It might be because I grew up with guys named [name]Kelsey[/name], [name]Ashley[/name], [name]Alexei[/name] etc. and it just doesn’t really phase me I guess. And actually [name]Sawyer[/name] is one of my favorite names for a boy Some others I think could be added to this list… [name]Shea[/name], [name]Shandy[/name], [name]Shelby[/name], [name]Sandy[/name], [name]Noel[/name], [name]Kellen[/name]
I will prob be the only person here who really likes [name]Evelyn[/name] on a boy (ehv-lin). We considered it as a middle name for my son… There’s just something rather charming about the name [name]William[/name] [name]Evelyn[/name]… (he ended up [name]William[/name] [name]Arden[/name]).
Although it’s not really my style, I think I’d be pleasantly surprised to meet a [name]Willian[/name] [name]Evelyn[/name]!
Having spent the last few hours watching British panel shows instead of doing my paper for uni, I’d like to throw the name [name]Dara[/name] into the ring. I got it off [name]Dara[/name] O’Briain but I can picture it on a nice range of people. And nameberry doesn’t even list it as an option for boys! I think it will be consigned to the fictional characters bin, but find some good use there.
[name]Ariel[/name]–this has never felt like a girl’s name to me, but is now almost exclusively fem. It is very pretty, so I can see why. I think [name]Julian[/name] and [name]Quinn[/name] are somewhat fem. [name]Jordan[/name] sounds very masculine to me, but obviously crossed over to the other side a while ago. Same with [name]Rowen[/name]. Others: [name]Luca[/name], [name]Nial[/name], [name]Reagan[/name].
Some names I really would consider for boys would be:
[name]Ambrose[/name]
[name]Angel[/name]
[name]Aubrey[/name]
[name]Autry[/name]
[name]Dow[/name]- maybe as a nickname can it stand alone?
Fray- Seem super masculine to me but people always say it sounds feminine
[name]Hart[/name]
[name]Monroe[/name]
[name]Kennedy[/name]- My middle name like either way.
[name]Ren[/name]/[name]Wren[/name]
[name]Sage[/name]
[name]Sincere[/name]
[name]Sinclair[/name]
[name]True[/name]
[name]Llewellyn[/name]- Definitely a top runner for when I have kids
[name]Willoughby[/name]- ^^
[name]Dashiell[/name], [name]Asher[/name], [name]Sebastian[/name] - very “soft” sounds
[name]Wylie[/name] - looks feminine to me with the “ie” ending
[name]Michael[/name], [name]Raphael[/name] - the “ae” is kind of feminine
Allister - nickname [name]Allie[/name]
But I like most of these names anyway. Except for [name]Sebastian[/name]. Too pretentious.
Some others I think could be added to this list… [name]Shea[/name], [name]Shandy[/name], [name]Shelby[/name], [name]Sandy[/name], [name]Noel[/name], [name]Kellen[/name]