I was reading a discussion about whether the name [name]Addison[/name] was still usable on a boy today. Although the name purists who argue that the name ends in -son and therefore it must be a boy’s name were out in full force, equally vociferous were those who said that a name which ranks at No. 11 for girls and not even in the top 1000 for boys could no longer even be considered unisex.
It had me wondering, at what point does a name move from being unisex to a “girls” name or a “boys” name? Names like [name]Evelyn[/name] have also made this transition in the past. Is it an absence of a name from the boys list for a certain period, or the popularity of the name for girls, for example, that defines that shift, or something else?
I’m going to say, for me personally, when I can no longer see a certain name pinned on a certain sex. Like [name]Ashley[/name], I can’t see it on a boy. To feminine to me. Names like [name]Aiden[/name] and [name]Chris[/name] I can not see on a girl but they still are used on a girl. It’s probably different for each person though.
It probably partly depends on your experience… I only know women named [name]Evelyn[/name], no men, so I think of it as a woman’s name. [name]Leslie[/name] on the other hand… all the women I know named [name]Leslie[/name] are my age, whereas the one man I know named [name]Leslie[/name] is from a previous generation… so I think of it as a name that has made the transition to being a woman’s name. When I first heard of someone wanting to name their daughter [name]Charly[/name], I was shocked… it was such a guy’s name to me; a nn for [name]Charles[/name] (and I knew 2 men named [name]Charles[/name]/[name]Charly[/name]). Now, I’ve heard of and read of several baby girls named [name]Charly[/name] or [name]Charlie[/name], so I’m slowly coming to accept it as a unisex name. I still wouldn’t use it for my own daughter though. Other names, like [name]Kelly[/name] and [name]Kim[/name] -I have known MANY women and girls of all ages with those names, so for me it was a shocker to learn that they were formerly mens’ names.
In summary, I guess it comes down to what you’re used to. So, here on NB, there are a lot more unisex names that I would consider only for one gender or the other just because that’s what I’m used to.
I think it’s a combination of the two. When a unisex name gets really popular for girls, parents usually stop using it for boys, and thus, it goes to the girls.
I can usually see 95% of “unisex” names on boys (we’re talking [name]Bailey[/name], [name]Avery[/name], [name]Aubrey[/name], [name]Morgan[/name], [name]Riley[/name], [name]Emerson[/name], [name]Meredith[/name], [name]Ashley[/name], etc., here, not to mention the more obscure ones like [name]Parker[/name], [name]Elliot[/name], [name]Logan[/name], etc.), so for me, most aren’t just one gender (especially since in the back of my head, I always think of their popularity for girls). I’m not sure what the case would be for others, though…
Well here in the South people still use boy-turned-girl names for their sons and nobody bats an eye. To me boy names will always be boy names no matter how many girls have it.
I have cousins named [name]Ashley[/name], [name]Stacey[/name], [name]Tracey[/name], [name]Shelby[/name], [name]Dominique[/name], [name]Reece[/name], [name]Aubrey[/name], [name]Kelly[/name], [name]Blaire[/name], and so on- all males and their names don’t sound a bit girly to me
I generally don’t care for masculine names on girls but I also love the Southern naming tradition of using family surnames.
I think it’s all personal opinion and I think if an individual can see it on a boy, then there is no reason why name shouldn’t be used.
I’ve known of males named [name]Stacey[/name], [name]Tracey[/name], [name]Kelly[/name], [name]Leslie[/name], [name]Karleigh[/name] and here in the UK [name]Reece[/name], [name]Ashley[/name], [name]Jordan[/name], [name]Taylor[/name], [name]Riley[/name] are boys names. [name]Morgan[/name] is fairly even for both genders, while [name]Addison[/name], [name]Aubrey[/name], [name]Avery[/name], [name]Harper[/name] are relatively unused on either gender and therefore in the UK they can go either way.
My biggest issue is that people don’t spend enough time researching the name they are going to use, they hear the sound and that’s it, ignoring the meaning, history and origins of the name. I know not everyone is a name nerd but aren’t those things important to know when naming a child for life. I think celebrities have a lot to answer for though, I mean they clearly select their children’s names for attention and therefore make it OK for “normal” people to name their children anything they like, including boys names.
As for names like [name]Elliot[/name], [name]Ryan[/name], [name]Aidan[/name], [name]Logan[/name], they baffle and pray to God that the trend doesn’t come over to the UK. I already know several [name]Brogan[/name]'s, a [name]Harlee[/name], [name]Baylee[/name], [name]Jaden[/name] and a [name]Finleigh[/name] that are female and I hope that is the last of it because I really dislike the trend. For me some names will forever be boys names, just boys names being used on girls.
I think it is all down to experience… like the first [name]Emerson[/name] I knew was a boy, so it stays a boy’s name in my mind. I don’t know though- there are a few boy’s names that seem pretty girly to me (like [name]Evelyn[/name]) but who knows how long that will last?
