It has become increasingly apparent to me that I prefer naming and talking about names of girls. I just don’t seem to be as bothered about the boys. I currently have four long standing members on my signature that are there just to balance it out [I am not particularly in [name]LOVE[/name] with them and I don’t think I’d even mind if my boys were called the popular [name]Jack[/name] or [name]Oliver[/name]] I don’t get as excited and that spark of joy I get with the girls just doesn’t happen. Is it just me being selfish or do other people experience gender naming preference too? Why don’t I enjoy boys names? And…how can I get excited? I feel like a failure of a namenerd!
Well, just take a look at the girl’s forum compared to the boys. It’s about twice as big, twice as fast. Women tend to want daughters just as men tend to want sons; it’s more fun for us to imagine a pretty little girl. Like when we played with dolls. You weren’t playing with boy dolls, just girl dolls. Same thing, except bigger.
Edited for privacy.
Hey-thanks for replying.
celianne-YES! I used to spend hours not playing with PollyPockets/Barbies but making their names and ordering registers. Although I did have two boy dolls called [name]Rick[/name] and [name]Harry[/name] [I have no idea why I called them that!]
charlieandperry1-Oh that would be an interesting investigation into what different upbringings and personality traits contribute to naming style. I do already look for family eg. If I ever have a boy, the middle name will be [name]John[/name]. I think I need to do some more research into boys names as I never really post in the boys forum and don’t look at the boys section of baby name books and part of the problem is motivation to leave the comfort zone of the females.
I don’t think it’s as much to do with a preference for girls. There’s a lot more diversity in the acceptable kinds of girls’ names, and I think that makes it more fun to choose. It feels like there’s an infinity of possibility with girls’ names, whereas with boys…it feels much more taboo to go outlandish. From your names even, [name]Ottilie[/name] is totally off the radar, out there, and [name]Saxon[/name] is the most daring name from your boys’ list. [name]Ottilie[/name] is about a million times more adventurous than [name]Saxon[/name], but somehow [name]Saxon[/name] almost seems like a more unusual real-life choice. We just don’t give boys exciting names very often. That said, I think once you find some boys’ names you love, you’ll be in love forever. My top girls’ names are always in flux, but my boys’ number ones are completely fixed, love them to death. [name]Just[/name] took some time! (It should be said, in spite of my preference for and much greater assurance with my boys’ names, I want girls more than boys. I just don’t have an easy time finding ones I love!)
Aw thanks lizgingermitch-I found [name]Saxon[/name] in a newpaper and my love for [name]Ottilie[/name] has grown over time and suddenly blossomed.
I’m the opposite. There are a handful of girls’ names that I love, but I just don’t get excited about girls’ names. Boys’ names are far more interesting to me. As for the gender preference, I’ve had that for as long as I can remember. My grandparents got me the Bitty [name]Baby[/name] twins when they first came out, and I only played with the girl four or five times. The boy went with me everywhere though. I’m pretty sure I know why I have a preference for boys, but it’s extremely personal…
All that’s not to say that I don’t want daughters because I absolutely do. I just want more sons than daughters.
I certainly had plenty of baby-dolls who were boys? Also, many studies show that Western parents (of both genders!) tend to prefer daughters —*for several interesting reasons but basically because they are more “versatile” than boys.
This is reflected in names, I think. Also, there are so much more usable girl names than boy names —*you have the girls names, the feminine forms of boys names, 80% of flower/nature/virtue word names, the androgynous surnames, and the stolen boys names. For boys, you have the boys names, the surnames, and the rest of word names, and the stock keeps theening because parents dread to give their boys “unisex” names.
There’s much more aesthetic variety girl names and, in case of people who are actually naming little humans, there’s still a tendence in society to be more creative, fashionable & adventurous with girls names, whereas boys are more likely to be named after their fathers or given something more serious & enduring. If you look at a name chart from the 1960s or 1980s, you’re likely to find some boys names that are still on the Top 10, whereas girls names tend to date much easily.
I look more at girls names too. Not because I prefer girls but because I feel that I’ve already named my boys. I am very particular about my boys names but when I fall for a boy name, I fall hard. I feel like I already know my first son will be [name]Jack[/name], second will be [name]Oliver[/name], then [name]Leo[/name] and so on. I really don’t care so much about popularity with boys names because 1.) These are the names I love 2.) they are solid names that won’t give them a headache through life 3.) I feel like boys could care less if there is another little boy in their class with their same name. I have never heard a boy once complain about his name unless it was totally out there, feminine or something embarrassing. I figure why give up the names you love for popularity if the boy wearing them won’t mind if their are a couple of other boys in his class sharing his name.
Girls names, however, don’t seem to stick with me. [name]One[/name] week i will be absolutely head over heals in love with three girls names, and the next week they’ll have lost their magic and I’m off to find new ones. I keep remembering my own childhood, how much I hated my name, how much I envied girls with “cool” names and feel the need to search and search for the perfect name I would have wanted to wear as a child, and that maybe , just maybe, have the privilege to give that name to someone. And hopefully she would love her name so much that and get complemented on it all the time that I would feel better in knowing I did not do to my child what my mother did to me; pull a random name out of a hat and stick it on her without a care in the world with the mentality that naming a person is a chore not a privilege. But knowing my luck, I will have all boys and all this time trying to find the perfect name for my potential daughter will be for nothing. But I will continue to do it, because its fun. 
I find it nearly impossible to find a girl name that I love and am excited about. However, I have countless boy names I adore and obsess over. [name]Just[/name] take a look at my lists for Girl Names and Boy Names. I would rather name 10 sons than have to come up with a lovely combo for a girl. However, I still want to have both little girls and boys. I just find boy names more intriguing and fun. Maybe I worry more about choosing a name for a girl because of the problems I have with my own name (which is [name]Jennifer[/name]), therefore I have trouble committing to a name.
I enjoy looking at boy and girl names equally. However, with boy names there tend to be a lot of names I really like, but almost never ones I love, whereas with girls there aren’t usually names I like, but when I do I absolutely love them. Haha. Maybe I’m just weird.
Agreed totally! What is really weird is that you rate the boys names that I would like to call my child if nothing mattered. Shame that my cousin is called [name]Leo[/name] and [name]Jack[/name] and [name]Oliver[/name] are MEGA popular which I am struggling with. Its like my brain is having a battle over boys names that I [name]LOVE[/name] and my rule about not using popular names. My signature is the aftermath.
I will say I totally didn’t want to have boys…until I saw a picture of my dad as a toddler. Holy cuteness, Batman!! And as everyone tells me I look just like my dad, I suppose I have pretty good odds of having a kid that cute. So the idea of an adorable little boy running around is fun.
I think boy names move more slowly than girl names. The girl name trends change quickly, and while boy name trends have definitely changed there are still a lot of boy names that would’ve been on the list ten, twenty, thirty years ago. For girls, a name can be in the top ten and five years later not even make it into the top fifty. I mean, look at our current top 10 for boys: [name]Jacob[/name], [name]Mason[/name], [name]Ethan[/name], [name]Noah[/name], [name]William[/name], [name]Liam[/name], [name]Jayden[/name], [name]Michael[/name], [name]Alexander[/name], and [name]Aiden[/name].
[name]Mason[/name], [name]Liam[/name], [name]Jayden[/name], and [name]Aiden[/name] are all newer trends, but everything else would’ve been in the top 100 thirty years ago. Whereas most of the top 10 thirty years ago for girls isn’t even on the top 100 now. Girls names just rise and fall really quickly for some reason.
With boy names going so slowly, you can basically pick boy names you like and hold on to them for several years, without having to worry about what’s going to trend up or down. With girl names, you can like something really obscure and within a year it’s suddenly shot up into the top 1000, and then a couple years later is in the top 10. I think the Nameberry girls’ forum really shows this, because there are SO many more threads there than here, and I would say most, if not all, discuss whether something is too trendy, whether it will suddenly become popular, etc. Most people on here seem to want a solid definite list of potential names, even if they aren’t planning on having kids for several years, and it’s hard to have a solid list for girls when the trends change so drastically and so quickly.
[name]Noah[/name] was also not in the top 100 thirty years ago.
ETA: This is my 1,000th post!
I actually find I’m about equal with loving boys and girls names.
I played with Barbies and dolls–but always had [name]Ken[/name] dolls and boy baby dolls as well.
My main struggles are with deciding whether meaning, sound, look, or familiarity are the most important to me.
I guess girls names are more “beautiful” and thus more attractive in some ways. I admit there are fewer boys names that truly excite me and make me smile–but they’re still there.
And contrary to what some have said, given a choice I’d prefer a son to a daughter.
I agree that it generally agrees with which gender you prefer. I know for a fact that I want more girls than boys. I mean, I want boys, too, and I know I’ll love them, but I genuinely want a little girl. I can see being a really great mom to little girls. Would I connect with a son? Sure, but not like I would with a little girl. I don’t feel like I relate to boys as well. I think I’m good with boys–my little second cousin and I hang out all the time when our families come together, and I don’t think he ever feels like I wished he was a girl, haha, and I love spending time with him. But my favorite little kids are always the cute little girls at church, and I desperately want a little girl of my own (preferably at least three!). People I know who are super excited about having little boys have tons of problems with their girls’ list, but no problems at all with their boys’ list (and they are as excited about their boys’ list as I am about my girls’ list!).
I think that’s just how we get. Names are fun. And if you’re excited about thinking about a future little girl of yours, then you’re going to be more excited about her name than you would about a boy you’re not quite so excited about. I don’t think it is anything bad, and it certainly won’t mean that we won’t be excited about having a little boy, but that’s just part of our psyche, I think.
I would say I also spend more time thinking about girl names. For me, it’s definitely not about wishing for daughters over sons, as others have suggested. I have a twin brother who I’ve always felt very motherly towards, so as a child my favorite baby doll (officially named “Big [name]Baby[/name]” - it’s actually very much like the one in [name]Toy[/name] [name]Story[/name] 3, which is crazy, same broken eye and everything!) was a boy as often as a girl.
[name]One[/name] reason I don’t think about it as much is that my husband and I somehow magically agreed on what we would want to name our son when I brought up the conversation once when we were dating. The name has so much significance to each of us, there’s no chance we would change it. Seriously, if our best friend had a kid right now and gave him that name, we’d still use it. My sister actually used the first name as one of her son’s middle names, but we still went to the hospital intending to use it if our child was a boy, but we had a daughter.
It also just seems to me like 1) there are more names for girls, 2) unusual/uncommon names are more acceptable for girls than for boys, and 3) girls care more about their name than boys (like, boys are fine with their name as long as it doesn’t get them made fun of, they don’t wish their parents had named them something more unusual or more normal or whatever). I know these are generalizations, but this is how it seems to me, like there is more pressure when naming a girl.
@thatkathryngirl, me too! My husband once said in passing what his top boy name was and it was the same as mine. It’s been on our list ever since.
For me, I did always daydream about having a little girl, so that’s probably part of why I like to look at girls names more than boys. Also, as PPs have said, it feels like there are so many more options for girls: Classics, Nature names, Foreign-inspired, Frilly, etc. For boys, I’m not a huge fan of nature names or anything super “manly” or cowboy-like (e.g., [name]Duke[/name], [name]Blaze[/name], [name]Cody[/name]), so that limits my options a lot. Plus I know that even if I found 50 fantastic boys names, my husband would still say, “But we agreed on X!” so no point in deliberating boys names unless we have a boy and are thinking about another child.