I’m a little sad about how many traditionally male names have gone to the girls. But here are the ones I’m saddest about(some of these just sound feminine or seem cruel/odd to use on a boy):
I know that these sound pretty feminine, which is precisely why I’m asking this question. Are these really extinct for boys? If not, what would you pair them with? If so, would it be okay to use them as mns?
I think [name_u]Allison[/name_u], [name_u]Andrea[/name_u], [name_u]Alva[/name_u], [name_u]Cheyenne[/name_u] and [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u] are the most ‘girl’ names on that list. All the others should be fine… [name_f]Remember[/name_f] people are naming baby girls [name_u]James[/name_u] and [name_m]Maxwell[/name_m]-if you like these names use them for little boys!
Thank you, @grackym! The ones you pointed out were the most feminine. Besides elderly men, I’ve never met any male with these names, which is why I’d be hesitant to use them. Thank you for your honest opinion!
Many of these are too far gone to be revived, unfortunately. But you can change them up a little to make them more boy-appropriate. [name_m]Brooks[/name_m], for example, could be a plausible alternative to [name_u]Brooke[/name_u]. And [name_u]Alex[/name_u]/[name_m]Alexander[/name_m] could take the place of [name_u]Alexis[/name_u].
I think all are wonderful names for boys, but it might be best to reserve a few for the middle name spot. I’m thinking mostly [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u] and maybe [name_u]Andrea[/name_u]?
One of my favorites is [name_u]Hadley[/name_u]. Would love to use this for a little boy.
[name_u]Alexis[/name_u] is masculine w/the Fr. pronunciation, or it could be spelled [name_m]Alexei[/name_m] to get a similar pronunciation in English. [name_u]Allison[/name_u] has been feminine since [name_m]Chaucer[/name_m]'s time. And [name_u]Andre[/name_u] is the masc. form of [name_u]Andrea[/name_u]. BTW, I have male ancestors named [name_f]Denice[/name_f] and [name_f]Beverly[/name_f] from the 1700’s.
I know a guy named [name_u]Alexis[/name_u], he’s my age so 18, but he goes by [name_u]Alex[/name_u]. I think that’s fairly usable.
And I think I would genuinely not know what gender to assign [name_u]Flannery[/name_u] so I’d say that’s usable as well.
Unfortunately the others seem pretty feminine to me so I wouldn’t chose to use them
[name_u]Flannery[/name_u] Def. sounds masculine to me!
Only heard [name_u]Addison[/name_u] used as boys names around here until recently!
[name_u]Brook[/name_u] sounds masculine Preppy!
[name_u]Everly[/name_u] and [name_u]Fallon[/name_u] is on the line!
[name_f]My[/name_f] daughter’s name is [name_u]Fallon[/name_u] which I understood from reading part of my Celtic roots to be purely masculine. The correct Pronunciation is “Fowlun” which is what [name_f]My[/name_f] husband calls her and my pronunciation is [name_f]Falynn[/name_f] ! She is now 21 and loves her name!
Only [name_u]Alexis[/name_u] and [name_u]Flannery[/name_u] strike me as particularly usable as first names. I do like [name_u]Brook[/name_u] on a boy though; as a nature name, technically it is unisex.
I have [name_u]Addison[/name_u] on my list. I have only met one [name_u]Addison[/name_u], a boy that was on my son’s baseball team. [name_u]Addison[/name_u] is a very handsome name. I love many names that I have been told sound like a girls name or is a girls name.
I’m an [name_u]Ashley[/name_u] (in the U.S. if that helps) and I just can’t picture my name on a boy/man. [name_u]Ash[/name_u], however, seems strictly masculine to me (which is why I can’t stand to be called [name_u]Ash[/name_u]!), and I am really fond of [name_m]Asher[/name_m] for a boy.
I’m a bit bummed about [name_u]Ashley[/name_u] also.
I see [name_u]Penrose[/name_u] as more boy than girl.
[name_u]Flannery[/name_u], [name_u]Brooklyn[/name_u], [name_u]Genesis[/name_u] and [name_u]Alexis[/name_u] are safe for boys [name_f]IMO[/name_f].
I’m letting you know, I am 15. This is from a teenager’s point of view. All of these names are very feminine to me. I have really great girl friends named [name_u]Ashley[/name_u], [name_u]Madison[/name_u], [name_u]Addison[/name_u], [name_u]Allison[/name_u], [name_u]Andrea[/name_u], [name_u]Alexis[/name_u], [name_u]Brooke[/name_u], [name_u]Brooklyn[/name_u], [name_u]Cheyenne[/name_u], and [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u]. As a child of (mostly) this generation I would look at every single one of these names and instantly say they were girls, with little to no question about it (except for maybe [name_u]Flannery[/name_u]). [name_u]Ashley[/name_u], [name_u]Madison[/name_u], [name_u]Allison[/name_u], [name_u]Addison[/name_u], [name_u]Alexis[/name_u], [name_u]Brooklyn[/name_u], [name_u]Genesis[/name_u], and [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u] are all in the top 100 for girls. That means over 3,000 girls (a lot more for some) were named this last year. I’m not trying to persuade you to not use your favorite names, I giving you an honest opinion. I hope this is helpful if you’re interested about what little kids might think. Adding on to that, though, my youngest sister (she’s 7) has two Aidens and two Ryans in her grade and for each pair, one is a boy and one is a girl. Unisex names are in.
If it’s any consolation [name_u]Alexis[/name_u] and [name_u]Andrea[/name_u] are totally legit male names in [name_f]France[/name_f] and [name_f]Italy[/name_f] and pretty commonly used too( in [name_f]France[/name_f] [name_u]Alexis[/name_u] was ranked 37 for boys in 2012 and has never been used for girls). And [name_u]Ashley[/name_u] [name_m]Cole[/name_m], the British soccer player, was probably never mistaken for a girl either, so you could totally get away with [name_u]Ashley[/name_u] for a boy in the UK + [name_u]Brooklyn[/name_u] is the name of one of the [name_m]Beckham[/name_m] boys (though the Beckhams were made fun of a lot at the time about their boys’ names). Is moving to Europe in the cards ?!?
But I don’t see why you couldn’t use any of them as middle names, lovely as they are !
I don’t really like the idea that names ‘go to the girls’. As if somehow having girls named the same thing ruins it for boys. Nothing ever seems to have ‘gone to the boys’. (I know that this has already been expressed a lot on nameberry though so I’m not going to go on about it).
(I’m just going to quickly go through these ones though)
[name_u]Ashley[/name_u] - Yes most often used for girls, but there’s [name_m]Asher[/name_m] and [name_u]Ashton[/name_u], so I don’t think it’s a huge stretch. [name_m]Just[/name_m] another [name_u]Ash[/name_u]- boy name.
[name_u]Addison[/name_u] - I think anything that ends in -son you can easily justify
[name_u]Madison[/name_u] - ^
[name_u]Allison[/name_u] - ^
[name_u]Alva[/name_u] - I don’t think this one’s common enough for either gender for it to be only recognized as a girl’s name. Also male names ending in an ‘a’ sound seem to be on the upswing. ([name_u]Luca[/name_u], [name_u]Micah[/name_u], [name_m]Ezra[/name_m], [name_u]Asa[/name_u], [name_m]Jonah[/name_m])
[name_u]Andrea[/name_u] - This one might seem a little odd in most English speaking countries maybe, but it seems to be quite common for men internationally.
[name_u]Flannery[/name_u] - I don’t think that surnames are ever really for only one gender. Especially one like this that’s rarely heard as a first name for anyone.
[name_u]Alexis[/name_u] - Again, more common for boys internationally.
[name_u]Brook/name_u/[name_u]Brooklyn[/name_u] - [name_m]Brooks[/name_m] is gaining in popularity, and [name_u]Brook/name_u isn’t far off. [name_m]David[/name_m] and [name_f]Victoria[/name_f] [name_m]Beckham[/name_m]'s son seems to be doing alright with the name [name_u]Brooklyn[/name_u]. Plus if [name_m]Bronx[/name_m] and [name_u]Camden[/name_u] are boy names then why not [name_u]Brooklyn[/name_u]?
[name_u]Cheyenne[/name_u] - I’m not a fan of this on anybody, so I can’t really look at this impartially.
[name_u]Everly[/name_u] - Being a relatively new sounding name, it hasn’t traditionally been used for either boy or girl, so I don’t see the problem, [name_u]Ever[/name_u] seems to be considered unisex. (Only point about this is that it rhymes with [name_f]Beverly[/name_f] though so there is that.)
[name_u]Evelyn[/name_u] - This is the really the only one that I can see anybody really objecting to being on a boy.
[name_u]Penrose[/name_u]/[name_u]Fallon[/name_u]/[name_u]Genesis[/name_u] - These last three also don’t really seem to be specifically girl or boy names, so I can’t see there being a real problem with giving them to your son. [name_u]Penrose[/name_u] is just like [name_m]Ambrose[/name_m], which is a male name, [name_u]Fallon[/name_u] fits right in with all the other ____-on/en/an boy names du jour, and [name_u]Genesis[/name_u] is a word name that isn’t overtly feminine in any way.
Okay sorry, that was not as quick as I thought.
Anyway, I think in reality with kids being named crazy things all the time, and girls being named [name_m]Maxwell[/name_m] (or [name_u]Seth[/name_u] like I saw suggested by this site the other day) I don’t think a boy having a ‘girl name’ would be a big issue. I’ve recently met men named [name_u]Stacey[/name_u], [name_u]Morgan[/name_u], and [name_u]Addison[/name_u], and they seem to be doing okay with their names.
[name_u]Madison[/name_u], [name_u]Allison[/name_u], [name_u]Andrea[/name_u], [name_u]Alexis[/name_u] (debatable), [name_u]Brooke[/name_u], [name_u]Cheyenne[/name_u], [name_u]Everly[/name_u], [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u], [name_u]Penrose[/name_u] are the names I believe have been taken by the girls, sorry!
Thank you all for your honest opinions. Probably should have mentioned I’m 13 lol…
Really, thanks. The only reason I would be hesitant to use one of these for a boy is because of the way it might affect him in life…does that make sense?
I think [name_u]Cheyenne[/name_u] is problematic on anyone of any gender. I wouldn’t use it on son or daughter. I don’t get where it’s “traditionally masculine and stolen by the girls” though.
I met a little boy named [name_u]Kelley[/name_u] at the park last week. I also saw a birth announcement for a male [name_u]Ashley[/name_u]. I don’t think it’s cruel. I hate the double standards too. Girls and boys can have the same names and the boys will not be less of men for it.
