This is an academic question (I’m not personally in need of ideas), but it’s come up in a few threads about unisex names/using boys’ names on girls that often the motivation for choosing a name like that is that parents are looking for something that doesn’t sound “frilly” or overly feminine.
So i’m curious, what traditionally female names do you think might meet that criteria? Something distinctly female (NOT unisex, not a surname) that sounds fairly crisp, that is not at all frou-frou? Obviously there’s going to be a range of responses, but i wonder if there are any patterns or most agreed on choices in this category.
i don’t have time to make a whole long list right now, but things that come to my mind right away are names like [name]Kate[/name] or [name]Melanie[/name] or [name]Brenna[/name]. WDYT?
The first thing that popped into my mind was [name]Paige[/name]. I think [name]Page[/name] is a surname / old boy name, but now I think [name]Paige[/name] is decidedly feminine… pretty but strong.
[name]Kate[/name] I agree with.
[name]Melanie[/name] is very…I can’t put it into an adjective, but it doesn’t fit the criteria for me.
[name]Brenna[/name] is definitely closer.
My ideas:
[name]Alexandra[/name]
[name]Andromeda[/name]
[name]Emma[/name]
[name]Harriet[/name]
[name]Meghan[/name]
[name]Jessica[/name]
[name]Carmen[/name] (Not if unisex or not)
[name]Elizabeth[/name]
[name]Audrey[/name] / [name]Audra[/name]
[name]Demetra[/name]
[name]Georgia[/name]
[name]Vera[/name]
[name]Veronica[/name]
[name]Violet[/name]
[name]Rose[/name]
[name]Odette[/name] (Crisp sound, but has a princessy feel to it for me. but it can still meet the criteria)
[name]Ava[/name]
[name]Katherine[/name]
[name]Yvette[/name]
Unfortunately, [name]Aubrey[/name], and [name]Meredith[/name] were originally boys names.
I agree with [name]Grace[/name], [name]Eve[/name], [name]Brooke[/name], and [name]Bridget[/name] whole-heartedly though.
Well, I think these names fit it in that category:
[name]Eve[/name]
[name]Maeve[/name]
[name]Mae[/name]/[name]May[/name]
[name]Meg[/name]
[name]Anne[/name]
[name]Suzanne[/name]/[name]Susanne[/name]
[name]Susan[/name]
[name]Louise[/name]
[name]Alice[/name]
[name]Rose[/name]
[name]Violet[/name]
[name]Astrid[/name]
[name]Star[/name]
[name]Skye[/name]
[name]Faith[/name]
[name]Grace[/name]
[name]Hope[/name]
[name]Claire[/name]
[name]Tess[/name]
[name]Jane[/name]
[name]Jade[/name]
[name]Shay[/name]/[name]Shae[/name] - I know this is traditionally an Irish boy’s name, but it feels more feminine to me. [name]Seamus[/name] is definitely masculine, but [name]Shea[/name]? nope
When I think of crisp, clean, strong girls names, length is the first thing on my mind. The longer a name is, the more frilly it seems. I also think about the sounds, avoiding l and m as dominant consonants. Leah and Emma are very different from Sarah and Chloe. I also like the more straight-forward names to make them seem cleaner, Cara rather than Clio or Chloe or even Claire.
Going through the alphabet:
Alba - Briar - Cara - Delta - Etta - Franca - Greta - Honour - Isis - Juno - Kestrel - Liesel - Mirren - Nova - Opal - Petra - Quenell - Rhea - Saga - Thora - Una - Vesper - Wren - Xanthe - Yuna - Zanna
I think the strong classic names are often the least trendy (names that don’t rise and fall on the charts by the decade) and the longest enduring (present in almost all generations to some degree). I think timeless and un-fussy names like [name]Anne[/name]/[name]Anna[/name], [name]Elizabeth[/name], [name]Sarah[/name], [name]Jane[/name], [name]Lucy[/name], [name]Catherine[/name], [name]Mary[/name]/[name]Marie[/name]/[name]Maria[/name], [name]Eve[/name]/[name]Eva[/name], etc. are very clearly feminine, but not necessarily frilly. I think they could suit a grown professional woman as well as a sweet little girl. These kinds of names grow with the person, I feel.
European Medieval and Renaissance names also tend to be low-frill and forthright. Ceredwen, [name]Elinor[/name], [name]Avis[/name], [name]Marion[/name], [name]Mabel[/name], [name]Agnes[/name], [name]Joan[/name], [name]Ruth[/name], [name]Margery[/name], [name]Eda[/name], [name]Bette[/name], [name]Alys[/name], [name]Berta[/name], [name]Helen[/name], [name]Maud[/name], Sanche, [name]Susan[/name]…
I think there are a lot of names that meet those criteria. Some that come to mind:
[name]Jane[/name], [name]Jean[/name], [name]Joan[/name]
[name]Anne[/name]
[name]Anna[/name]
[name]Sarah[/name]
[name]Emma[/name]
[name]Louise[/name]
[name]Cora[/name]
[name]Nora[/name]
[name]Claire[/name]
[name]Clara[/name]
[name]Katherine[/name]
[name]Grace[/name]
[name]Julia[/name]
[name]Margaret[/name]
[name]Lydia[/name]
[name]Hannah[/name]
[name]Rose[/name]
Names that sound more “frou-frou” and less “strong” - - I like these types of names, also, though.
Isabella
Annabelle
Adrianna
Ariana
Victoria
Alyssa
[name]Frances[/name] is the name that I immediately thought of when I read your post.
I also don’t think anyone’s mentioned [name]Margo[/name]? (I prefer [name]Margot[/name], but I think it’s crisper-looking without the “t.”)
As another observation I noticed while making this list that the “el” sound is also very feminine or cutsey like the ie, y, and a names. Some examples of these names are…
[name]Giselle[/name]
[name]Rachel[/name]
[name]Liesel[/name]
[name]Aria[/name]
[name]Mia[/name]
[name]Lila[/name]
[name]Chloe[/name] (not an ie, but the same sound)
[name]Nancy[/name]
[name]Janie[/name]
Some 3 sylabull examples, basically all 3 sylabull names to me sound more feminine because of the sing songy rythm they possess.
[name]Gabrielle[/name] (also an el name)
[name]Alexandria[/name] (an a name)
[name]Cecily[/name] (a y name)
[name]Miriam[/name]
[name]Juliette[/name]
[name]Genevieve[/name]
[name]Elizabeth[/name]