My husband loves this name for our baby girl, but I’m not sure…I need your opinions please!!
While I’ve heard this exclusively as a boy’s name, I can see [name]Declan[/name] easily fitting a little girl. The potential nn ‘[name]Lanie[/name]’ helps, too.
I love unisex names, but [name]Declan[/name] is not one of them. It SCREAMS masculine
BUT, if you are going to go with it. I would at least give it a femanized spelling… Declynn… perhaps.
I’m sorry, but I find it really horrible.
No no no no no no no no no no no no no noooo
This is a very masculine sounding name to me and I actually think it sounds quite harsh even for a boy. I wouldn’t personally use it on a girl but people are using [name]Ryan[/name], [name]Dylan[/name], [name]Blake[/name] and all other boys names on girls now a days so I’m sure you could use [name]Declan[/name].
I have only ever heard this name on boys. I know it is the latest fashion to use boys names on girls, so she won’t be completely different and I am sure others have used it on girls. I did look up the name on BtN and the major consensus is that it is a masculine name so if you are okay with a lot of people viewing it that way. I would also feel bad if she happened to vacation in [name]Ireland[/name] or [name]Scotland[/name] and got weird looks for having the name. Hopefully it would not happen. I don’t know if other countries are as big into the male name on female trend.
Anyway, Goodluck!
I’ve always been in love with this name for a boy–and picture my own future son with this name.
But the more I think about it, if a different spelling, I could possibly see it as a girls’ name. (I like the spelling of Declynn.)
As I dislike it for a boy, I can’t imagine it for a girl…at all.
I may have an unpopular opinion here but I think that the origin of the gender of the name should be respected. [name]Declan[/name] is a boys name. A female [name]Declan[/name] (and a high number of other Irish/Gaelic boys names used on girls) wouldn’t be well received well in [name]Ireland[/name] at all.
I don’t like the idea of [name]Declan[/name] on a girl. Would [name]Alana[/name] interest you?
I don’t really think this is necessary. There are a lot of girl’s names to choose from.
Agreed.
And what if you have a boy after?
I really like the name [name]Declan[/name], but because of its popularity as a boys name I think that I would personally stay away from using it as a girl’s name. Our female dog has a well-established boy’s name ([name]Oscar[/name]), and we constantly catch slack for it. Answering all the ridiculous questions (Did you think she was a boy? Did you know [name]Oscar[/name] is a boy’s name? etc.) didn’t bother me at first, but four years in it has become so annoying that I almost always refer to her as “he” or “boy” when we are in public. By no means am I trying to compare my dog to a child (although she is our first “baby”), but my experience with her name made me determined to stay away from any gender confusion when naming our son.
Best of luck coming up with a name!
Yikes, not sure why people are so adamant that a boy’s name must be a boy’s name, especially when all the sounds are assigned pretty arbitrarily. Why is [name]Declan[/name] masculine, but [name]Caitlin[/name] feminine? Makes no sense to me.
WHAT’S NEXT GIRLS [name]WILL[/name] BE WEARING TROUSERS AND IT [name]WILL[/name] BE ANARCHY.
I’d be happy to meet a little girl [name]Declan[/name]. It’s cute and fresh.
I new a girl called [name]Nicholas[/name] and it was super endearing; everyone kind of “forgot” that it was a boy’s name after the initial surprise.
I think of it as a boys name, like pp have said there are so many names that sound similar to choose from that are traditionally female names.
This being said, I know of a little [name]Declan[/name] (its spelled Deklyn, ugh) who is a girl and I think because its so unusual people do not really know of its origins (well, [name]Declan[/name]) as a male name so they so far have not run into much trouble.
I love Declan for a boy, so it is all boy to me. Even if someone likes a typically boy name on a girl, I’m not a fan of changing the spelling. I’d much rather see a name on the gender I don’t expect spelled the traditional way, than see the spelling changed to make it ‘fit’ the opposite gender. The kid is already going to have people guessing which gender they are if they see they name before seeing they see the kid, changing the spelling just gives people another thing to guess to have to guess.
Etymology and Onomastics say that there are male and female names. Of course people can USE it for either gender, but that doesn’t mean that there are not genders attached to names and not all names translate well on the opposite gender and there are a lot of people who do not like using names on the wrong gender. It has NOTHING to do with “zomgz, girls wearing trousers”, there are a lot of other social implications and traditions attached to the way people feel that has NOTHING to do with “feminism” - I’m not going to get into it here, but feel free to search old posts about “boys anmes on girls” and you will understand why.
“You will understand why” is a bit condescending. I understand perfectly, just disagree wholeheartedly. If it makes people upset to hear girls having boy’s names, then they certainly don’t have to name their daughters a boy name. But all the girl Logans and Isaiahs and Nicholases and Taylors I know are doing all right for themselves.
My name, [name]Courtney[/name], was once exclusively used for boys, and now, people would laugh at a boy with such a name. Same with [name]Ashley[/name], [name]Noel[/name], etc. I would be hard pressed to believe there are etymology and onomastics studies that say there is something inherently boyish about boy names and girlish about girl names in every case, especially considering how our idea of what’s a girl name and a boy name changes by the decade. And does this apply to names from non Western cultures? People here think [name]Sasha[/name] and [name]Misha[/name] and Losha sound feminine, but in [name]Russia[/name] they’re often considered quite masculine. I know someone named [name]Gabriel[/name] from Guatemala, and his name is pronounced [name]Gab[/name]-ri-[name]ELLE[/name], and it doesn’t sound girlish to him at all, and he chafes at the implication that it ever could.
Obviously, our culture shapes our understanding of what’s masculine and feminine. I just don’t understand why people are so vehemently opposed to transgressing that, going so far as to say “NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO” without any explanation.
Re: girls wearing trousers. Obviously, I was being tongue and cheek. Not sure why you jumped to feminism. My only point is that for years women didn’t wear trousers because doing so was considered so bizarre and strange and against tradition and order all that was good. Trousers were strongly associated with men, just as certain names are.
[name]Declan[/name] sounds super girly to me. Maybe my ears are just wrong.
I love [name]Declan[/name] on a boy, and don’t get me wrong, I love unisex names, but I find [name]Declan[/name] a smidge too masculine to go on a girl. [name]How[/name] about [name]Delaney[/name] instead? Similar vibe and they’re both Irish, but [name]Delaney[/name] is more feminine.
The “you will understand why” was meant as "You will understand why I am not discussing this in another thread. Which I am not. 