Gender divide = style divide?

General Name Discussion
1

Is this common? [name]Do[/name] you like a specific “type” of name for girls and a very different “type” for boys?

My husband likes very “normal” “mainstream” type boys names. A couple of backgrounds: English, less-oddly-spelt Irish/Scottish, and Biblical names. And not the weird Biblical ones. That’s it.

At the moment he admits to liking:

[name]Liam[/name]
[name]Owen[/name]
[name]Jonathan[/name]

This would be fine but I always pictured that the sort of person who liked Top 100 boys names would feel similarly about girls. You know, [name]Catherine[/name]/[name]Lily[/name]/[name]Hannah[/name] type names. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

But for girls he likes:

[name]Winter[/name]
[name]Indigo[/name]
[name]Raven[/name]
[name]Luna[/name]
[name]Topaz[/name]

etc.

I don’t hate these either! At least not all of them. But, I was the odd one of my siblings who both got top 20 names, and it sucked! I just want either all oddball or all gold standard normal, you know?

But I found the split interesting. [name]Do[/name] you split based on gender? My husband says “boys need normal names” whatever that means.

2

LOL I was thinking this difference myself.

Boys: classic, prefer family linked names, meaning not as crucial as it being “normal” as your DH would say.

Girls: anything pretty sounding with obvious nn (or no nn), no family link at all, meaning very important too. Generally prefer normal but not overtly trendy (with the exception of [name]Chloe[/name] which is uber trendy.)

Your DH’s styles seem rather polar! But I get it.

emiliaj

3

Haha! At least he’s not alone. He is rather polar about it, though.

I guess I am more hung up on sibsets. It works okay if we have all girls or all boys, but what if…? Gah!

At the moment his two favourites are, yes, [name]Jonathan[/name] and [name]Winter[/name]. Which, I like too - but not together, really. [name]Jonathan[/name] and [name]Ivy[/name]? [name]Winter[/name] and [name]Joaquin[/name]? I dunno. Maybe I’m crazy too! :smiley:

4

I love [name]Jonathan[/name] and [name]Winter[/name] together personally! Sibsets aren’t important to me, but if I had to choose, the non-matchy ones are far cooler. Nothing is more unoriginal than names of siblings which have EXACTLY the same feel to them. [name]Lily[/name] and [name]Sophie[/name], for instance sound equally cutesy, popular and a bit old-fashioned therefore sound dull together. If they had been [name]Lily[/name] and [name]Sylvia[/name], they would have sounded far more attractive together in my opinion. Anyway, I digress…

I think mine mainly share the same style, for the majority. For both I like classic but not dull or popular, distinctly European and easy to pronounce, quirky with lots of energy, often vintage-y, a bit glamorous yet down to earth. Although my boys names are probably a tiny bit more conservative, I suppose. [name]Sybella[/name], [name]Beatrice[/name], [name]Camilla[/name] and [name]Daisy[/name] vs. [name]Elliot[/name], [name]Nico[/name], [name]Henry[/name] and [name]Theodore[/name]. Hmm, I don’t know.

5

Wow, [name]Owen[/name] and [name]Topaz[/name] are pretty different, haha.

As for my style, I’m not sure. I always thought they were pretty different but that they at least worked together. My favorite girls’ names are very girly, usually longer with a nickname, hopefully that have a bit of a timeless feel. The only four girls’ names I can find myself completely in love with right now are [name]Isabelle[/name], [name]Arianne[/name], [name]Olivia[/name], and [name]Violet[/name], so along those lines. My boys’ names are a bit less mainstream (or with less mainstream alternatives, I guess you’d say, since [name]Isabella[/name], [name]Arianna[/name], and [name]Olivia[/name] are all pretty popular), but some are quite popular… a few Biblical choices but manly surnamey or unisex, and definitely trendier than my girls’ names, even though they’re popular ([name]Caleb[/name], [name]Jack[/name], [name]Everett[/name], [name]Grayson[/name], [name]Asher[/name], [name]Brody[/name], [name]Spencer[/name], [name]Bailey[/name], etc.). Still, I think they all mesh pretty well. [name]Isabelle[/name], [name]Caleb[/name], and [name]Everett[/name]; [name]Isabelle[/name], [name]Arianne[/name], and [name]Brody[/name]; [name]Isabelle[/name], [name]Grayson[/name], and [name]Violet[/name]; [name]Isabelle[/name], [name]Caleb[/name], and [name]Jack[/name]–I think they all mesh together fairly well even though they’re slightly different. My boys’ list has changed a lot in the past year or so, though, so I think adding choices like [name]Everett[/name] and [name]Spencer[/name] have helped to make them work together more…

@emiliaj - haha, I think it’s funny that your boys’ names honor family but not your girls–all of my girls’ combos honor family, but it’s a lot less likely for my boys’ combos to do so! Or at least, the way of honoring family is much less connected (i.e. using [name]Charles[/name] as a nod to my mom because she always wanted a [name]Charlie[/name] rather than using [name]Kate[/name] for her on a girl, since her name is a variation of [name]Catherine[/name], just like [name]Kate[/name] is…).

I think something like [name]Luna[/name] and [name]Jonathan[/name] or [name]Luna[/name] and [name]Owen[/name] would be great together, though–different, yes, but the style seems to work together anyway. :slight_smile:

6

I am that way, except that I prefer timeless traditional names for girls and more “out there” names for boys. The difference in my boy/girl list is quite stark.

7

My favorites boys’ names tend to be Celtic in origin - [name]Kyle[/name], [name]Liam[/name], [name]Owen[/name], [name]Patrick[/name], etc. My favorite girls’ names are more classic - [name]Emily[/name], [name]Caroline[/name], [name]Charlotte[/name], [name]Catherine[/name].

8

With me the main difference is that there’s not as many “dated-retro” names I like for boys (probably because while something like [name]Melissa[/name] or [name]Susan[/name] would be unusual for a girl these days as compared to a few decades ago, names like [name]Matthew[/name] and [name]Steven[/name] have continued to be widely used and don’t have the same “once common but not now” charm).

9

Hmm… interesting question. I tend to like uncommon but “normal” names (ie not made up, misspelled or a word name for the most part, there are exceptions…) for both genders, but I think I’m a little more adventurous with the girl names. I was one in many with my name and I’d prefer that my kids don’t have to deal with being Name Lastinitial. But for some reason I’m more ok with that for a boy than girl. Not a clue why.

I think my names are somewhat similar for both genders. Some boy favorites are [name]Elliott[/name], [name]Ian[/name], [name]Brennan[/name], [name]Callum[/name] and girl favorites are [name]Serena[/name], [name]Audrey[/name], [name]Bridget[/name], [name]Hazel[/name]. Now that I look at it, I think I like more “modern” sounding names for boys and “reborn classic” for girls, if that makes any sense. I like names that are clearly one gender or the other but not TOO much (ie not too masculine like [name]George[/name], and not too girly like [name]Graciella[/name]).

10

Wow, never really thought of names that way, but very interesting concept.

For girls: underrated classics, “down-to-earth friendly” type names, names from mythology, uncommon floral names or names derived from said flora.

For boys: What I like to call “exotic handsome”; that is, names that tend to be Italian or Eastern European. Though some have a “medieval mage/warrior” feel to them.

I tend to be more scattered with my girl names, but with boy names I’m pretty firm on what I like.