Whatever our opinion on the matter, we all know that boys names for girls are trendy. But how about the reverse? If a girl can be named [name]Lincoln[/name] or [name]Elliot[/name], why can’t a boy be [name]Lois[/name] or [name]Isabel[/name]?
I think a lot of girls names could work fabulously for boys. If [name]Tanner[/name], why not [name]Tanith[/name]? If [name]Xavier[/name], why not [name]Xanthe[/name]? If [name]Owen[/name], why not [name]Opal[/name]? If [name]Jonathan[/name], why not [name]Jonquil[/name]? If [name]Max[/name], why not [name]May[/name]?
Some more of my favorite gender-swapped names:
[name]Celeste[/name] *
[name]Fern[/name]
[name]Esme[/name]
[name]Aquila[/name]
[name]Romy[/name] *
[name]Averil[/name]
[name]Seren[/name] *
[name]Evadne[/name]
[name]Leonie[/name] ([name]Leo[/name] is getting popular)
[name]Beryl[/name] *
[name]Cate[/name] (just a letter off from [name]Cade[/name])
[name]Hester[/name]
[name]Carly[/name] *
[name]Ingrid[/name]
[name]Willow[/name] *
[name]Paz[/name]
[name]Aisling[/name]
[name]Jolie[/name] (instead of just [name]Joel[/name])
[name]Zoe[/name] *
[name]Adele[/name]
[name]Jade[/name] *
[name]Alison[/name] (‘son’ is right there in the name!)
[name]Eden[/name] *
[name]Arden[/name]*
[name]Afton[/name]
[name]Maris[/name]
[name]Scarlet[/name] *
[name]Lux[/name]
[name]Macy[/name] (a great alternative to [name]Mason[/name]!)
[name]Tamar[/name]
[name]Gala[/name]
[name]Ivy[/name] (one of my favorites)
[name]Saga[/name] *
[name]Clover[/name]
[name]Belle[/name] (boys are beautiful too, right?)
[name]Jane[/name] (a very tough male character on ‘Firefly’ wore this name handsomely)
[name]Hazel[/name]
[name]Blythe[/name] *
[name]Clio[/name] *
[name]Julie[/name] (could be a nn for the popular [name]Julian[/name])
[name]Bridget[/name]
[name]Fay[/name] *
[name]Serenity[/name]
[name]Beth[/name] *
[name]Mallory[/name] *
[name]Brynn[/name] (like a modern, stripped-down [name]Brian[/name])
[name]Iris[/name]
[name]April[/name] *
[name]Piper[/name] ([name]LOVE[/name] this for a boy)
[name]Olive[/name]
[name]Charity[/name] (virtue names, like nature names, should be gender-neutral, right?)
[name]Chastity[/name] (^^)
[name]Tess[/name] *
[name]Sigourney[/name] *
[name]Isis[/name]
[name]Shirley[/name]
[name]Joy[/name] (I would love to see this on a boy!)
[name]Kimberly[/name]
[name]Helen[/name]
[name]Ellen[/name]
[name]Sloane[/name] *
[name]Greer[/name] *
[name]Jennifer[/name] (dated for girls, fresh for boys)
What girls names would YOU like to see cross over?
Well I totally see [name]Brynn[/name] as a boys name anyway, not one part of me finds it feminine!
I hate the double standard that comes with gender-swapped names. Like “I can name my daughter [name]Ryan[/name] because it’s a strong name, but I can’t name my son [name]Elizabeth[/name] because it’s so feminine”. Why can girls be masculine, but boys cannot be feminine? It’s a double standard that I wish didn’t exist. Girls names can sound strong too, and boys names can be soft. People have told me so many times that I shouldn’t like names like [name]Darwin[/name], [name]Elliot[/name], and [name]Jasper[/name] on a boy because they’re too soft sounding and sound like girls names. Well why is it okay to give your daughter a masculine name? I hate it. If you’re prepared to use a boys name on a girl, you should be okay with using a girls name on a boy. Otherwise it’s just ignorant and even sexist.
From your list, I prefer these on boys:
[name]Hester[/name]
[name]Eden[/name]
[name]Arden[/name]
[name]Afton[/name]
[name]Bryn[/name]
[name]Piper[/name]
[name]Sloane[/name]
[name]Nuh[/name] uh! You can’t be sexist towards males! It’s just not possible!
[name]Kimberly[/name] was used on males in the 1950’s to 1970’s. Not as popular as it was for girls but in the top 1,000, even peaking at #553 in 1955.
I agree with you, in that I’m not sure why boy names seem to be able to cross over and girl names can’t, but I also think that sometimes, it is not the sound of the name itself that puts the parent off using it for a boy - [name]Hester[/name], for instance, even rhymes with [name]Lester[/name], a traditionally male name, which completely undermines that logic! But instead, for the same reasons that some Berries hesitate to use infrequently heard names which are actually traditionally used on persons with the same gender as their child, lots of people are put off by the scarce use of [name]Ingrid[/name], for example, on a boy, even if they consider it to sound masculine.
Also, surely by not considering [name]Hester[/name], for example, from your list above, to be a girl’s name, despite its extensive use as such, while berating those who do exactly the same thing with boy names, you are copying these double standards? Sorry, I’m not trying to argue and I agree with much of what you are saying, I’m just mulling things over ‘out loud’, as it were. [name]Just[/name] something to think about.
[name]Greer[/name] and [name]Seren[/name] would be my favourites on a boy.
I actually think it’s okay to use ‘girl’ names on boys if you think a name sounds more masculine
ones I like for boys
[name]Artemis[/name]
[name]Alma[/name]
Bronagh
[name]Jonquil[/name]
[name]Merry[/name]
[name]Summer[/name]
and a few I love that were originally boy, but you almost only see on girls now.
[name]Cassidy[/name]
[name]Lindsey[/name]
[name]Loren[/name]
[name]Mackenzie[/name]
[name]Morgan[/name]
[name]Whitney[/name]
and ones I don’t like ,but I think they can work for a boy
[name]Alba[/name]
[name]Edith[/name]
[name]Echo[/name]
[name]Eden[/name]
[name]Ilene[/name]
[name]Inga[/name]
[name]Ingrid[/name]
[name]Ursa[/name]
[name]Paris[/name]
[name]Valerie[/name]
[name]Willow[/name]
[name]Beryl[/name]
[name]Beth[/name]
Bjork
[name]Connie[/name]
[name]Dagmar[/name]
[name]Phillis[/name]
[name]Cadence[/name]
[name]Chelsea[/name]
[name]Clare[/name]
[name]Jane[/name]
[name]Juno[/name]
[name]Mallory[/name]
[name]Myrtle[/name]
[name]Fay[/name]
[name]Fern[/name] (i actually know a guy with this name)
[name]Holly[/name]
Leto
[name]Rachel[/name]
[name]Rose[/name]
[name]Ruby[/name]
[name]Sloane[/name]
[name]Sybil[/name]
[name]Tamar[/name]
Personally, I don’t like the idea of traditionally boy names on girls and the reverse…But why said plant/flower names are all girl and surname/mineral - all boy? Switching sounds fun! These are the ones I would like to see only on boys despite their popularity for girls:
[name]Vivian[/name] (though I like [name]Vivienne[/name] for a girl)
[name]Shannon[/name]
[name]Logan[/name]
[name]Addison[/name]
[name]Madison[/name]
[name]Elisha[/name]
“On” means “he” in Ukrainian so it’s was odd for me to meet girls with these names after I started learning English culture. Funny but anyway… These are nature and word names that would work perfectly for boys:
[name]Fern[/name]
[name]Ginger[/name]
[name]Juniper[/name]
[name]Laurel[/name] (like for both genders)
[name]Linden[/name]
[name]Garnet[/name]
[name]Harbor[/name]
[name]Haven[/name]
[name]Rain[/name]
[name]Holiday[/name]
[name]Lyric[/name]
[name]Olive[/name] (like for both genders)
[name]Justice[/name]
[name]Cricket[/name]
[name]Cadence[/name]
And surnames:
[name]Harper[/name]
[name]Piper[/name]
[name]Mackenzie[/name]
[name]Paige[/name]
[name]Kennedy[/name]
[name]Cameron[/name]
[name]Delaney[/name]
In general, I think classic names must keep the gender but nature, word and made-up names can work for both boys and girls. Exceptions may exist though.
There aren’t any genuine boy names that I like for girls or girl names that I like for boys. I find it especially silly when people assign gender to words/things that have no gender. A lot of the names on your list are unisex but because they are used more on girls some people think it’s the end of the world if you give them to a boy.
Some from your list:
[name]Bryn[/name] has long been used for boys. [name]Brynn[/name] is a made-up spelling to feminized it (like Emmersyn). Technically it’s unisex because it means hill
[name]Blythe[/name] is a feminized spelling of a word- blithe. Unisex but when people use it for boys they tend to go with the proper spelling, [name]Blithe[/name]
[name]Belle[/name] is a word but it’s feminine. [name]Bel[/name] is the masculine form. [name]Bell[/name] is a word with no gender
[name]Greer[/name] is a surname that comes from [name]Gregor[/name]. Surnames are passed by males so guess it could be considered a boy name but I like it for both
I have actually only ever met boys with the name [name]Eden[/name], didn’t even realize that people used it for girls until that show Toddlers and Tiaras.
What about [name]Isabeau[/name]? I think it’s far more plausible for a boy than [name]Isabel[/name]. [name]Beau[/name] is masculine, and there’s also the similarity to [name]Isadore[/name].
