Today I told my FI I loved [name_m]Hawthorne[/name_m] as a boy middle name and he said he loves it too but for a girl… I thought he was crazy. I mentioned it to a few of my friends and they liked it in the middle spot for a girl too. Now I’m sitting here wondering if it would be okay for a girl in the middle spot since it does kind of fall into the nature name category or if I’m crazy. Is [name_m]Hawthorne[/name_m] strictly boy for you? Could it work in the middle spot for a girl? I prefer it for a boy and having trouble seeing it on a girl but I’m interested in hearing more opinions.
I agree with you. [name_m]Hawthorne[/name_m] is so masculine sounding to me. Tough, adventure guy masculine. I love it as a middle name for a boy but can not picture it as a middle name for a girl unless it was a family name.
The way I see it - you can put whatever you want in the middle.
[name_m]Hawthorne[/name_m] is okay, for either gender. To me it’s more cutesy and naturey, suitable for a puppy, maybe. It’s definitely not tough or overtly masculine and I’d have a very hard time taking a man called [name_m]Hawthorne[/name_m] seriously. So I guess it’s usable for a little girl.
[name_m]Hawthorne[/name_m] is a surname and [name_m]Hawthorn[/name_m] is a plant so either way, it doesn’t have a gender. I love it for a boy and find it harsh on a girl, but really, it would be fine as a middle name. I find the name hard and heavy and pointy (:P) and weird on a girl, but it would be fine in the middle.
I associate it more with girls because it’s the surname of a very dear friend, and I think that it could be a name for either gender.
I like it if it’s a family name and would think it was fine on either gender (but see it more for a boy than girl) in the middle spot only. I’m not a fan of the surname as a first or middle trend unless they have special significance.
I feel like the MN spot is the place to have some fun. So go for it. I think it’d make an awesome MN.
It happens to be my middle name! I’m very happy with it. My mother chose it because it reminds her if the spring.
It feels very masculine to me, but I think it’s fine as a middle name.
It does feel masculine to me - then again, most of the boys names that I love have “feminine” sounds (according to friends).
However, I think it could work very well in the middle for a girl. I think of the writer, and I love literary names in the middle.
I think it would work best with a classic and clearly feminine name - [name_f]Anna[/name_f] [name_m]Hawthorne[/name_m], [name_f]Lucy[/name_f] [name_m]Hawthorne[/name_m], and [name_f]Eliza[/name_f] [name_m]Hawthorne[/name_m] all come to mind.
I think it works! I am all for adventurous middle names, though.
I have it in one of my girl combos for ages as a middle name.
[name_m]Hawthorne[/name_m] is a stunning name…for either a girl or boy. It also looks nice and sounds beautiful too…Cheers 
In the middle, it’s nice, though I wouldn’t use it as a first. I like it better as [name_m]Hawthorn[/name_m], like the plant, as @dantea mentioned. When it’s written that way, it’s more nature-y and less surname-y, so more suited to a girl for me.
I like it better for a boy middle name, in fact, I REALLY like it. I think you could use it for a girl middle name though.
I would say, yes, it can be unisex, especially in the middle spot where you can be as adventurous as you’d like.
I used it as a FN for my son. I remember being very surprised people thought of it as a girls name when I first started fishing around for opinions. With nick names like [name_m]Thorne[/name_m] and [name_m]Hawk[/name_m] and [name_m]Thor[/name_m], it just seemed super masculine to me.
I’m actually surprised with how popular the name seems to be becoming. Its not even in the top 1000.
That said, in the middle name spot, I think it could work for either gender, although it seems a bit too harsh for a girl to me, especially since there are so many lovely, gentle nature names you could use instead. One of my favorite underused nature names is [name_f]Hyacinth[/name_f]. I think that would be lovely for a girl.