I’m looking for boys names that can work for girls. What are some boys names that you think would sound spunky and fresh on a little girl? I know that a lot of Berries really dislike the “stealing boys names” trend but I know there are some that like it! I need your creativity! So far I’ve come up with [name]Felix[/name], [name]Asa[/name], [name]Milo[/name], [name]Phelan[/name], and [name]Calloway[/name].
I thnk that aside from the issue of ‘stealing boy’s names’ you should consider the impact, inconvenience or embarrassment that it could have on a girl/woman throughout her life. If, however, you don’t mind this, then I think that [name]James[/name] is not a bad option.
I would suggest instead girl’s names with boy’s nicknames. There is a another thread running right now: “Feminissa names with short boy nn’s” perhaps check that out?
Another option is unisex names that are often differentiated between male & female by spelling, so that on paper the gender is obvious (eg on resumes, guest lists, roll books etc). There are lots of these, but some examples are [name]Robyn[/name]/[name]Robin[/name], [name]Adrian[/name]/[name]Adrienne[/name], [name]Peta[/name]/[name]Peter[/name]
You are so right I really mourn the loss of a good boy’s name to the girls. Why is this trend becoming so prevalent? Berries your best guess on this modern dilemma.
There aren’t any boys names that can work for girls, sorry.
I like
[name]Everett[/name]
[name]Eliott[/name]
[name]James[/name]
[name]Ryan[/name]
[name]Ferrell[/name]
[name]Kyle[/name]
[name]Tucker[/name]
[name]Carter[/name]
Please choose an extremely feminine middle name so there aren’t problems
[name]One[/name] of the reasons so many Berries have a problem with this trend is that once a boy name has shifted to the girl side, it becomes virtually unusable for a boy. Girls have soooooo many options for names, yet parents still feel the need to find a “cute, underused” name for their daughters. In my opinion, [name]Agatha[/name], [name]Sharon[/name], [name]Deborah[/name], [name]Mary[/name], and [name]Clara[/name] are more cute and underused for a little girl than [name]Derek[/name], [name]Nathaniel[/name], [name]Elliot[/name], and [name]Carter[/name]. I would suggest using a feminization, such as
[name]Frances[/name] nn [name]Frankie[/name]
[name]Louise[/name] nn [name]Lou[/name]
[name]Josephine[/name] nn [name]Joey[/name]
[name]Olivia[/name] nn [name]Ollie[/name]
[name]Michelle[/name] nn [name]Mikey[/name]
[name]Harriet[/name] nn [name]Harry[/name]
[name]Samantha[/name] nn [name]Sam[/name]
Have you considered using unisex names like [name]Bailey[/name], [name]Harper[/name], [name]Dakota[/name] and etc.? I’m not fond of using boys’ names on girls. Your poor little girl will be easily confused with girls.
This is where I tend to disagree with nameberry…I like a lot of boyish names for girls and am sort of hating this foofy lala victorian theme…so here are some I like:
[name]Rowan[/name]…I [name]LOVE[/name] this name and would really only use it for a girl
[name]Micah[/name]…it is unisex…pretty on a girl I think
[name]Ryan[/name]…have know girls with this name
[name]Kyle[/name]…also known girls with this name
[name]Aiden[/name]…[name]Hayden[/name]…I generally would avoid them myself because of the rabidly uber popularity but I do know a baby girl [name]Haidyn[/name](hate this spelling)
[name]Shawn[/name]
[name]Tyler[/name]…both more boyish but might work
[name]Harper[/name] [name]Bailey[/name] and [name]Dakota[/name]…I think of as mostly girls names anyways
[name]Elliot[/name]…
[name]Hope[/name] this helps and I apoligize about the foofy lala thing but sometimes I just cringe at the old lady names on here…everyone is different…
Good [name]Luck[/name]
I know several girls with masculine names and they aren’t embarrassed by them at all. I wouldn’t mind being named [name]Ryan[/name] or [name]Aidan[/name].
I’d suggest:
[name]Ryan[/name] - this always sounded very soft to me
[name]Aidan[/name] - I love this on a boy too
[name]Dylan[/name] - again love it for both genders
[name]Kyle[/name] - don’t like it but it’s soft
[name]Noah[/name] - this is actually also a girls name but it has a masculine feel
[name]Jonah[/name] - prefer this on a boy, though
[name]Adrian[/name]
[name]Porter[/name]
[name]Parker[/name]
[name]Presley[/name]
[name]Noel[/name]
Several celebrities have daughters named [name]Spencer[/name] which you might like as well. [name]James[/name] could always work (you could sometimes call her [name]Jamie[/name]) but I prefer it on a guy, to be honest.
I don’t know why everyone on here hates the trend, all my favorite girl names were originally boys. I absolutely hate obnoxious girly girl names that everyone on here is obsessed with. [name]Sharon[/name]? [name]Deborah[/name]? I can not imagine calling a little girl [name]Deborah[/name]. However I do not agree with the name [name]James[/name] for a girl. [name]Jameson[/name] maybe. I love the idea. I think it makes pretty little girls that much prettier, and makes them seem unique. Take [name]Blake[/name] Lively, I feel like the name [name]Blake[/name] makes her more interesting, I can’t see her being named [name]Carol[/name], [name]Mirabelle[/name] or [name]Agatha[/name]?! But whatever.
Here are some that I think can actually work:
[name]Elliot[/name]-I can see a little girl named [name]Elliot[/name] being blonde, smart, and spunky
[name]Mason[/name]-I know a little girl named [name]Mason[/name] and she is precious
[name]Carter[/name]-hate on a boy, love on a girl
[name]Rowen[/name]-love
[name]Harper[/name]
[name]Leighton[/name]-my favorite
[name]Micah[/name]-also one of my favorites, I think it is so spunky
[name]Sage[/name]
[name]Emery[/name]-sounds entirely feminine to me
[name]Sage[/name], [name]Micah[/name], [name]Avery[/name] and [name]Quinn[/name] are the only ones that aren’t too boy.
I know twin 3 year olds named [name]Sharon[/name] and [name]Deborah[/name]. They are adorable and their names suit them very well.
[name]Finley[/name], [name]Parker[/name], [name]Ever[/name], [name]Elliot[/name] and Aven
Many berries may hate it, but this berry founder (and mom of a daughter named [name]Rory[/name]) likes it! And it seems that what you’re looking for are not unisex names such as [name]Rowan[/name] or [name]Avery[/name] but actual boys’ names that can be adapted. Did you know [name]Douglas[/name] was originally a GIRLS’ name? Also, [name]Geoffrey[/name].
Have you seen this list? 140 Boy Names for Girls | Nameberry I love [name]Lyle[/name], [name]Raleigh[/name], even [name]Timothy[/name]…
Why is this, though?
I know I’ve spoken about this probably a million times on these boards, but I really see this argument as being the result of internalized misogyny. God forbid a boy be in the same class as a girl who happens to have his name - then he’d be a sissy! He’d be scarred for life!
I could totally see myself someday using [name]Morgan[/name] or [name]Emery[/name] on a son, both of which are given far more commonly to girls nowadays.
I’m not as much of an absolutist about boys’ names on girls as most Berries. I probably won’t use a boys’ name on one of my own future daughters, but I don’t see any issue with anyone who would choose to (within reason). Something like [name]William[/name] or [name]Zachary[/name] would never work on a girl in my opinion, but [name]Calloway[/name]? [name]Phelan[/name]? I think that either of those would work really well on a girl. I guess that those would probably fall in the category of surnames as girls’ names rather than boys’ names as girls’ names, though.
I prefer [name]Felicity[/name] to [name]Felix[/name], but if you like the x ending then I don’t mind [name]Maddox[/name] on a girl. (That probably means I need to turn in my name nerd card, doesn’t it?) [name]Milo[/name]‘s one of my favorites for a boy and I could totally see myself using it someday, but I do kind of think that it works on a girl as well. I love Milou for a girl (pronounced mee-loo), which is a Dutch girls’ name, and [name]Milo[/name] is similar enough to that. I do see how the sound of it works on a girl, and honestly meeting a young girl [name]Milo[/name] wouldn’t make me like it for a boy any less.
[name]Asa[/name]‘s another one that I love for a boy, but I honestly don’t really see the point of it on a girl, especially when [name]Ada[/name] and [name]Ava[/name] already exist. To me [name]Asa[/name] seems to lose it’s specialness when used as a girls’ name. It goes from interesting to bland.
You might like …
Caraway
[name]Marlow[/name] / [name]Marlowe[/name]
[name]Owen[/name]
[name]Tobiah[/name]
[name]Lyle[/name]
[name]Vernon[/name] (I know that this one might seem sort of out there, but it actually apparently got a really small amount of use as a girls’ name in the early 1800s and early 1900s. I think it has potential.)
[name]Glenn[/name]
[name]Dabney[/name]
[name]Sterling[/name]
[name]Merlin[/name]
[name]Forrest[/name]
[name]Merritt[/name]
[name]August[/name]
9Keeping my personal opinions on the boy-names-used-on-girls aside, there are a bunch of female celebrities who have names that are traditionally male.
[name]Bryce[/name] [name]Dallas[/name] ([name]Howard[/name])
[name]Blake[/name] (Lively)
[name]Glenn[/name] (Close)
[name]Daryl[/name] ([name]Hannah[/name])
[name]Shawn[/name] ([name]Johnson[/name])
[name]Maxwell[/name] [name]Lue[/name] ([name]Lindsay[/name] [name]Sloan[/name]'s daughter)
[name]Bo[/name] ([name]Derrick[/name]) - has been seen on other females, but is traditionally male.
You could also consider using a surname for a girl:
[name]Bennett[/name]
[name]Campbell[/name]
[name]Miller[/name]
Or perhaps a noun:
[name]Haven[/name]/[name]Heaven[/name]
[name]Honor[/name]
[name]Grove[/name]
[name]Snow[/name]
I would like to say that it doesn’t matter if we give our daughters ultra-feminine names, boy names, trendy names or completely wild names. There’s always going to be a chance that our daughters don’t like the names we have chosen for them anyway! So go with what feels best for you and your daughter!
Good luck!
I think that it works best when the name is quite unusual for both boys and girls and has similarity to already established female names.
[name]Mason[/name], for instance, isn’t too far off from [name]Mae[/name] and [name]Madison[/name], but [name]Mason[/name] is a very popular boys name. A little girl called [name]Mason[/name] will likely have male classmates named [name]Mason[/name].
But [name]Calix[/name] is an uncommon name, and although it is considered a “boys’ name”, I could easily see it on a girl probably due to is similarity to [name]Alix[/name]/[name]Alex[/name] and [name]Callie[/name]/[name]Calla[/name]. Does that make sense?
[name]Calix[/name] ([name]Callie[/name] and [name]Alix[/name])
[name]Cassian[/name] (girly nickname [name]Cassie[/name] and [name]Cass[/name])
[name]Lorcan[/name] (similar to [name]Lauren[/name])
[name]Sayer[/name] (seems to fit in with modern unisex names such as [name]Harper[/name] and [name]Piper[/name])
[name]Sullivan[/name] (call her [name]Liv[/name] and has a similar feel to [name]Addison[/name] and [name]Emerson[/name] without the very male “son” ending)
[name]Adair[/name] (similar to [name]Blaire[/name]/[name]Claire[/name])
[name]Autry[/name] (similar to [name]Audrey[/name])
I actually agree with you. I would much rather the names go back to the boys. I pushed for a long time for our boy name to be Aubrey. But DH didn’t like it (and not because it was feminine, he knew a man named Aubrey who apparently wasn’t the nicest guy). I may be a name traditionalist, but I like boy names on boys and girl names on girls. It has nothing to do with a perceived misogynistic approach. If my daughter wants to have a traditionally male-dominated career, like truck driving, I still want her to be proud of herself, including her gender. Likewise, if I ever have a son who wants to have a female-dominated career, like hair styling, I would want him to be proud of himself, gender included. I don’t think we need to blur gender lines, we need to challenge gender stereotypes. Prove that it’s okay to be masculine and feminine, and to be proud of who we are.
Only going to comment on [name]James[/name]:
Actress [name]Jamie[/name] [name]King[/name] started her career using [name]James[/name] [name]King[/name] and changed it to [name]Jamie[/name]. She has been more successful since .
And I love the name [name]Deborah[/name], but I can’t use it because it’s my boss’s name .
I completely, 100% agree with Nono here. Kudos to you.
Maybe i’m so desensitized by it because we have have this experience in real life. Our [name]Miller[/name] [name]Thomas[/name] shares the same first name as a little girl in his play group, [name]Miller[/name] [name]Lila[/name]. And you know what? She is the most feminine, sweetest, girliest little gal I have ever met - having a “masculine” name doesn’t mean a thing (or I could talk about how rough and tumble our [name]Miller[/name] is and instead share that having a “feminine” name doesn’t mean a thing). And you know what else? [name]Miller[/name] ([name]Thomas[/name]) and [name]Miller[/name] ([name]Lila[/name]) absolutely [name]LOVE[/name] that they share the same name. They think it so so cool and funny, and they giggle about it a lot.
So I say go for it if you really want to give your daughter a traditionally masculine name!
Some names that you might like are:
[name]Hollis[/name] (one of our faves - we will consider this for either gender if we ever have any more babes)
Merrick/[name]Merritt[/name]/Merrin
[name]Wylie[/name]
[name]Willoughby[/name] (love the nn [name]Billie[/name] for a little gal!)
[name]Hawthorne[/name]
Halloway nn [name]Halle[/name]
[name]Quincy[/name]
[name]Jameson[/name]
[name]Davie[/name]/Daveigh or even [name]Davis[/name]
[name]Mavis[/name]
[name]Etienne[/name]
[name]Valen[/name]
[name]Grey[/name]/[name]Gray[/name]/Greyer
all the best
xo [name]Viv[/name]