Is Avery still useable on a boy?

We are expecting our baby boy at the end of [name]August[/name] to join big sisters [name]Chloe[/name] and [name]Faith[/name]. We have been tossing around name ideas and [name]Avery[/name] came up, we both kinda like it. I know it has become rather popular for girls lately, which concerns me a bit. It is currently sitting at number 11 on the SS list for MN (where I live).Another name we like is [name]Rory[/name], which is also unisex, but in our town in the last month alone two [name]Rory[/name]'s were born and both were girls, so I might be stuck no matter what I pick, :confused:
What is your first impression of [name]Avery[/name]? [name]Do[/name] you think boy or girl first? Is it going to be assumed that he is a girl when you hear [name]Chloe[/name], [name]Faith[/name] and [name]Avery[/name]? Is [name]Avery[/name] still useable on a boy? My favorite is [name]Killian[/name], which Dad is not sold on yet, so it might end up in the middle. I am looking for opinions and some new ideas. I like more uncommon first names so that he doesn’t have to go by “first name, C.” his whole life! These are some combos that I have come up with so far. The last name starts with a “Col” and is two syllables.

[name]Avery[/name] [name]Killian[/name]
[name]Rory[/name] [name]Killian[/name]
[name]Killan[/name] [name]Avery[/name]
[name]Killian[/name] [name]Rory[/name]
[name]Avery[/name] [name]Oliver[/name]
Some others that are on our list but I have not made combos out of yet, go crazy- I need your help because I am stuck!
[name]Lennox[/name]
[name]Eli[/name]
[name]Liam[/name]
[name]Logan[/name]
[name]Jarrett[/name]
[name]Garrett[/name]
[name]Emmett[/name]
[name]Avery[/name]
[name]Killian[/name]
[name]Oliver[/name]
[name]Rory[/name]
[name]Arlo[/name]
Thanks for your help, it’s much appreciated!

I adore [name]Avery[/name] on a boy!

My foster brother is named [name]Avery[/name], so I think it definitely works on a boy!

I love [name]Avery[/name] on a boy and I’ve actually met a few. There’s a very intelligent boy [name]Avery[/name] in my Psychology class this semester.

I like [name]Avery[/name] [name]Killian[/name] all right and [name]Avery[/name] [name]Oliver[/name] even better, but from your other names I would do:

[name]Avery[/name] [name]Liam[/name]
or
[name]Avery[/name] [name]Garrett[/name] *

[name]Avery[/name] is all boy to me and I would love to see the boys reclaim it.

It’s all boy to me too. I grew up with a guy named [name]Avery[/name]. I’ve never really understood why it is so popular on girls.

I adore [name]Avery[/name] on a boy! I’m in the UK and to be honest in 2010 there were no more than 10 born of each gender, I think a few more boys. than girls too.

I think it’s so masculine that I couldn’t even picture it on a girl. [name]Chloe[/name], [name]Faith[/name] & [name]Avery[/name] sounds pretty good to me!

[name]Avery[/name] [name]Killian[/name] is very handsome, I also like [name]Killian[/name] [name]Avery[/name] but I’m worried about the double ‘L’ in [name]Killian[/name] going with your last name.

I love [name]Rory[/name] too, and that is only a boys name in the UK.

From the rest of your list I like; [name]Lennox[/name], [name]Eli[/name], [name]Emmett[/name].

[name]Emmett[/name] [name]Avery[/name] or [name]Avery[/name] [name]Emmett[/name] / [name]Emmett[/name] [name]Oliver[/name] / [name]Lennox[/name] [name]Avery[/name] / [name]Avery[/name] [name]Lennox[/name] would all be great too.

Although [name]Avery[/name] has climbed the list in recent years on the girl’s side it’s remained fairly steady for boys, which means that parents aren’t budging yet on this one. Go for it if you like it!

You also mentioned liking [name]Rory[/name]; I think that one’s even safer. I think it may start to tip back to the boys, as we get further away from when [name]Gilmore[/name] Girls was on and with [name]Rory[/name] McIlroy being in the sports news (and [name]Rory[/name] is less common than [name]Avery[/name] overall in the US, so he’d probably be less likely to end up sharing his name with a female classmate with that one).

From your list I also like [name]Emmett[/name] and [name]Oliver[/name], but beware that both of those names are rising fast.

If I heard [name]Avery[/name] or [name]Rory[/name] with [name]Chloe[/name] and [name]Faith[/name], I would think boy. [name]Avery[/name] [name]Emmett[/name], [name]Avery[/name] [name]Lennox[/name], [name]Rory[/name] [name]Logan[/name], or [name]Rory[/name] [name]Liam[/name] would be my picks from your list.

I can’t picture [name]Avery[/name] on a girl, probably because of the [name]Tex[/name] [name]Avery[/name] cartoons I used to watch

I prefer [name]Avery[/name] [name]Oliver[/name] Col…
Oh, if you went with [name]Lennox[/name] you could have [name]Lex[/name] [name]Avery[/name]!

I definitely think [name]Avery[/name] is usable for a boy! I just re-added it to my short list, and I would have no qualms using it. It has such a distinctive, handsome look to me and I can’t even imagine a little girl with the name (although I know there are tons out there–I just haven’t met them! I’ve only ever met one [name]Avery[/name] that’s a girl). People are constantly coming up to me and telling me how they met this or that little boy named [name]Avery[/name] and how he rarely (if ever!) confused for a girl, and everyone seems generally impressed with his name. It also happens to be a family name for me, and I love the connection to Adventures in Odyssey–it’s this [name]Christian[/name] radio drama for kids, and the main character is this loveable, wonderful grandpa figure whose name is [name]John[/name] [name]Avery[/name] [name]Whittaker[/name]. My children will grow up with it, just like I did, and I’m sure my son would get a kick out of sharing a name with [name]Whit[/name] if I ever get to use the name. :slight_smile:

I think [name]Avery[/name] is wonderful, and [name]Avery[/name] [name]Killian[/name] is a great combo! I also like the original Gaelic spelling, [name]Avery[/name] [name]Cillian[/name] (which also gets rid of the “kill” part in the name). I also quite like [name]Avery[/name] [name]Oliver[/name]. I’m toying with [name]Avery[/name] [name]Samuel[/name] and [name]Avery[/name] [name]George[/name], maybe even [name]Avery[/name] [name]Leo[/name] for my own combo. [name]Avery[/name] [name]Liam[/name] might be really nice, too.

Good luck!

[name]Avery[/name] is definitely still usable on a boy, but my favourite from your list is [name]Killian[/name]. So handsome!

Thank you all for your opinions and help! [name]Avery[/name] is growing on me more and more. I have never met an [name]Avery[/name] of either gender, so I wasn’t sure how prominent it had become. Sometimes you can look up rankings of names and local birth announcements all day long but still not be able to predict what’s going to happen. :slight_smile: An example of that is the name [name]Autumn[/name]. Ranking wise it’s in the 70’s or something in the SSA list for MN. However, in my town alone I know of three or four little girls that were recently named [name]Autumn[/name] and several more where I used to live and work, but I know zero [name]Ava[/name]'s, Abigails, and many more that rank higher than [name]Autumn[/name]!

With a last name that begins with a C, I have to be careful about intials. Putting the wrong combo of letters together could create some phonetically spelled not so awesome words! :wink: An example of that would be the name [name]Killian[/name] [name]Oliver[/name] Col*****. It took me writing out the intials KOC to see that it would be not such a good idea!

Also, a few more things I was wondering-
This baby will be our first together, his daughters are from his first marriage, so I had no opinion in their names and from what I know, my SO didn’t have much of a say in [name]Faith[/name]'s name and the name [name]Chloe[/name] they picked together in the hospital. More so that you know that their names are not much of a starting point on his or my style of names.
Our dogs name is [name]Jasper[/name], if we were to choose [name]Emmett[/name], how much flack do you think we will get in terms of “twilight”? I like the movies and books all right, but I am in no way a “Twi-Hard” fan. :stuck_out_tongue: We named the dog first and now that we are having a boy, [name]Emmett[/name] has come up and we like it, but certianly never planned on it happening that way. We just happen to like both names!

More opinions would be appreciated both on the name [name]Avery[/name] and any of the others on my list!

I adore [name]Killian[/name]- it is on our list too for #4!

I do think [name]Avery[/name] is going to the girls. :frowning:

If you love [name]Avery[/name], then go for it!! We are naming our second daughter [name]Avery[/name] (due in [name]July[/name]). We actually had NO idea it was originally a boy’s name - the only one I’d ever heard of was the wife from 30 [name]Rock[/name]. But I love unisex names so once we did some research I loved it even more.

We’re expecting a boy in [name]August[/name], too, and have just about settled on [name]Avery[/name]. I’m a little concerned about the huge popularity among girls, but I’ve always loved it and it’s one of the very few we agree on! Plus, my husband doesn’t have a problem with there being more girl Averys than boys, so maybe it’s not such a cause for concern. So I think you should go for it, too!

Also, the top names these days are not as popular as the top names in the past - [name]Avery[/name]'s number 18 for girls, but naming is becoming more diverse and #18 now (0.3803% of births in 2011) is not as ubiquitous as the #18 name in years past (0.8295% of births the year I was born, for example). There will likely be a few girl Averys in his school, but not so many that it will be noticeable (I hope!).