Due quite soon and still stumped on a name. Feel like Ive posted on NB 1000x already… sorry.
My husband has recently thrown one of our original favourites into the mix again. Lenny.
I actually really like the sound of the name, I like that he could go by Len when he’s older, if he wants something a little more firm or adult sounding. But, I also think Lenny (or more often Leni or Lennie) has crossed over into a more female category lately. I know of a female Lennon (which, to me, is very trendy right now, so I’m not into it) who goes by Lennie, and a female Elenor who occasionally is called Leni.
A few things to know about our situation:
Our daughter is Billie, which is already gender neutral
We live in Canada
We can’t use the name Leo for personal reasons, so we’re worried to use Leonard as a full name… it would need to legally be Len or Lenny or a different spelling of Leonard that wouldn’t compel folks to one day call him Leo if we didn’t just make Lenny the legal name
My question is this: In a world where gender neutral names are becoming much more popular, and in a family who already has one female Billie, if you met a little Lenny out cruising in a stroller, would you assume he was:
A boy whose parents were bringing back an old classic
A girl whose parents were feeling creative and kinda edgy
0voters
(Note: my husband also really loved the Hebrew name Lev as an English name, which I vetoed early on. It means heart in Hebrew, but it just fell a little too flat for me… using Lev as a Hebrew name for Lenny would be a great compromise…)
I’m struggling to vote, because Lenny is perfectly unisex to me! It’s similar to Charlie. If I met a baby Charlie, I wouldn’t know if they were Charles “Charlie” or Charlotte “Charlie”, but I don’t think that has to be a big deal.
The thing is with unisex names you tend to associate them more with the people you know! If I was your son’s friend I would probably think of Lenny as more masculine, because I would know a male one. And vice versa if I was friends with a female Leni/Lennie! I do think the Lenny spelling looks a bit more masculine which would help in your case. But it’s not the end of the world if someone mistakes him for a girl when he’s little, it’s easy enough to correct and it will hardly be an issue when he’s older.
I’d say go for it! I love it with your daughter’s name, they have very similar retro-cool vibes and it’s just a super sweet, handsome choice!
I would think boy for sure! I couldn’t find data for [name_f]Canada[/name_f] beyond the top 100 names, but in the U.S. there were 42 girls and 111 boys named [name_u]Lenny[/name_u], so that particular spelling is definitely more popular for boys. [name_u]Lennon[/name_u] for girls is having a moment, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they will all be going by Lenny/Lenni. I don’t think [name_u]Lenny[/name_u] sounds like a girls name by any means, even paired with a sister called [name_u]Billie[/name_u]. I would be more likely to assume a [name_u]Billie[/name_u] was a boy than I would a [name_u]Lenny[/name_u] was a girl. You would definitely not be giving him a ‘girl’s name’.
[name_f]My[/name_f] daughters have unisex names and they will get called ‘he’ or ‘him’ sometimes over the phone making appointments or things like that. I’d image [name_u]Billie[/name_u] might be the same for you. If that doesn’t bother you, then I doubt [name_u]Lenny[/name_u] occasionally being mistaken for a female name would either. And like I said, I think it would happen a lot less often with a [name_u]Lenny[/name_u] than with a [name_u]Billie[/name_u]. Hopefully that all made sense!
[name_u]Glenn[/name_u] or [name_u]Lennox[/name_u] or just [name_m]Len[/name_m] would all be nice formal names, but I like [name_u]Lenny[/name_u] best as a stand alone name!
I’m having a really hard time voting because when reading, the spelling [name_u]Lenny[/name_u] is throwing me off—it reads very masculine to me. However, I’ve known a girl [name_u]Lennie[/name_u] (around age 8), and she’s the only person I’ve ever known with the name. She was one of the sweetest students I had, and really made me love her name, so I think I’d be hoping the baby was a girl for that reason.
[name_u]Lenny[/name_u] is pretty much perfectly neutral to me! I think I’d assume gender by seeing how it was spelled cause at least in my experience [name_u]Lenny[/name_u] tends to be on boys more while [name_u]Lennie[/name_u] and [name_f]Leni[/name_f] tend to be on girls, but sound size I think it’s perfectly neutral
I think [name_u]Lenny[/name_u] is more of a boy’s names, and [name_f]Leni[/name_f] (Lenni & Lennie) is more of a girl’s name. I see [name_u]Lenny[/name_u] and I think of a boy, whereas [name_f]Leni[/name_f] and [name_u]Lennie[/name_u] are more of a girl. It could work for both, but the spelling makes it feel more of a boy’s name!
[name_u]Lenny[/name_u] is super cute! Personally, it feels more masculine, especially as a full name, and I would probably assume a little [name_u]Lenny[/name_u] is a boy. [name_u]Billie[/name_u] and [name_u]Lenny[/name_u] would be an adorable pair!
Some more full name ideas are [name_m]Harlen[/name_m], [name_u]Arlen[/name_u], [name_u]Laurence[/name_u], [name_u]Marlen[/name_u], or [name_m]Kellen[/name_m].
