When I was 7 months pregnant my husband saw the name [name_u]Rylan[/name_u] and liked it for our son. I had never heard if it before and found it in our baby name book as a boy’s name. We decided on [name_m]Rylen[/name_m] [name_u]Michael[/name_u] and thought it sounded great! We told family members and had it on the baby shower invitations. Everyone seemed to like it well enough so we moved happily forward with his birth and the learning process of becoming first time parents. Then we started running into several situations where others out in the world thought we had a girl based on his name. We have also heard of a few girls named [name_u]Rylan[/name_u]. I am considering changing his but my family keeps telling me not to worry about it. I just don’t want to see him bullied because of a name we picked. What do you guys think? Please keep your responses respectful. I am at a point now where I just want him to be happy with his name no matter what I have to do.
The only other [name_u]Rylan[/name_u] I know is a boy. I think it sounds like a boy’s name.
I have never met a [name_u]Rylan[/name_u]. You could call him [name_u]Michael[/name_u] if you have concerns. But personally I would just keep his name and call him [name_m]Rylen[/name_m].
I wouldn’t change his name if that’s your only reason for feeling regret. [name_u]Rylan[/name_u] is a boys name. In the US [name_u]Rylan[/name_u] is ranked #179 for boys and #742 for girls. So yes there are girls named [name_u]Rylan[/name_u] but it is still a name that is predominantly used for boys.
Many girls are named Ryla, Rylah, [name_f]Ryanne[/name_f], [name_u]Rylan[/name_u], Rylynn & even [name_u]Ryan[/name_u]. I think like another poster said, [name_u]Rylan[/name_u] is more commonly given to boys, so I wouldn’t change it if that’s your only concern.
I honestly think that names are much more gender bending & diverse than they were in our generation. I think that amongst children it doesn’t cause much trouble to end up in a class with girls named [name_u]Ryan[/name_u], [name_u]Elliott[/name_u] & [name_m]Grayson[/name_m] and boys named [name_u]Morgan[/name_u], [name_u]Ira[/name_u] & [name_u]Sasha[/name_u]. I think adults judge more than kids and that [name_u]Rylan[/name_u] will probably be considered unisex.
If you do change the name to [name_u]Michael[/name_u] [name_m]Rylen[/name_m] it will be more classically masculine with no confusion, but there are girls out there named [name_u]Michael[/name_u] too!
To assuage your fears, you might be able to find stats for your specific state that will tell you how many girls v. how many boys were named [name_u]Rylan[/name_u] in each of the last few years. It would at least give you some data to either feel better about (and tell you that your recent experiences are an anomaly) or confirm your fears. It does seem that few boys’ names are safe from pink poaching these days, though, so take heart knowing many parents find themselves unexpectedly in your shoes.
I wouldnt change it. It is a very nice name. I’ve never heard it on a real person of any gender before so I don’t have any preferences. It is softer masculine sounding like [name_m]Nolan[/name_m] and [name_u]Ryan[/name_u]. I could see it possibly becoming more gender neutral in the next few years but I don’t think that is a bad thing. I don’t think he would ever be teased for it (in my day kids teased you if your named rhymed with something unsavory) and I agree adults are the more judgemental ones. My daughter has a unisex name and is bald so she gets called a him or he a lot. I don’t let it bother me and I know kids pick up a lot from parents and they will react how you react.
Thank you all so much for your replies. I do feel better after hearing your opinions. I’m going to just chalk this up to an opportunity to learn how to put on my mom face and deal with it.
Thank you <3
You obviously still like his name, so I’d keep it. Maybe sometimes he’ll be confused for a girl, but that happens to my husband all the time! His name is [name_u]Jamie[/name_u]. And it’s never a big deal.
I’ve only ever heard it on Teen Mom for a boy so it forever has that (fairly trashy) association with me. There are lots of names that are unisex, just like [name_u]Ryan[/name_u], [name_u]Peyton[/name_u], [name_u]Devon[/name_u], [name_u]Morgan[/name_u], etc. I’ve rarely seen in my personal experience as a person with a unisex name as well as a teacher, that people, especially kids, don’t care about name ‘genders’ very much unless they come from a household that enforces strict gender stereotypes (and then you have more problems than name choices). I think [name_u]Rylan[/name_u] looks misspelled on its own, like someone was trying to type [name_u]Ryan[/name_u] but accidentally slipped and hit the L key, and [name_m]Rylen[/name_m] just looks like an enormous typo, like whoever printed the birth certificate was borderline illiterate. I think he’d probably be bullied more for having a misspelled name than for having a unisex name.