I am having a son in march.
One of the few names my husband and I both really like is [name]Gabriel[/name], but we both hate the shortened version of it; [name]Gabe[/name].
I started playing around with the name and came up with [name]Gale[/name]. My husband thinks of it as a girls name, but I don’t agree in the least bit. What do you guys think?
I think it’s inevitable that people will call him [name]Gabe[/name] if he’s named [name]Gabriel[/name]… but you can try to exert your influence by using another nickname. [name]Gale[/name], to me, is masculine because of the spelling… I think of [name]Gale[/name] from The Hunger Games. or gale-force winds. 
of course there is the feminine version [name]Gail[/name], but I think at least when it’s in writing it should hopefully be obvious. I guess someone just saying the name could assume it’s a female.
I think [name]Gale[/name] works as a nickname . . . It also makes me think of the character from The Hunger Games! 
However, I think your best bet would be to go with no nickname, and encourage the use of the full name [name]Gabriel[/name]. My husband’s name is [name]Gabriel[/name], and he has never liked [name]Gabe[/name]. Of course, people shortened it a lot when he was younger . . . But as people learned that he prefers [name]Gabriel[/name], most have made adjustments. He makes no issue when people call him [name]Gabe[/name] . . . even though it annoys me :)! ([name]Just[/name] one of my “name” peeves . . . I like nicknames . . . But if someone introduces themself as [name]Gabriel[/name], why do people think they can just rename them “[name]Gabe[/name]”! Thanks for letting me rant :))
On the flip side . . . I suppose you need to consider, that if your son decides when he’s older that he prefers the nickname [name]Gabe[/name], are you okay with it?
Good luck!
I’ve only known women named [name]Gail[/name]/[name]Gayle[/name] so it doesn’t really strike me as a super masculine name, but honestly, I like a lot of not-super-masculine-names on boys (like [name]Mackenzie[/name], [name]Holly[/name], [name]Garnet[/name], [name]Darcy[/name]) and I think that [name]Gale[/name] would be fine. It’s kind of avian, and I feel like, for the most part, noun-names are fair game.
I love [name]Gabi[/name] as a nickname to [name]Gabriel[/name] (also not super masculine, haha.)