I agree with [name]Susan[/name] - [name]Jude[/name] is very masculine, without being brutish. It reminds me of [name]Jude[/name] [name]Law[/name], of course. I like it.
I don’t think [name]Jude[/name] is too popular right now, but it’s on the rise and I think it could make it into the USA top 100 boys’ names within the next few years. Too girly? That’s one of my concerns with the name, having known several Judiths/Judys sometimes called “[name]Jude[/name]”.
My daughter LOVES the name [name]Jude[/name] too, and if her baby due in late [name]Jan[/name]. is a boy, that will probably be his name. I’ve had a few other concerns about the name, but am focusing on the positives: [name]Jude[/name] is a solid New Testament biblical name – the name of one of the apostles and of a book of the Bible. It is also a saint’s name. My daughter and her husband are leaning towards [name]Jude[/name] [name]Michael[/name] ([name]Michael[/name] being both a family name and a name they like very much).
[name]Jude[/name] is one of my favorites, and I don’t think it sounds feminine because who knows anyone naming a daughter [name]Judith[/name] lately? I expect it to rise in popularity but am unsure how much.
It’s true that [name]Judith[/name] doesn’t seem to be in much use for baby girls these days (although it ranked 713 in the SSA baby names for 2008), but [name]Jude[/name] as a given name for girls may be another matter. Many baby name websites list [name]Jude[/name] as a girls’ name as well as a boys’ name. Too there is the example of the popular romance novelist [name]Jude[/name] [name]Deveraux[/name]; her given name is [name]Jude[/name], not [name]Judith[/name]. And there is the unfortunate ‘stealing’ of boys’ names and using them for girls that is happening all the time. As [name]Jude[/name] becomes more popular as a boys’ name, it could become more frequently used as a girls’ name too. I hope not, but that’s one of my concerns about the name.