Talk to me about Rowan!

Lately, I have been crushing on the name [name_u]Rowan[/name_u]…hard! It’s all I can seem to think about these days and I could totally imagine having a little boy named [name_u]Rowan[/name_u]. I love the way it sounds and the peppy images it invokes in my mind! If I had a little [name_u]Rowan[/name_u], he would probably be called [name_u]Rowan[/name_u] [name_u]Michael[/name_u] [name_u]James[/name_u] or [name_u]Rowan[/name_u] [name_u]Michael[/name_u] [name_m]Philip[/name_m].

However, not all is perfect. I’m not fond of how many girls are being named [name_u]Rowan[/name_u] these days (although it looks like it’s ranked higher for boys than girls), because in my opinion, it sounds so similar to [name_u]Owen[/name_u], which is all boy, and the R sounds very masculine to me. I don’t like unisex names in general and I’m wondering if I can get over this. [name_f]Do[/name_f] most people consider it a unisex name or one that’s only recently trending that way?

Also, I’m a little worried about any potential siblings that would follow, as [name_u]Rowan[/name_u] seems to be a bit different from the rest. A lot of my favorite names have a very British/English twist to them. For example, some boy names that I like include [name_m]Hugh[/name_m], [name_m]Edmund[/name_m], [name_m]George[/name_m], [name_m]Alastair[/name_m], [name_m]Philip[/name_m], and [name_m]Jasper[/name_m]. For girls, there’s [name_f]Edie[/name_f], [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] “[name_f]Lottie[/name_f],” [name_f]Honor[/name_f], [name_f]Elinor[/name_f], [name_f]Clara[/name_f], and [name_f]Ada[/name_f]. They’re not entirely English, but definitely more common and/or popular in the UK than here in the US (especially in the Midwest, where I live).

I suppose what I’m asking is whether [name_u]Rowan[/name_u] fits with these other names. Is it the random Gaelic name in a bundle of more traditionally English names? If it doesn’t fit, are there any other boy and girl names that might go better with [name_u]Rowan[/name_u]?

Thanks in advance :smiley:

I have an 19 month old [name_u]Rowan[/name_u] [name_u]Michael[/name_u] and it fits him to a tee so I definitely share your love for the name. We have another boy on the way next week and had a lot of the names in your signature on our list and are going with [name_u]Theo[/name_u] (full name [name_m]Theodore[/name_m]).

I wouldn’t worry too much about the name being unisex. In the real world, we have yet to run into any other [name_u]Rowan[/name_u]'s, let alone female ones, and have lived on the west coast and [name_f]Florida[/name_f] since he’s been alive. Its definitely all boy on my son.

We had a lot of the same issues with picking a name for [name_u]Rowan[/name_u]'s brother but I actually prefer not being too matchy in style and pairing it with a non-Gaelic or Celtic name since we’re in the US. I think [name_m]Hugh[/name_m], [name_m]Henry[/name_m], [name_m]Alistair[/name_m], [name_m]Jasper[/name_m], [name_u]Kit[/name_u], [name_m]Theodore[/name_m], and [name_u]Rhys[/name_u] from your signature work really well. I think all of your girls names work because they are definitely feminine. I definitely wouldn’t use a unisex girls name for a future daughter.

I also love [name_u]Rowan[/name_u] and most [name_f]Ro[/name_f] names… such as [name_m]Roman[/name_m]. [name_u]Rohan[/name_u] … [name_m]Ronan[/name_m] and [name_u]Robin[/name_u]… if your really worried you could spell if legitimately as [name_u]Roan[/name_u] same pronunciation but spelling is obviously male… I personally am not bothered by it and I’m not a fan of unisex names in general… I think the name goes very well with your choices but [name_u]Rowan[/name_u] to me is English because of the actor who plays Mr bean

I love [name_u]Rowan[/name_u] for a boy! To me, it’s all boy and I think that long term, it will stay a boys name.

I think [name_u]Rowan[/name_u] goes very well with your list. Your list strikes me as being “vintage charm” and that’s right where I would place [name_u]Rowan[/name_u].

I am not really a fan of unisex names because they always seem like boys’ names on girls but [name_u]Rowan[/name_u], I feel, is truly unisex and I can imagine on either a boy or a girl, though I much prefer it on a girl. I think that if you love it, you should go for it and, as others have said, there are plenty of names on your list that I think would work as a sibling for [name_u]Rowan[/name_u]

The only [name_u]Rowan[/name_u] I have met is a little boy and his dad is English. I think it fits with some of the other names you listed just fine.

Great! Thank you all for the wonderful comments! It makes me feel a lot better about incorporating [name_u]Rowan[/name_u] into my list :slight_smile:

We have an almost two year old son named [name_u]Rowan[/name_u]. We chose it specifically because it’s a gender neutral name. We didn’t know the sex of our child before he was born, and [name_u]Rowan[/name_u] would have been our name regardless of sex. The reason we chose [name_u]Rowan[/name_u] over other gender neutral names is that it has a legitimate history of use for both men and women over the ages.

We live in a place where names that are less common in other places are common, so we know three other [name_u]Rowan[/name_u]'s - two girls and one boy. We also know a [name_u]Rohan[/name_u] who pronounces his name the same way as we pronounce [name_u]Rowan[/name_u]. And, for a while, there was our [name_u]Rowan[/name_u], a [name_m]Ronan[/name_m], and an [name_u]Owen[/name_u] in the same preschool class.

But, we really adore the name and think it suits our child very well!