[Adopting1Soon]

I love the idea of a boy's name for my little girl. I think it conveys a spunky, zesty attitude, a joie de vivre, that one doesn't always get with a more formal feminine name. Not that there is anything wrong with formal feminine names, they are just not for me.

I'm pretty sure at this point that I'm going to name the little one "Charlie Izabelle (Ethiopian name withheld for privacy)" and then our last name. "Izabelle" is in honor of my mother, who's name is "Izabella".

I think "Charlie" is a fun tom boyish name, it reminds me of that commercial for perfume in the 70's.

My parents, or at least my mom, is not crazy about the name. My dad sent me some articles on the trend of naming girls with boyish names. Apparently this is a trend now. All I know is I have always liked it, ever since the Bionic Woman was named "Jamie Summers"! She was my hero when I was a pre-teen.

One of the articles my dad quoted has the following comment:

"Why do people name their girls with boy's names?
Because people are ignorant.

Personally, I think masculine names should stay on boys, and feminine names should stay on girls. After all masculine means male, and feminine means female. Ticks me off to see wonderful, masculine names being used on girls.

I totally agree with Liz. Parents give their daughters masculine names because they wanted a boy, or think boys are better than girls. There's nothing wrong with being a female, and instead of confusing them by giving them a masculine name, baby girls should be give feminine names so they can be proud that they are a woman.

Most of these so called "unisex" names aren't truely unisex, since the definition of unisex is having no distinctive gender. When a name is masculine, that's a gender, and therefore that name cannot be unisex, let alone feminine or girly.

Names like Madison, Addison, Emerson, Taylor, Aubrey, etc will never ever be unisex, feminine, or girly no matter how many little girls have to suffer with this horrid names. They are masculine."

Well! First of all, this person seems to view the world in very rigid terms, all black or white. My household will be black AND white. So we need to think out of the box a bit. Plus, he doesn't know how to spell "truly". Ha-rumph.

Also, anytime someone uses words like "always, never, should" etc., and then calls someone who doesn't do those things "ignorant".... ummm... I have a problem with that.

I don't believe naming someone "Charlie" is going to impact her pride in being female. I plan on raising her in the strong feminist philosophy I myself believe in: that her intelligence, content of her character, and her ability to negotiate this world all will mean much more than "mom wanted a boy". I mean, really. She can be proud she is a woman. She can be proud she is an upstanding PERSON. She doens't need to be named a feminine name to be proud of her gender. I don't see that as having anything to do with it!

And finally, if I wanted a boy, I would have asked for one. This response is so way out in the ether zone I can hardly respond.

I attached Izabelle so if she later wants a more feminine name, it's available. I also went through a period where I didn't like my own name, I just wanted to fit in and my name is quite unique. But as an adult, I really appreciate being the only one of me. Don't we all go through a phase of not liking our names, even for just a short while? I think it's part of coming into our identities.

What do you all think?

Do you like Charlie for a vivacious little girl? Come and share your thoughts n my blog where my mom can read them ;-)

[SupaModel]

I LOVE boyish names for girls. Actually the name I picked out for my daughter if I ever had one is a boyish name.

[Ians mom]

I think the trend of giving girls more boyish names started long ago. There are so many names that were considered boy names that now are considered feminine.
Ashley, Beverly, Madison, Aubrey, Taylor and Cadence are just a few.

Now, having said that I think I will probably upset you by saying I would probably use Charlene and call her Charlie for short. It just gives her more options as she gets older and finds out who she is. We gave our daughter what we thought was a feminine name (Mikenna) and she chose to be Mick for several years, then one day she abandoned the nn and demanded to be Mikenna again.

Also, I would spell Isabelle the traditional way or she will be spending most of her life correcting people.

Just my opinion, but congrats on your little one, whatever her name may be

[mdesi]

My issue with giving boys' names to girls actually is not about the girls. It's about the boy's. It permanently feminizes most of the boys' names for future use. I have met a few male Lindsey's, Dana's, Riley's, Aubrey's, Avery's, that are picked on mercilessly or end up going overboard in masculine actions to make up for this. I do think as a general rule our society does feminize boys too much, as it is.

As for names like Sam or Charlie or Alex, I think those names have been made very gender neutral b/c of the nickname factor. I would not name either sex these as given names, but would give them the longer versions of their gender and call them those names - JMO.

[portlowski]

mdesi...okay, I am "coming out" on a.com. My name is Lindsay and I am 44. When I was a kid I was the ONLY female Lindsay around. In fact, it was a last name in my family that had been passed on as a middle name to all of the firstborn males on my dad's side, all the way back to when they came over from Scotland. Then I came along in 1964 and my parents got the crazy idea of giving it to a girl. My 4th grade teacher contantly called me by my last name because she got confused about which one was my first name and which was the last (I have a similarly WASP-ish last name that can be used as a first name). And I always got literature in the mail from the Boy Scouts of America and other boy's groups. That lasted til I was about 16 or 17 and then Lindsay became a popular name for girls.

I was saddened...all of a sudden I lost my cool "boy's" name and it seemed like everyone was named Lindsay.

BTW, I know more male Danas than female Danas, so I always assume it is a boy's name.

[Stormster]

I feel like a name is just a name but I do get that I like some boy names for girls BECAUSE they have a tomboyish quality.

One of my closest friends is Colby. She says it helps her in business because before meeting someone (or talking to them on the phone) they always assume she's a man!

I also love the name Stevie for a girl but that's because I love Stevie Nicks!

That said, I never thought about it "ruining" a name. Interesting point!

[joskids]

My grown daughters are Brooke and Ashley, both were previously considered boy names. My daughter is expecting and was going to name her girl baby "Harper" (which I absolutely LOVE for a girl) but they now know they are having a boy. I remember that when we named our daughter Ashley, 25 years ago, I was afraid it was so "unusual" that she would hate it. You just never know.

[Fran27]

Well, for me, Brooke, Ashley, Lindsay, Dana, Aubrey, Beverly or Madison scream girl and not boy, lol. I honestly just can't imagine a boy having that name. Sure, maybe it's because of the tendency to give those to girls in the first place, but I think those should never have been boy names in the first place. Sorry!

Other than that, I think some names just sound great for both. Charlie is one of those. Stevie though... Nope, I can't see that on a girl. Sorry

[startedover]

I am a total fan of boy names. My first was suppose to be called Chris because I thought she would be a tomboy, but it never stuck. She is def a Kristen. I wanted to name my 2 year old samantha joe and call her sammy joe. other boy names I like are Kirby, Baylen

[Stormster]

Dh's rule for a boys name is that it needs to sound normal in a football huddle....

He was all about avoiding teasing. He even worried about initials spelling *** or whatever. I never even THOUGHT about that!

All I can say is he is lucky we didn't have a girl because I was going to get to name the girl and it would have been a totally crazy name. Ok not Apple or anything but close!

[MamaS]

One problem with giving a boy's name to a girl (and vice versa) is how much time they will spend correcting society's mistakes. My friend in HS was a girl named Marshall. When she ordered her class ring, she got it way too large because they sent it in men's sizes. When she graduated, she got a draft number. (That took a while to straighten out!) When she went off to the university -- guess what? -- assigned to the men's freshman dorm. She frequently said she wished her mother had been less "creative" and just named her Marsha.

[portlowski]

Storm...I love what your DH said! I have a friend who was PG and considering names. She told her Dh if they had a boy she wanted to name him Judah. Her Dh said, "why don't we just go ahead and name him, "I need a good a@#-kicking"

[joskids]

Storm and Portlowski - my husband would have said the same thing, considering that he played college football. Geesh!!!

[SupaModel]

I just thought about it but I know several girls with the same name as DS too! How funny I just realized that. Haha...LOL!

[Stormster]

Originally Posted by portlowski

Storm...I love what your DH said! I have a friend who was PG and considering names. She told her Dh if they had a boy she wanted to name him Judah. Her Dh said, "why don't we just go ahead and name him, "I need a good a@#-kicking"

HYSTERICAL!!!!! and true!