Consider Morgan. A Welsh masculine name for centuries, it was rudely plucked from the masculine side by masses of parents claiming they needed a “strong name” for their daughter. Sure, there’s Morgan le Fay, but how many of these parents knew about this predecessor when they chose this name for their daughter? Unfortunately, this trend of using masculine names for girls seems to be in full force, and not likely to leave anytime soon. Good, masculine names are being stolen from the boys and unceremoniously dumped on oblivious baby girls. Recently, we’ve seen the aforementioned Morgan, Avery, Aidan, Elliott, and even super-masculine James on girls! Of course, this list is only of commonly used forenames that have switched genders. Now, I have nothing against using surnames, but only if they are on the family tree, and in the middle, please! Madison, Mackenzie, Kennedy, and McKenna are all commonly bestowed on girls, the parents wantonly tossing aside convention and etymology. Usually, Mackenzie is listed in baby name books as an “Irish” name meaning “child of the wise leader.” Unfortunately for trendy parents, these books are wrong. Mackenzie is a Scottish surname that means son of a wise leader, more or less.
See, I have a few problems with this absolutely abhorrent trend. The first is the sexism inherent in the most common explanation, “we wanted a strong name.” The implication is that to be strong, one has to be masculine. Because, as we all know, there have never been strong women named Margaret, Elizabeth, Eleanor, or Catherine. As well, it only goes one way; you hardly see boys with girl’s names. Why is that? The simple answer is that these parents think that a boy with a feminine name will be seen as “weak” or a “pansy.” Most parents think they are being open-minded and equal opportunity; they are really perpetuating sexist stereotypes of what strength is.
My second problem with this fad is the one that I have with all fads: the name will date horribly. Everyone will look at a girl named Kamryn and know her age. Some of these names might stand well due to an utter neutralization of the name’s gender affiliation; however, I believe, for my own sanity, that this craze will die down and the only thing left will be scads of middle aged women with men’s names.
Of course, we’re here to talk names, not listen to me rant. So I’ll tell you guys which of these names I happen to like on boys:
- Morgan
- Avery
- Elliott
- Alexis
Generally, they’re too popular for my tastes. I do, however, like a lot of names that once were masculine, and are now unambiguously feminine in the States:
- Leslie
- Ashley
- Meredith
- Shannon
- Vivian
- Tracy
- Jocelyn
I don’t mind most of these on girls, but I think they’re a lot more handsome on boys. I also love Sasha on a boy, but I don’t think it was ever considered masculine here, and is pretty generally unisex in Russia. So I prefer it on a boy, but have no problem with it on girls.
So, in conclusion, consider Morgan. For a boy.
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Leslie was my Grandad’s first name and my Pop’s middle. It was also an Uncle’s name (and spell it Lesley and she was an Aunt!) Leslie on a girl makes me sad. It’s a Frances type name people! Spell it Lesley, look, it’s even got a ‘y’! and put it on a girl. Please? Kelly, Shannon & Jocelin all strike me as more masculine than feminine, even today (Maybe it’s because I’m older than most, having been an under 12 in the 70’s). I know guys named Kelly, Shannon & Jocelin! Sasha’s one I don’t mind on either sex, but wish it was the unisex nickname here it is in it’s native country! Morgan will never leave my boys list, he’s pirate-y to me. No place for a girl!
As for the others, I’ll happily give them to the girls, they don’t sound very masculine to me and I wouldn’t put those on a kid of mine, of either sex. Maybe that’s why I don’t care about Ashley, Meredith , Tracy and the like. I DON’T like them anyway!
Great Post, Cat!
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
I’m not nearly as bothered by stealing boys’ names for girls as some, but I do have a pet peeve (make that two) I’ll mention here (while we’re all on our soap boxes, LOL!)
If your daughter is Sawyer, your son ought to be William. If your son is Avery, your daughter should be Sabrina. I think it’s confusing to have a daughter Avery and a son Sawyer, or a son Carter and a daughter Mackenzie. Even worse, I’d hate to be a girl called Jaidyn with a sister Julia.
While I don’t think sibs’ names have to match, I do find sib sets sound better when there’s no ambiguity about which ones are the brothers and which are the sisters.
My second peeve? If you’re going to name your daughter Emerson, stick with Emerson – not Emmersyn! In some circles, girls have always worn family surnames in the first place. But those creative respellings seem needlessly tortured.
Though I definitely agree with you, Cat – there are so many strong feminine names that it seems silly to insist that the only good choices come from the boys’ column. And who says Annabel can’t be a corporate exec anyhow?
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Thanks for stopping by, guys! Yeah, this is my biggest naming peeve, if you couldn’t tell! It just gets my goat in a way that kre8tiv spellings, made up names, and wrong etymologies can’t. Like I said, it’s the inherent sexism to the practice. And I agree with you there, that sibling sets should be as unambiguous as possible. It’s so annoying having to puzzle out who’s a boy and who’s a girl!
Yeah, I don’t particularly care for Tracy anyway, but on a girl it’s dated, while on a boy it reminds me of the 20s, for some reason. Old-school, and much better. I would swoon over a boy Vivian, though. Same with Sasha. This was actually almost my friend Tom’s name, in some Slavic form or another, I don’t precisely remember which language exactly. Now that would have been the nail in the coffin of the high school crush I had on the boy! Sometimes I’m really tempted to go for Alexander just so I can use Sasha. It’s so handsome.
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
This tendency to give masculine names to girls is a reaction to sexism that doesn’t actually do anything to counter it, for sure.
My brother’s daughters are Alex and Charlie (Alexandra and Charlotte). I think this is the “best of both worlds” solution — they can always use their full name if they decide they prefer a more feminine name.
Tracy really is ridiculously dated on a girl (in the same category with Tammy, Stacey, Sherry, etc.) but I’ve met a male Tracy who was a very handsome, very large, very muscular young man. That’s given me a positive spin on that name for guys. I’d also love to see more boys named Shannon and Kelly as an alternative to more little Aidans.
There are so many good, strong traditional for girls. Also, there have been many strong women out there with decidedly feminine names. You want a strong name? Harriet! (LOL)