Remember the “It’s Pat” sketches on Saturday Night Live years ago. That certainly wouldn’t fly today.
I didn’t think my son’s name was unisex until it became trendy for girls (Ryan).
Now that I’ve seen some of the other guesses, yeah, a few fit your description and likes in a name quite nicely. If it’s one of the few I would guess now seeing the lists, great name choice!
Any of the one syllable, unisex names I could’ve thought of have already been mentioned. I’m partial to Max, which is now my GS’s middle name.
This doesn’t fit Romani’s rules, but I have a friend who named their girl Jamie, when he transitioned to male, he was happy not to have to change his name.
I like Jo, maybe because I’ve recently reread and watched* Little Women. * My best friend from high school (a woman) is named Reed. I really like it and think it works well for either gender.
On an airline ticket if the conforming ID has your whole name. Mine (which just happens to be Elizabeth) is on my license and passport, so I have to use it on the airline tickets.
I don’t remember where I read it but names become less common for males as they become more common for females. Leslie, Robin, Lee, Jesse become more feminine. John Wayne was Marion but you never hear that for a male anymore. The Paytons, Ryans, etc just get phased out for male use
And you don’t seem to see it going the other way much . You don’t see traditional girls names being adopted by parents for their boys. But maybe I am just not being able to think of any examples?
I remember Ashley in Gone With the Wind and thought that it was weird for a man to be named Ashley. Perhaps it was common during the 1800s and then became less so when it was used for girls. Conversely, there was a female named Brett in another TV series about the Civil War (forgot the name of it) and I thought it odd for a girl’s name.
@sevmom you’re exactly right. We have a deep fear of associating men with anything remotely feminine in this country. Almost as though there were something wrong about being feminine… bites tongue
@musicmom1215 Ashley was more common for boys than girls until like the 60s or 70s. No idea about Brett.
Yes. I have a weird interest in this. Vivan, Allison, Laurie, Taylor, Lynn, Ashely, Carol(l), Anne were all male names at one time. More recently, Ryan, Spencer, and Elliot are girls’ names.
A funny anecdote. My dad once mentioned his childhood friend Sidney, and my young daughter exclaimed, “A boy named Sidney!” She had only ever known Sydney as a female name.
Check out this super-cool interactive graph of baby names from 1880s through the present. Enter any name, and you can see how popular it’s been over time for girls and boys.
https://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager#prefix=&sw=both&exact=false
Aww it groups my name in with all the other ones that mine is a nickname for lol. (My name, not baby’s name.)
Well that was fun checking by name. I was roasted alive during in Rome 258… Lol…
Also remember how the name sounds with your middle and last name. Say the combination out loud. For my daughter this was tricky. Remember we use the first initial of someone that passed and already had the multi syllable middle and of course last name figured out. We thought we had some great first names till we said them out loud. Every name sounded Italian and we are not. All the names were very rhythmic going like up and down each syllable… Hard to describe but just didn’t sound right, if you know what I mean.
Also your child has to deal with whatever name you choose. Don’t name them like Table Cloth… Lol… Well too many syllables… Lol…
Seems like actors, movie stars get to pick very strange names for their kids. I wonder how these kids feel when they are older?
Just found out from that app that my name was popular in the 1940s. I was born in the 60’s…don’t hear it much anymore
Best advice I ever heard about choosing a name is this: Before your baby is born, introduce YOURSELF with that name for one month. Do you like introducing yourself as Carousel? Apple? Moonlight?
Don’t worry - we both agree we don’t like the “things” name trend.
Personally, I love the names Blue and Winter (for example) but I wouldn’t give it to my child. Kids are cruel and I’d like to reduce the chance of them using my child’s name against them. Plus, I know one day they’ll be adults and as cute as like Princess might be for a child, it won’t bode well when they go on the job market.
Absolutely no offense to anyone who chose these names - this is just Mr R’s and my’s thought process.
My last name (which baby is getting) is fairly generic and sounds fine (IMO) with the first name we picked out. I have an O’Irish last name so as long as it’s not something very distinctly non-anglo-saxon, I think we’re pretty much in the clear lol.
Middle names, however, like I said we don’t really use. So I’m not too concerned with whether or not they sound good together. That said, our name + Elizabeth sounds good to my ears. Our name + the male middle name Mr R currently has picked out… not so much, but I don’t think he’ll stick with that name anyway.
One of my friends has as his first and middle names Frances Marion. For years/decades some of his and the wife’s acquaintances thought that was the wife’s name but no, those were the husband’s first and middle names. He also went by Fran and Frank. He was amused when folks told him of their confusion, but I’m sure it got old.
A really good friend of ours is named Bleu… BTW… Pronounced like the color Blue. It fits her well.
Traditionally Francis would be the male spelling not Frances
In my family surnames are often used as middle names. My middle name is my father’s first name and my Grandmother’s maiden name. It is never used as a girl’s name. (Yet!) I gave our oldest my last name as his middle name and the Germans made me get a letter from the US Consulate saying they had no objection.
Late to the thread, but congrats!!!
My male financial advisor’s first name is Carol. He said it’s because his parents were French Canadian that they spelled it that way.