Names You Will NEVER Give Your Children

[emason]

And only Dusty is a name that is unisex though I do know one girl named Riley. But she's a character on TV not a real person.

Andy is also a unisex name.

[MacMadame]

True but it's often a nickname and the person has a full name of Andrea or Andrew so you can use that to tell.

Anyway, my point was that that list was not full of cutsie and unisex names. The OPs point was that names that end Y are not uniformly feminine and/or cutsie and I think the list proves that point well enough.

Except for Chancey.

[my little pony]

actually, i think dusty, cody, toby, colby, coby, cory, chancey, and brody are all EITHER girly, cutesy or perpetually juvenile - but YMMV

[michiruwater]

Ari's pretty damned cutesy/girly. I didn't even know boys were named that.

[made_in_canada]

I'd never name my kids something like Dolores or Soledad. Despite being fairly common names, they literally mean "pains" and "solitude" in Spanish. I don't understand why words like that became such popular names in Spanish (as well as in English, in the case of Dolores). They sound ugly, too. Virgen is the worst of them; I'm sure you all know what that one means.

My goal, if I have kids, is to give them names that are easily pronounced in English and Spanish, since I'm bilingual and my family primarily speaks Spanish. So far I only like Sofia and Alexandra from the ones I've thought of, so let's just hope I have girls.

My brother and his wife who's Mexican have the same issue. When my sil was pregnant (with twins) she was told they were boys and they carefully picked names that worked in both English and Spanish. When they were born they were girls and my brother ended up naming them. One of them has a name that really only works in Spanish (Ximena) and the other has a name that works in both languages (Gabriella) but he spelled it so that it doesn't really work in Spanish. My sil was too drugged up and exhausted to notice

actually, i think dusty, cody, toby, colby, coby, cory, chancey, and brody are all EITHER girly, cutesy or perpetually juvenile - but YMMV

I feel the same way. If ever I have to name kids they will not have names that sound cutesy in anyway or are easily transformed to a cutesy nickname easily.

[MacMadame]

Ari's pretty damned cutesy/girly. I didn't even know boys were named that.

After watching Entourage, I can never think of the name Ari again without thinking of the agent played by Jeremy Piven. Not remotely cutesy or girly.

All the Ari's I've know where Jewish and male so that's what I think of when I see that name.

[oleada]

My brother and his wife who's Mexican have the same issue. When my sil was pregnant (with twins) she was told they were boys and they carefully picked names that worked in both English and Spanish. When they were born they were girls and my brother ended up naming them. One of them has a name that really only works in Spanish (Ximena) and the other has a name that works in both languages (Gabriella) but he spelled it so that it doesn't really work in Spanish. My sil was too drugged up and exhausted to notice

.

I think Gabriella works in Spanish! My sister's name is Isabella and I know many others, as well as Gabriellas, Daniellas, using the double LL spelling. I think Gabriella is really pretty, but I have two cousins by that name. :shuffle

My aunt and uncle had the same issue - their son's name is Samuel.

[AlexDSSF]

I don't see myself ever being a parent, but if I was one, I would NEVER give my child an obvious last name as a first name (Taylor, Madison, Mackenzie, Addison, Kennedy, etc.). Nor would I ever give my child a name that sounds and is spelled like a budding "Toddlers and Tiaras" contestant, such as Kennydy, Kynydi, Kenna-Dee, Ken-NaDee, Kynnadee, Kehnuhdee, Kenny-Dee, etc.

[Habs]

I also wouldn't name my daughter in a name ending with an 'i'. I think it was Barney on How I Met Your Mother who said that girls with names that regularly end with 'y' but are changed to end with 'i' (Kelli, Brittani, Cindi, etc) are usually sluttier lol. I don't know about the girls, but the names do sound a bit ditzier.

Um... my name ends with an 'i' - and I assure you, I am neither slutty nor ditzy.

[made_in_canada]

I think Gabriella works in Spanish! My sister's name is Isabella and I know many others, as well as Gabriellas, Daniellas, using the double LL spelling. I think Gabriella is really pretty, but I have two cousins by that name. :shuffle

My aunt and uncle had the same issue - their son's name is Samuel.

Hmm, that's interesting. Lots of people from where my sil is from pronounce the double l like an ay sound instead of an l sound. Maybe it's just because it isn't the way she would have done it that it bothers her As an aside, their middle names are Isabel and Danielle and Samuel was one of the boy names they had picked.

[Bunny Hop]

My great grandfather's middle name was 'Turtle'. It has always been a source of amusement in my family, but when researching my family tree I found out it was his mother's maiden name. It then all made perfect sense, but became much less interesting!

My mother's name is Dolores. Her big problem with it is that the only people who can spell it (outside of her immediate family) are either Spanish or American. Everyone else tries to spell it with a 'Del', which she hates (particularly when people try and call her 'Del' as well).

[gkelly]

How do people here feel about the existing of 1) using family surnames as given names, and 2) giving girls such names that had traditionally been given to boys?

E.g., a woman whose maiden name was Travis naming her daughter Travis Maxine (called Travie as a baby)

[TheGirlCanSkate]

How do people here feel about the existing of 1) using family surnames as given names, and 2) giving girls such names that had traditionally been given to boys?

Doesn't bother me...we did call my friends son Parker Lyons Thomas: The Boy with Three Last Names.

As for girls with boy's name that haven't rolled over to names that are common for both, I wouldn't do it because it's not my thing. A girl named Ralph or Jeffrey *shrug* doesn't do anything for me. Neither does Logan, Tyson, or Evan. Eventually they might sounds like either - the more often girls have those names like Bailey, Whitney and Skylar.

[danceronice]

actually, i think dusty, cody, toby, colby, coby, cory, chancey, and brody are all EITHER girly, cutesy or perpetually juvenile - but YMMV

Half of those are things I would name dogs. (In fact, I DID have a dog named Toby. Next-door neighbor has Cody. And I'm pretty sure I've known at least one horse named Dusty. Brody sounds like a golden retriever.) Mostly they sound perpetually seven.

Ari's pretty damned cutesy/girly. I didn't even know boys were named that.

Not an NCIS viewer, huh? (Ari Haswari is a terrorist character from seasons 1-2-3.)

I hate the 'last-name-as-first-name' trend for girls, and I ESPECIALLY can't stand "McKenzie", or any other "Mc" name used for a girl, because you know what that prefix originally meant? "Son of." If it's a surname, you're stuck with it, but actively giving it to a girl just seems somewhat...ill-informed.

[TheGirlCanSkate]

Speaking of ill informed...a friend picked out a name and wouldn't tell anyone until he was born. She named her son Griffin. I told her that was really cool, the while eagle/lion thing. She said, What? I said, The whole mythology thing...." She said she had no idea what I was talking about - that she invented the name.

[skatingfan5]

Speaking of ill informed...a friend picked out a name and wouldn't tell anyone until he was born. She named her son Griffin. I told her that was really cool, the while eagle/lion thing. She said, What? I said, The whole mythology thing...." She said she had no idea what I was talking about - that she invented the name.

Thank goodness, then, for the sake of the child, otherwise she might have saddled him with Gryphon. As it is, he just shares with Tatum O'Neal's late brother.

[milanessa]

Um... my name ends with an 'i' - and I assure you, I am neither slutty nor ditzy.

Says you.

All the Ari's I've know where Jewish and male so that's what I think of when I see that name.

Me too.

[Badams]

I've told this story here before, but it fits this thread. My sister almost named her youngest child Abbey Road Cox. Porn star in training.

[escaflowne9282]

Pronouced "Gee", it's also an old French name.

Similar to Oprah, my friend is named Marium after a great-grandmother. They're not sure if the original name was INTENTIONAL, or someone misspelled "Miriam" in the family bible and it stuck.

Among Italian-Americans "Guy" is also a common nickname for Gaetano.

[misskarne]

Ari's pretty damned cutesy/girly. I didn't even know boys were named that.

Ari Vatanen, one of the greatest Finnish rally drivers ever. Otherwise known as the source of the immortal quote: "Minor off. No time lost."