Well, wait. Isn’t Morgan an example of a traditionally female name that gets given to boys? It goes at least as far back to Morgan le Fay of the King Arthur legends as a female name, but it gets given to boys a lot-- probably because it’s a common last name.
I think the history of Morgan/Morcant is much more complicated than that. Despite the example of Morgan le Fay, I don’t think it’s considered a traditionally feminine name in Wales or Brittany.
I went to school with a boy Leslie and he wasn’t picked on for it. People just commiserated with him. Also a boy Stacy, a boy Tracy, and a boy Shannon. I also knew a boy named Erin. Much worse was the man I knew with the given name of Timmy.
I think all names are just a matter of getting used to them. I’m not opposed to using gender defying names (or “made up” names, as if any names are somehow not made up). If your kid is well-liked, the name won’t matter. If your kid is not well-liked, the name won’t matter. There is no such thing as a name that cannot be mocked because the mockery is targeted at the child, not the name.
You know, I don’t remember any of the kids getting teased JUST because of their names. I was teased over my name (as was my twin, whose name is a lot more unusual than mine). But compared to the other shit that I got hasseled about, the name stuff was quite harmless.
Kids often go by nicknames anyway. A lot of my coworkers go by their middle names rather than their first names–as is very common down here in the South.
“Evelyn” is another name that can go either male or female. I am partial enough to it that I could see myself giving it to a male child. It could be shortened to “Ev”.
People need to remember that childhood only lasts a few years. I don’t think fear of playground taunts is a good enough reason to be afraid of a name.
Just like it’s fine for women to wear jeans, but it’s generally not acceptable for men to wear dresses, girls with boys’ names probably have a much easier time of it than the reverse.
I wouldn’t do it, just because it’s not fair to impose that kind of choice on someone who has no say in it - sure, maybe he’d be fine with some teasing in exchange for a unique name, but there’s no way to know. Best to play it safe.
ETA: To clarify, here I’m talking about names like Elizabeth or Emily. Androgynous-but-slightly-feminine names like Evelyn would be easier to justify, I think.
No, no, no.
Note that Obama’s mother was named Stanley (middle name Ann).
As suggested by Acsenray, names cycle. They often start as last names used for boys (Beverly, Shirley, Evelyn come to mind), then are used, at first occasionally for girls, then more often, and then abandoned as boys’ names.
A man walks down the street in that hat, people know he’s not afraid of anything.
And the very fact of that cycling should give people pause.
It should give people pause in that they should consider that the link between gender and specific names is pretty weak.
My husband has a name that tilts female–in fact, it’s one of the names on jsgoddess’s list–and he’s still touchy about it at 40+ years of age. Gender-appropriateness was an explicit condition when we were picking baby names.
I’m not sure I would, just because I think baby naming should probably be as uncomplicated for the child as possible. If he wants to change his name to a girl name later, more power to him.
FTR I think men with girl names are hella hot. A guy I crushed on for years in high school was named Kelly. I still think of it primarily as a man’s name.
Leslie, Lindsay, Ashley… totally hot names for guys.
Yes, yes. Just like everybody else. 
I think you have stumbled upon something interesting that I had not thought of. It does seem wrong to name a boy Tiffany in a way that it does not seem wrong to name a girl Hunter.
What I wonder is if there is a steady supply of new names to take up the slack. It doesn’t seem that way to me, although there is a bit of a trend to borrow from more cultures as we become more multicultural.
I wouldn’t, but in a certain cowboy culture I’m familiar with you just can’t tell whether a kid is male or female by hearing its name. Jewel turns out to be a boy, as does Julie. Micah turns out to be a girl. There are lots weirder names that you wouldn’t even want to guess based on just hearing the name. Go to a rodeo and watch mutton bustin’ sometime.
Why would you do that to your own kid? Unmerciful teasing and not in a nice way. Most responses are profane or physical and/or both. At least that’s the way I dealt with it. “Call me a girl, you think I fight light a girl motherfucker” as I sucker punch you and then kick you in the nads?
Shit, some fuckers can still push that “you got a girls name” button and I’m over 50 and I can react in an embarrassing way and in a way that might require a lawyer to help extract myself from. On the plus side, when I get some shithead of a telemarketer asking for Ms. China Guy, it’s obvious that it is someone who has zero knowledge of myself.
Parents can be malicious shits or simply clueless. Don’t mess with your kid’s first name, and if you must, get creative with the middle name. It’s first name, middle initial, last name in the internet age.
I agree, this is interesting.
We’re all being sexist as hell about this. I am, too. And I’ll keep at it. But now I feel a bit uneasy about it all.
Actually, I think it may be even worse. I suspect that a unisex or stereotypically male name that becomes a popular girls’ name will be less popular as a boys’ name as a result. I bet that there are fewer boys named Robin or Kim than there used to be.
Having first heard the name Ashley when I read Gone With the Wind, I’ve always thought of it as a male name.
Once the name shifts and is used for more girls than boys, then it’s off the list of consideration whether it happened a hundred years ago, or thirty years ago.
What would they feel like if tomorrow Jennifer was comprised 51% of boys but they named their girl Jennifer 5 years ago? Suddenly their girl has a “boy” name. Tomorrow Sean might be 51% girls - suddenly Sean is striked off the list of acceptable boy names, immediately? That’s why I thought some sort of time limit might be involved. What if you can remember tons of boys named Avery when you were young so you think of it as a boy name, but now it’s about to turn into a girl name? Is it that easy to give up?
That’s the sort of weirdness I feel is inherent in saying some names are for one gender only when it’s pretty malleable.
Sexism isn’t rational, and that’s all this is.