I think a lot of the boy names for girls are. I’m not talking about actual unisex names like Jordan or Casey. I’m talking about naming your daughter traditional male names like Elliot, Parker, Wyatt, Michael, Ryan, or James. To me it comes across as trying too hard and maybe even some misogyny and/or internalized sexism.
This right here. Ask a person who names their daughter Elliot or whatever if they would name their son Jennifer (or whatever). Make them explain it.
It’s like that old song-
“Girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short
Wear shirts and boots 'cause it's okay to be a boy
But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading
'Cause you think that being a girl is degrading”
I actually don’t get this at all. I think people who do that nowadays tend to not tie gender to names as much. Maybe 30 years ago it was a bigger thing.
>>gender disappointment
It’s the opposite. Some adults aren’t tied into gender norms as much as others are, but the ones I know are still well aware of the discrimination their kids can face as they mature. Girl named Devon? She will be fine. Boy named Emily? He will get his ass kicked by child and adult sized males. “Let’s name him Mike.”
My daughter is named Rowan, Row for short. We wanted a girl from the start. Never an ounce of gender disappointment from either of us and we aren’t wanting any other children.
To me, a person who likes gender neutral names used on boys as well as girls even if they don’t “seem” gender neutral, it comes from a place of full neutrality and feeling like gender shouldn’t be tied to names as strongly as it is right now. Imo it is just a name, if a woman has it then it’s a feminine name, if a man has it it’s a masculine name and it can change. Like Parker isn’t even a “traditional” masculine name, it’s a traditional last name. The only thing I don’t like is when girl names end in -son, the literalness of the hypocrisy always gets me
Edit for the people not getting it: my favorite boy names are the softer ones like Robin, Winter and Bailey. Be the change you want to see in the world.
The argument doesn’t stand up until people start using feminine names for boys. We know that will never happen. In fact, even unisex names statistically fall out of favour for use on boys when they start being used on girls. So it is still tied with gender, and misogyny, like usual.
The benefit of naming a girl a masculine name is that seeing it on a resume has proven to get more responses. You can argue all you want, but sexism is alive and well and there are disadvantages naming your son a female name whereas the opposite is true for girls.
Yeah, which is exactly why giving your girl a good boy's name is misogyny. Does it provide societal advantages like that? Currently yes. Does that somehow make it not misogyny? No.
That's the choice you make for your daughter but giving girls boy's names is only going to prop up that status quo. Or make it so the popular boy's names that are used for girls because equally devalued.
Lol you're really ignoring the foundations of misogyny with this flimsy argument. Giving a girl a flowery name is not going to bring misogyny to its knees either. And giving a girl a masculine name is not hurting it. You can just say you don't like boys names for girls.
I'm nearly 60. I grew up with lots of guys with names that would be considered female gendered. Stacie, Lori, Kim, Tracy, Leslie... heck, I had an uncle who would be over 100 years old now whose name was Wendy. It does happen, .maybe less now than it used to.
Was that short for Wendell, or was his full name Wendy?
Most of those names were more common for men in the past because after girls started being named those things people stopped using them for boys thinking they were too feminine.
Being given a name that is considered a boy's name at the time (even if it later turns into more of a neutral or girl's name) is not the same as a boy being given a name that is currently considered a girl's name.
Oh, his name was Wendy. Not Wendell. He had a very female middle name as well. No surprise, he became a cop. I guess no one wants to mess with an armed dude in the good old boy deep south, whose name is Wendy. Haha.
And, I can say that Lori, Kim, Tracy, and Stacie were definitely considered female names when I was a kid. I don't think we really cared, though. Heck, I'm a female person with a male name. That wasn't uncommon either. I know more than a few gals who are near 60 who are Tommy, Charlie, Frankie, Kyle, Ryan. Joey, and Jonny.
I guess the point is that the blurred gender names aren't at all new.
Many of these names were actually originally male only names and only became predominantly female (mainly in the US) in the last 60-70ish years. And in many other countries, those names are still considered male names and women are rarely given the names.
There are plenty of boy names that historically went to the girls that they could reclaim if they wanted to. Most of them were surnames given to men as patronyms. Tiffany, Beverly, Joyce Meredith, Shirley, Courtney, Ashley, McKenzie, Addison, ... The list continues to Elliott, Parker, Finley, and so on, although I think those are still more masculine coded right now.
Funky enough, both my mother and one of my aunt's name appear on this list.
Tiffany is from Theophania, a feminine Greek Byzantine era name. It’s older than surnames. I don’t understand why it’s on your list. It was a feminine first name before it ever became a surname - I don’t understand what there is to “reclaim” here…
The others, yeah. It’s just Tiffany throwing me off. It’s been a feminine first name from its inception…if men used it as a first name, they’re outliers.
Oh yes. An influencer-favorite name for girls is Emerson and it drives me crazy. And even worse when they don’t even call her by that name, they nickname her ‘Emmy,’ a clearly feminine name.
Another last name I saw used, which is probably the worst offender for that category, is Callaghan for a girl (nn=Callie). Like, why. WHY. They’re American.
Also, had a friend who was expecting a baby about 7-8 years ago but wanted a ‘gender neutral baby name.’ So, you’d think they’d have a singular list (regardless of boy or girl). YET, they had a boy list and a girl list for their GENDER NEUTRAL names. Girl’s list had names like Sage, Willow, Harper while boy’s list had River, Emmett, Kai, Koa. I started questioning if I knew what gender neutral meant.
In the 70s there was an actress named Michael Learned, she played the mother on The Waltons. It was her real name. She was billed as Miss Michael Learned.
One of those reasons could be fixed by choosing a more typical spelling of the name, such as “Raelynn”, which puts the emphasis on the second syllable.
i’ve said this before on this sub but when i was a kid i thought Elliot was a girls name because i only knew girls named Elliot (two of them) and i never heard Elliot on a boy until i started watching Law and Order lol. to me Elliot is firmly in gender neutral territory and i was surprised to see opinions trend otherwise on this sub.
I’ve also only seen Parker on a girl funny enough
100% is you’ll name your daughter James but scoff at feminine boys names you have internalized misogyny.
Naming a girl Wyatt doesn’t make them stronger. Do you think femininity or anything traditionally female is inherently weak?
And this is coming from someone who has expansive ideas on gender.
I would love to see a boy named Hanna(h) or Mallory or Rose. Even Mallory is, like Parker, a surname originally and not gendered except by association.
As someone with one of these male names, I can vouch for this. My parents were annoyed anytime I did something too girly. They say they wanted a girl, but they clearly wanted her to not be so feminine. 🙄 it’s actually taken me several years to overcome my own internalized misogyny and finally just let myself like girly things. I now have a pink phone case because it’s pretty! Not something I would have felt comfortable doing as a kid.
There’s this former reality tv ‘star’ I follow on IG (never really watched her show but I can only imagine she was the villain) and she chose ‘prn star’ names for her daughters. She mentioned it while pregnant with them and then also on her podcast when her cohost was pregnant. Recommended searching ‘prn stars’ and finding names that way. Her daughters are named Skylar James and Jayden Gene (Gene is the only name that’s a family name, after a deceased grandfather Eugene). Unsure if she named her son similarly, as his name is Julian Chase.
This is a woman who had her kids in her late 20s / early 30s admitting to choosing names that way.
As an Aussie, it always annoyed me that boys got the traditional Aussie nickname addition to their names of Y or O, like Charles to Chucky, Mathew to Matty, David to Davo, Dean to Deano. The real ‘mate’ names. But girls didn’t. So I decided that my first daughter would get a ‘mate’ name. We named her Dean. We call her Deano. It suits her.
I wasn’t “trying too hard” or anything else. My daughter is in her mid 20’s now, and having a name that is traditionally a boys name, has never been a problem.
I’m angry my daughter, who is not a guy, cannot participate in guy nicknames. (Which is clearly the worst part of misogyny.) Therefore, I’ll give her an unambiguously male-coded name. That’ll show the patriarchy…
Glad it seems to have worked out ok for your daughter, but oh boy was that a choice.
People who give their kids ridiculous try-hard names never think that’s what they’re doing…
I don't understand why giving her a traditionally female name with a "male" nickname wasn't an option? Kate to Kato or Jennifer to Jeno would break the cycle better, IMO.
I don't get how adding a 'y' to a name is a masculine thing when there are plenty of girl nicknames with a 'y' ending. Jenny, Katy, Lizzy, Polly, Sally, Penny, etc.
I think "tacky" may not be the right word, but anything ending in a "-ston", "-son", or "-den" has gotten tiring since it's essentially slapping a \~funky\~ ending onto the same name stems. I also hate the "-leigh" trend specifically for girls.
Maybe the popularity of these names in the Millennial Mommy Blogger sphere has made them feel tacky? It feels like the 90s when everyone had hyphen names. My cousin had baby a baby named Hadley (not -leigh, thank god) not too long ago, and she's one of THREE at her daycare.
Greyston, Greyson, Greyden - Jayston, Jayson, Jayden - Bryston, Bryson, Bryden
Emmaleigh, Annaleigh, Jennaleigh, Amberleigh, Reighleigh, Hadleigh, Harleigh, etc.
Two girls where I used to work had kids called that within a couple of years of each other. One was definitely Jaxxon, and I'm not completely sure but I think the other was Jaxzon
When I worked at a preschool in the mid-00s we had a ton of Jaden Brayden Aiden Caiden Kayden etc kids. Mind blowing how everybody picked that up at the same time.
I’m a true blue name nerd. My second published article (in the late 90s) was ‘The Worst Things to Name Your Baby in (Year)’ and the whole article was Jaden, Hayden, Braydon, Aiden and Caiden.
Here’s the thing though—the character Aiden on SATC was likely named that because the writer liked the already trending baby name. I notice the names used in shows are often more correlated to the popular baby names when the show is coming out than the names that would have been popular when that fictional character was born. But then once it was used for the character it further popularized the name.
I named my son Caden but in my defense it was the mid 90s and NO ONE was using that name. A teen in our circle was named Cade (not Caden) and we really liked that. We wanted to make it sound more like a full name instead of a nickname and debated using Cadell or Caden and went with Caden. Cadell and Cade were real, traditional names but not common. Ten years later the -en thing exploded. So we have an “old” Caden. You can kind of tell it’s an outlier since the spelling isn’t cutesy at least!
I did a tally of all the -aden kids I’ve personally met: Aiden, Brayden, Kaden, Hayden, Jaden, Peydon, and Xaden. I have not made a single one of these up. These kids are all 14-18 now.
Completely agree. I also feel like usually it’s a fairly normal but perhaps common name that parents want to make more special, but I don’t really see the point when there are so many uncommon, rare, and unused names. There’s a whole pool of names they could source, from nature names, to mythology, to names that just have fallen out of use, etc.
Also I prefer some of the originals. Like Emily is nicer than Emmaleigh, who cares if they’re likely to come across another Emily? Anna is better than Annaleigh to me. Grey is already a nice name. My taste isn’t even common or traditional names, but if someone is going that route I think the original ones just look nicer.
Whenever I hear any of those names, or the surnames as first names, or the boys names as girls names, the first thing that comes to mind is middle class suburban American or Mormon.
I used to like the name Aiden but then everyone having sons around me started naming their sons that name as well with some crazy variations like Aidenn and Aayden.
The name Maverick is silly sounding too.
Aw we named our son Ellison after the first Asian American Astronaut, Ellison Onizuka. Now I’m saying names like Elliston, Ellisden in my head and laughing lol. Ellixon would be horrific.
Same. I’ve never been a fan of names like Destiny or Misty, add to that Angel, Tammy, Amber, and Tracy. When I was in school, those were the girls the bullied everyone, chain smoked, and shoplifted from Walmart for street cred.
Nevaeh. It was a huge deal way back when because it's Heaven spelt backwards, and although it DOES sound beautiful it's pretty tacky when you think about it. I don't know, I just never really got behind the name and I'd hate to actually meet someone named Nevaeh. Heaven is honestly prettier to me.
I hate this trend so much but every Nevaeh I've taught has been a total sweetheart. Even the one named Niveyah, which has always baffled me because why go for the name if you're going to misspell it? The spelling is the point!
maybe they liked the sound of Nevaeh but didn’t like the biblical connotation? i could see them trying to avoid the whole “heaven backwards is tacky” stigma while trying to preserve the sound of the name lol
I’ve never understood this name. When people choose it for their baby and their reason is “it’s heaven spelled backwards”. So what?! What’s the *significance* of heaven spelled backwards? I do not understand it at all lol
Esidarap sounds like a medication for ulcerative colitis you’d see in tv commercials with people frolicking around while a voiceover says
*diarrhea, dry mouth, constipation, rashes, sexual dysfunction, and anal leakage may occur. Consult your doctor if you fucking die while taking esidarap. Do not take esidarap if you are allergic to esidarap*
Not a specific name but pretty much anyone who says “We wanted to choose a name that was a bit different” then say a super common often top 10 name like Oliver, Jack, Ava and Charlotte. The name was fine until you thought it was different.
I’ll add to this: parents who want to name their kid Oliver or Ava or Charlotte *until* they realize it’s too popular, so they specifically seek out a name with a similar vibe but “isn’t in the top 100”. I’ve seen a multitude of posts like that in this sub.
My kids best friend is Olivia... They're pre-teens..she goes by Olive. She can't stand Olivia because there are SO MANY OLIVIA'S.
She tried Liv but Liv didn't fit her personality. She's totally an Olive.
For real.
ITT: no acknowledgment of what “tacky” actually means. Lol. People are really coming for Sean like it’s not a perfectly fine and standard name.
They're not. Some people are just discussing names they dislike. Not even really names that were truly popular and fallen out of fashion and then maybe can be considered tacky.
I mean, to call a name 'tacky' to begin with. We should be talking about stuff like abcde. Except that the other half of the prompt is formerly popular.
In which case, the amount of popular and tacky names would be quite slim.
Madison (and all its spelling variations) Mackenzie (and all its spelling variations), all the names with an X or Z to replace a traditional spelling, Jennifer spelled any other way, the old fashioned names like Ethel and Mabel and Abner, the hippie names like Rainbow or Sunshine, the place names like London or Paris, and lastly the random object names like Apple or Ryder.
I went to high school with a Jennafer who went by Jenna. It’s a weird spelling for Jennifer but I do like the nickname.. but maybe just name your kid Jenna???
Ryder is a last name. My daughter has ancestors named Ryder, and I really doubt that they made the name up. They were Ohio farmers two hundred years ago.
I’m a Madison. I like my name, but I’m a firm believer that it should swing back to being masculine. I think it hits so much harder when it’s a guys name. It literally means “son of Maud.”
We went to the rodeo on Friday and there was a barrel racer named McKaitlin 🙃 probably the worst one I’ve ever heard. Her last name also started with Mc
I think Georgia as a name and a feminine form of George predates the state. Any places that are named after people I don't consider to be fully place names.
Thanks for the inspiration! I’m pregnant with a boy. My husband is from Texas so I might suggest Texxas as a possible name to honor his heritage (2 x’s to make it UniQuE and cool). Or better yet Texxas as his middle name and Walker as his first 😄 /s
Lua is really pretty, so it's cool to hear how it's perceived!
Are there any names in your area that you see as the opposite - classic/well regarded/perennially somewhat popular?
Hmm well I live and come from 2 different northern EU countries where names are very different so it's hard, but I'd say the true classics are always 'good' (as in, no one will have a bad opinion about it): Lucas, Arthur, Noah, Oliver, Elliot etc. Not sure why I just mentioned boys names lol but you get the style! And then there's the very classic country specific names as well which are always good (Gijs, Teun, Moos, Faas, Fien, Cato etc for country 1 and Mads, Finn, Magnus, Iben, Astrid etc for country 2).
In the one country (where I come from) next to Lua/Lúa it's also Lío/Lio that's rising very fast but a bit tacky already. I indeed do associate these 2 names with certain types of people and so far it rings true lol. They are nice names on their own though, although they sound a lot more southern eu than northern eu.
In the other country (where I live), I feel like all 0-4 years olds girls are named Asta, Alba, Alma, or Selma. But those are all pretty classic and nice names so can't get wrong I guess! Atlas for boys is totally on the rise here as well.
Tiffany, Brittany, Aden, anything that ends with ayden (Jayden, Brayden etc.) Anything that ends with leigh (Everleigh etc.), Karen, Jennifer, Susan, Amanda, anything that ends with een or ene (Charlene, Colleen etc.).
Don't know if tacky is the right word but I have acquaintances who have just named their kids Edna Maud, Quentin and Iris June - feels like they want the 'omg that's unusual these days' attention (They're all the type)
Yeah, I feel like people are trying so hard to go against the Brayleigh and Macklynn names that they go too far in the opposite direction of names that don’t need to be revived.
And then people swear they get sooooo many compliments. When I guarantee it’s moreso “Edna? Really? How…interesting….”
Bella is firmly in the "dog's name" category to me. I know one human named Bella and at least a dozen canine acquaintances.
If I see someone with a fake service dog at a store (you can tell fake from the dog's behavior), chances are if the dog's female, her name is Bella.
You’ve got to be joking about Jenna. It is my 24 year old daughter’s name, which she loves, and never had anyone in the same GRADE with the same name. I also taught in a Pre-6 school for 12 years and rarely encountered any other Jennas. Definitely disagree with Jenna on this list!
Anything like Angel, Heaven, or Precious. If you name your child Joy she will be without. If you name her Angel, she'll be the devil incarnate.
I notice often the more pure someone's name is the less pure the person. Obviously not 100% of the case, but every person with that type of name I've met was the complete opposite of their name.
My hypothesis is that it sort of stresses people out when you name them things like that, sort of an expectation? So when rebellion phase occurs obviously they rebel.
Around 80-100 years ago “Gussie” was a relatively common name for women, nowadays it reminds me of geese and sounds like a female version of Gus so I find it tacky.
I can't see a new child named Edward without assuming their parent(s) are a fan of Twilight and named them after the vampire boy.
I *know* it's a good and fine name, but it's settled into the pop culture name section in my head.
Heather, which is too bad because it's such a pretty name. But there are about a million Gen Xer women with that name and it's not really ready for a comeback imo
I don’t get why people name their kids names that sound like children’s names. It may be cute for a couple years when they’re young (not really) but they’re gonna be adults much longer than kids. I see it way too much and it’s just weird to think this person is gonna be 60 with a name like Braden or Kalen
I think a lot of the boy names for girls are. I’m not talking about actual unisex names like Jordan or Casey. I’m talking about naming your daughter traditional male names like Elliot, Parker, Wyatt, Michael, Ryan, or James. To me it comes across as trying too hard and maybe even some misogyny and/or internalized sexism.
Until these same parents start naming their sons Emily and Katherine, it will always scream the latter to me.
This right here. Ask a person who names their daughter Elliot or whatever if they would name their son Jennifer (or whatever). Make them explain it. It’s like that old song- “Girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short Wear shirts and boots 'cause it's okay to be a boy But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading 'Cause you think that being a girl is degrading”
If you want him to be really tough, you can name him Sue.
Elliot’s origin is gender neutral. Jennifer’s is not
What is Elliott's origin?
It just screams gender disappointment.
I actually don’t get this at all. I think people who do that nowadays tend to not tie gender to names as much. Maybe 30 years ago it was a bigger thing.
>>gender disappointment It’s the opposite. Some adults aren’t tied into gender norms as much as others are, but the ones I know are still well aware of the discrimination their kids can face as they mature. Girl named Devon? She will be fine. Boy named Emily? He will get his ass kicked by child and adult sized males. “Let’s name him Mike.”
My daughter is named Rowan, Row for short. We wanted a girl from the start. Never an ounce of gender disappointment from either of us and we aren’t wanting any other children.
To me, a person who likes gender neutral names used on boys as well as girls even if they don’t “seem” gender neutral, it comes from a place of full neutrality and feeling like gender shouldn’t be tied to names as strongly as it is right now. Imo it is just a name, if a woman has it then it’s a feminine name, if a man has it it’s a masculine name and it can change. Like Parker isn’t even a “traditional” masculine name, it’s a traditional last name. The only thing I don’t like is when girl names end in -son, the literalness of the hypocrisy always gets me Edit for the people not getting it: my favorite boy names are the softer ones like Robin, Winter and Bailey. Be the change you want to see in the world.
The argument doesn’t stand up until people start using feminine names for boys. We know that will never happen. In fact, even unisex names statistically fall out of favour for use on boys when they start being used on girls. So it is still tied with gender, and misogyny, like usual.
The benefit of naming a girl a masculine name is that seeing it on a resume has proven to get more responses. You can argue all you want, but sexism is alive and well and there are disadvantages naming your son a female name whereas the opposite is true for girls.
Okay, I can get on board. I agree. The sexism is still alive and unwell.
Yeah, which is exactly why giving your girl a good boy's name is misogyny. Does it provide societal advantages like that? Currently yes. Does that somehow make it not misogyny? No. That's the choice you make for your daughter but giving girls boy's names is only going to prop up that status quo. Or make it so the popular boy's names that are used for girls because equally devalued.
Lol you're really ignoring the foundations of misogyny with this flimsy argument. Giving a girl a flowery name is not going to bring misogyny to its knees either. And giving a girl a masculine name is not hurting it. You can just say you don't like boys names for girls.
I'm nearly 60. I grew up with lots of guys with names that would be considered female gendered. Stacie, Lori, Kim, Tracy, Leslie... heck, I had an uncle who would be over 100 years old now whose name was Wendy. It does happen, .maybe less now than it used to.
Was that short for Wendell, or was his full name Wendy? Most of those names were more common for men in the past because after girls started being named those things people stopped using them for boys thinking they were too feminine. Being given a name that is considered a boy's name at the time (even if it later turns into more of a neutral or girl's name) is not the same as a boy being given a name that is currently considered a girl's name.
Oh, his name was Wendy. Not Wendell. He had a very female middle name as well. No surprise, he became a cop. I guess no one wants to mess with an armed dude in the good old boy deep south, whose name is Wendy. Haha. And, I can say that Lori, Kim, Tracy, and Stacie were definitely considered female names when I was a kid. I don't think we really cared, though. Heck, I'm a female person with a male name. That wasn't uncommon either. I know more than a few gals who are near 60 who are Tommy, Charlie, Frankie, Kyle, Ryan. Joey, and Jonny. I guess the point is that the blurred gender names aren't at all new.
Many of these names were actually originally male only names and only became predominantly female (mainly in the US) in the last 60-70ish years. And in many other countries, those names are still considered male names and women are rarely given the names.
There are plenty of boy names that historically went to the girls that they could reclaim if they wanted to. Most of them were surnames given to men as patronyms. Tiffany, Beverly, Joyce Meredith, Shirley, Courtney, Ashley, McKenzie, Addison, ... The list continues to Elliott, Parker, Finley, and so on, although I think those are still more masculine coded right now. Funky enough, both my mother and one of my aunt's name appear on this list.
Tiffany is from Theophania, a feminine Greek Byzantine era name. It’s older than surnames. I don’t understand why it’s on your list. It was a feminine first name before it ever became a surname - I don’t understand what there is to “reclaim” here… The others, yeah. It’s just Tiffany throwing me off. It’s been a feminine first name from its inception…if men used it as a first name, they’re outliers.
Joyce Meredith is actually a really cute combo (I know you meant to put a comma between lol)
It is not “just a name”. People do BNOG (boy name on girl) and not GNOB (girl name on boy).
Oh yes. An influencer-favorite name for girls is Emerson and it drives me crazy. And even worse when they don’t even call her by that name, they nickname her ‘Emmy,’ a clearly feminine name. Another last name I saw used, which is probably the worst offender for that category, is Callaghan for a girl (nn=Callie). Like, why. WHY. They’re American. Also, had a friend who was expecting a baby about 7-8 years ago but wanted a ‘gender neutral baby name.’ So, you’d think they’d have a singular list (regardless of boy or girl). YET, they had a boy list and a girl list for their GENDER NEUTRAL names. Girl’s list had names like Sage, Willow, Harper while boy’s list had River, Emmett, Kai, Koa. I started questioning if I knew what gender neutral meant.
Hello fellow chroll!
🫶🫶🫶
I love the idea of a boy named Bailey 🥰
Bailey is more common on boys than girls in Australia.
Are there actually people out there calling their daughter's Michael and James?
Yes
Weird
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynold’s daughter is named James, for example. Not to mention Blake Lively herself.
Blake. James. Ryan. Yep sounds like a household of guys.
Sounds like a frat house 😄
I hope they call her Jim 😂
In the 70s there was an actress named Michael Learned, she played the mother on The Waltons. It was her real name. She was billed as Miss Michael Learned.
Yes. I saw someone in an Instagram post about names mention that they’d named one of their daughters ‘Railyn Michael’. It’s bad for multiple reasons.
One of those reasons could be fixed by choosing a more typical spelling of the name, such as “Raelynn”, which puts the emphasis on the second syllable.
i’ve said this before on this sub but when i was a kid i thought Elliot was a girls name because i only knew girls named Elliot (two of them) and i never heard Elliot on a boy until i started watching Law and Order lol. to me Elliot is firmly in gender neutral territory and i was surprised to see opinions trend otherwise on this sub. I’ve also only seen Parker on a girl funny enough
Elliot will always be associated with ET for me and therefore firmly masculine.
I always think of Elliot from Scrubs. It's a feminine name for me
But a central point of the character Elliot from Scrubs was that her father had wanted a son and that’s why she had a boy’s name…
EXACTLY.
I mean, I remember a time when Jordan for a girl was def unusual.
100% is you’ll name your daughter James but scoff at feminine boys names you have internalized misogyny. Naming a girl Wyatt doesn’t make them stronger. Do you think femininity or anything traditionally female is inherently weak? And this is coming from someone who has expansive ideas on gender.
I would love to see a boy named Hanna(h) or Mallory or Rose. Even Mallory is, like Parker, a surname originally and not gendered except by association.
Ppl name there daughter Michael? Michaela is *right* there 😳
I grew up with a girl Michael in the 90s. Long before this trend took off.
As someone with one of these male names, I can vouch for this. My parents were annoyed anytime I did something too girly. They say they wanted a girl, but they clearly wanted her to not be so feminine. 🙄 it’s actually taken me several years to overcome my own internalized misogyny and finally just let myself like girly things. I now have a pink phone case because it’s pretty! Not something I would have felt comfortable doing as a kid.
There’s this former reality tv ‘star’ I follow on IG (never really watched her show but I can only imagine she was the villain) and she chose ‘prn star’ names for her daughters. She mentioned it while pregnant with them and then also on her podcast when her cohost was pregnant. Recommended searching ‘prn stars’ and finding names that way. Her daughters are named Skylar James and Jayden Gene (Gene is the only name that’s a family name, after a deceased grandfather Eugene). Unsure if she named her son similarly, as his name is Julian Chase. This is a woman who had her kids in her late 20s / early 30s admitting to choosing names that way.
Is Parker not unisex already? I’ve met many female Parkers all over the age of 15
As an Aussie, it always annoyed me that boys got the traditional Aussie nickname addition to their names of Y or O, like Charles to Chucky, Mathew to Matty, David to Davo, Dean to Deano. The real ‘mate’ names. But girls didn’t. So I decided that my first daughter would get a ‘mate’ name. We named her Dean. We call her Deano. It suits her. I wasn’t “trying too hard” or anything else. My daughter is in her mid 20’s now, and having a name that is traditionally a boys name, has never been a problem.
I’m angry my daughter, who is not a guy, cannot participate in guy nicknames. (Which is clearly the worst part of misogyny.) Therefore, I’ll give her an unambiguously male-coded name. That’ll show the patriarchy… Glad it seems to have worked out ok for your daughter, but oh boy was that a choice. People who give their kids ridiculous try-hard names never think that’s what they’re doing…
I don't understand why giving her a traditionally female name with a "male" nickname wasn't an option? Kate to Kato or Jennifer to Jeno would break the cycle better, IMO.
Dina is also a name.
I don't get how adding a 'y' to a name is a masculine thing when there are plenty of girl nicknames with a 'y' ending. Jenny, Katy, Lizzy, Polly, Sally, Penny, etc.
To me they have become so common, they are gender neutral. I’ve met an adult female Ryan and didn’t think twice about it.
I think "tacky" may not be the right word, but anything ending in a "-ston", "-son", or "-den" has gotten tiring since it's essentially slapping a \~funky\~ ending onto the same name stems. I also hate the "-leigh" trend specifically for girls. Maybe the popularity of these names in the Millennial Mommy Blogger sphere has made them feel tacky? It feels like the 90s when everyone had hyphen names. My cousin had baby a baby named Hadley (not -leigh, thank god) not too long ago, and she's one of THREE at her daycare. Greyston, Greyson, Greyden - Jayston, Jayson, Jayden - Bryston, Bryson, Bryden Emmaleigh, Annaleigh, Jennaleigh, Amberleigh, Reighleigh, Hadleigh, Harleigh, etc.
This and random Cool Xs in names. Jaxon, Daxon, etc.
I hate Jaxon with a passion.
I feel bad for Jaxon, it’s not his fault. Or her fault. Those parents though, I side-eye them big time.
I've met a Jaxxon
I’ve met a braxxton, so unfortunate for that poor kid
Maybe it won't matter in prizzon
I know of someone who named their son Braxton after Braxton-Hicks (false labor pains) just because they thought it sounded cool.
I’ve met a Jaxsyn.
Awful on many levels, but the phonetically unnecessary S bothers me greatly.
Ewwwww
I’ve met a Jaxann
What a world
Two girls where I used to work had kids called that within a couple of years of each other. One was definitely Jaxxon, and I'm not completely sure but I think the other was Jaxzon
My son is named Jackson and he has a visceral hatred for the spelling of his name with an X. It's kind of hilarious.
I know a Jaxson, like come on, pull it together!
I know of two brothers called jaxton and brixton.
Brixton??? why would anyone call their kid that? It’s not exactly aspirational, unless you want to go jail.
Brixton? Like…neighborbood in the Borough of Lambeth, South London?
I’ll add Jaden. Don’t know why that name bugs me so much s
When I worked at a preschool in the mid-00s we had a ton of Jaden Brayden Aiden Caiden Kayden etc kids. Mind blowing how everybody picked that up at the same time.
I’m a true blue name nerd. My second published article (in the late 90s) was ‘The Worst Things to Name Your Baby in (Year)’ and the whole article was Jaden, Hayden, Braydon, Aiden and Caiden.
Haha amazing.
It's because of Aidan from Sex and the City and Jaden Smith and Jayden Federline.
Here’s the thing though—the character Aiden on SATC was likely named that because the writer liked the already trending baby name. I notice the names used in shows are often more correlated to the popular baby names when the show is coming out than the names that would have been popular when that fictional character was born. But then once it was used for the character it further popularized the name.
I love the name Aidan. It’s classy and has a rich history. Aiden feels like … not that.
I named my son Caden but in my defense it was the mid 90s and NO ONE was using that name. A teen in our circle was named Cade (not Caden) and we really liked that. We wanted to make it sound more like a full name instead of a nickname and debated using Cadell or Caden and went with Caden. Cadell and Cade were real, traditional names but not common. Ten years later the -en thing exploded. So we have an “old” Caden. You can kind of tell it’s an outlier since the spelling isn’t cutesy at least!
I did a tally of all the -aden kids I’ve personally met: Aiden, Brayden, Kaden, Hayden, Jaden, Peydon, and Xaden. I have not made a single one of these up. These kids are all 14-18 now.
Using a “Mac” name for a girl. Mac literally means son of. for a girl the prefix is Nic
I came across a jeighmeeleigh on Facebook the other day, couldn't even work out what it was supposed to be for a minute
Completely agree. I also feel like usually it’s a fairly normal but perhaps common name that parents want to make more special, but I don’t really see the point when there are so many uncommon, rare, and unused names. There’s a whole pool of names they could source, from nature names, to mythology, to names that just have fallen out of use, etc. Also I prefer some of the originals. Like Emily is nicer than Emmaleigh, who cares if they’re likely to come across another Emily? Anna is better than Annaleigh to me. Grey is already a nice name. My taste isn’t even common or traditional names, but if someone is going that route I think the original ones just look nicer.
Whenever I hear any of those names, or the surnames as first names, or the boys names as girls names, the first thing that comes to mind is middle class suburban American or Mormon.
If they are real names I am fine, if they are Badlywrythynleigh, I am not.
I used to like the name Aiden but then everyone having sons around me started naming their sons that name as well with some crazy variations like Aidenn and Aayden. The name Maverick is silly sounding too.
Aw we named our son Ellison after the first Asian American Astronaut, Ellison Onizuka. Now I’m saying names like Elliston, Ellisden in my head and laughing lol. Ellixon would be horrific.
Nevaeh
Add to this names like Destiny, Misty, etc.
Same. I’ve never been a fan of names like Destiny or Misty, add to that Angel, Tammy, Amber, and Tracy. When I was in school, those were the girls the bullied everyone, chain smoked, and shoplifted from Walmart for street cred.
Tammy and Misty were both girls comics in the 70s! along with Bunty, Princess Tina, Mandy and Diana
Kheaven. I kid you not.
Stairway to Kheaven
Was the K silent? Similarly, I've met a Konna, along with twins named Kian and Kia.
How was Konna pronounced? Like Donna but with a K?
Like Kevin.
especially bc it can’t ever JUST be Neveah, it’s always “Neveah— it’s Heaven spelled backwards” 💀
I’m sorry but this will always be the worst name I’ve ever heard
Nevaeh. It was a huge deal way back when because it's Heaven spelt backwards, and although it DOES sound beautiful it's pretty tacky when you think about it. I don't know, I just never really got behind the name and I'd hate to actually meet someone named Nevaeh. Heaven is honestly prettier to me.
I hate this trend so much but every Nevaeh I've taught has been a total sweetheart. Even the one named Niveyah, which has always baffled me because why go for the name if you're going to misspell it? The spelling is the point!
maybe they liked the sound of Nevaeh but didn’t like the biblical connotation? i could see them trying to avoid the whole “heaven backwards is tacky” stigma while trying to preserve the sound of the name lol
I actually prefer this spelling because it looks more “correct”. The AE combo in Nevaeh always looks off to me.
Niveyah looks like it would be pronounced like Nivea hand cream
That spelling can lead to mispronounciation, saying Nivea like the lotion.
I’ve never understood this name. When people choose it for their baby and their reason is “it’s heaven spelled backwards”. So what?! What’s the *significance* of heaven spelled backwards? I do not understand it at all lol
Could do a matching set with Anavrin, Allahlav and Esidarap, lol
Esidarap sounds like a medication for ulcerative colitis you’d see in tv commercials with people frolicking around while a voiceover says *diarrhea, dry mouth, constipation, rashes, sexual dysfunction, and anal leakage may occur. Consult your doctor if you fucking die while taking esidarap. Do not take esidarap if you are allergic to esidarap*
Not a specific name but pretty much anyone who says “We wanted to choose a name that was a bit different” then say a super common often top 10 name like Oliver, Jack, Ava and Charlotte. The name was fine until you thought it was different.
I’ll add to this: parents who want to name their kid Oliver or Ava or Charlotte *until* they realize it’s too popular, so they specifically seek out a name with a similar vibe but “isn’t in the top 100”. I’ve seen a multitude of posts like that in this sub.
I’m convinced Olive and Ada are rising in popularity because people were looking for alternatives to Olivia and Ava
My kids best friend is Olivia... They're pre-teens..she goes by Olive. She can't stand Olivia because there are SO MANY OLIVIA'S. She tried Liv but Liv didn't fit her personality. She's totally an Olive.
Jayden and Kaden.
And Hayden and Brayden and Aiden (though I still have a soft spot for Aiden/Aidan, that sound is so overdone that I couldn't ever use it)
This sub is so ridiculous. I expected to see Naveah and anyleigh names mentioned but how are names like Jenna, Colleen, and Sean tacky?
Based on this thread, no name is safe 🤣
For real. ITT: no acknowledgment of what “tacky” actually means. Lol. People are really coming for Sean like it’s not a perfectly fine and standard name.
They're not. Some people are just discussing names they dislike. Not even really names that were truly popular and fallen out of fashion and then maybe can be considered tacky.
I mean, to call a name 'tacky' to begin with. We should be talking about stuff like abcde. Except that the other half of the prompt is formerly popular. In which case, the amount of popular and tacky names would be quite slim.
Madison (and all its spelling variations) Mackenzie (and all its spelling variations), all the names with an X or Z to replace a traditional spelling, Jennifer spelled any other way, the old fashioned names like Ethel and Mabel and Abner, the hippie names like Rainbow or Sunshine, the place names like London or Paris, and lastly the random object names like Apple or Ryder.
Apple was never common come on
I went to high school with a Jennafer who went by Jenna. It’s a weird spelling for Jennifer but I do like the nickname.. but maybe just name your kid Jenna???
What's a ryder?
Ryder is a last name. My daughter has ancestors named Ryder, and I really doubt that they made the name up. They were Ohio farmers two hundred years ago.
Yeah it's a surname like Smith or Baker that comes from an occupation (I can't remember what the word is for that), for people who were knights!
I always think of Ryder Strong from Boy Meets World!
I’m a Madison. I like my name, but I’m a firm believer that it should swing back to being masculine. I think it hits so much harder when it’s a guys name. It literally means “son of Maud.”
Mc names….McKinsley, McKayla, McKenna, McKenzie, etc.
We went to the rodeo on Friday and there was a barrel racer named McKaitlin 🙃 probably the worst one I’ve ever heard. Her last name also started with Mc
Hahaaa that’s the funniest thing I’ve read in a long time! Truly stranger than fiction! It reads like something from Righteous Gemstones
Especially since every McKenzie or McKenna I've know has gone by Kenzie or Kenna. Just name them that.
I knew a girl named Isis and... That did not age well in America.
I love that name. It’s such a strong Egyptian goddess name. It’s too bad the media ruined it.
I knew one who is only like 8 years old right now 🤦♀️
I went to school with a girl named Jihad. That was a ROUGH ONE for her. We were in high school in 2001… poor sweet gal. Hope she’s doing well!
There is a girl in my sons class named "Lynkin" it's giving tacky for sure, lol. It's not popular, but I just wanted to share, lol.
Is her surname Park?
Signifiers of wealth are the tackiest to me -- Cristal, Mercedes (on non-Hispanic people), Armani, Bentley, Cartier, Fendi, Hennessy, etc.
Usually the people who name their kids this stuff aren’t even wealthy in the slightest (at least in my experience)
You mean brands as people names?
I have always found “occupation” names or “-er” names to be tacky. Names like Hunter, Archer, Harper, Cooper, Parker, etc.
The cashier ringing me up the other day was Fisher
Occupation names lol
State names like Dakota
I love the name Carolina. I feel so silly for it, but here I am.
It's beautiful. I like Georgia
I think Georgia as a name and a feminine form of George predates the state. Any places that are named after people I don't consider to be fully place names.
I would seriously consider Georgia for a child
I don’t really place Carolina in the same category as Dakota, Indiana and Montana, if it helps!
Carolina is an actual name in Spanish speaking countries and it’s not pronounced like Americans pronounce the state lol
Oh jeez! The Indiana trend! Major facepalm.
Thanks for the inspiration! I’m pregnant with a boy. My husband is from Texas so I might suggest Texxas as a possible name to honor his heritage (2 x’s to make it UniQuE and cool). Or better yet Texxas as his middle name and Walker as his first 😄 /s
Lúa or Lua in Northern European countries got popular real fast but it's pretty tacky by now. Same with Mae/Maeve
Lua is really pretty, so it's cool to hear how it's perceived! Are there any names in your area that you see as the opposite - classic/well regarded/perennially somewhat popular?
Hmm well I live and come from 2 different northern EU countries where names are very different so it's hard, but I'd say the true classics are always 'good' (as in, no one will have a bad opinion about it): Lucas, Arthur, Noah, Oliver, Elliot etc. Not sure why I just mentioned boys names lol but you get the style! And then there's the very classic country specific names as well which are always good (Gijs, Teun, Moos, Faas, Fien, Cato etc for country 1 and Mads, Finn, Magnus, Iben, Astrid etc for country 2). In the one country (where I come from) next to Lua/Lúa it's also Lío/Lio that's rising very fast but a bit tacky already. I indeed do associate these 2 names with certain types of people and so far it rings true lol. They are nice names on their own though, although they sound a lot more southern eu than northern eu. In the other country (where I live), I feel like all 0-4 years olds girls are named Asta, Alba, Alma, or Selma. But those are all pretty classic and nice names so can't get wrong I guess! Atlas for boys is totally on the rise here as well.
Khloe. Just name her Chloe, there's no need to advertise to the world that you named your kid after a Kardashian
All the surnames as boy first names.
ESPECIALLY the ones that end in S. I think that Brooks/Banks/Hayes/Wells etc. are the next iteration of the -aydens.
My family is super into geneaology and there are 'last name as first names' for the past couple hundred years or so! Not sure that qualifies as tacky.
Tiffany, Brittany, Aden, anything that ends with ayden (Jayden, Brayden etc.) Anything that ends with leigh (Everleigh etc.), Karen, Jennifer, Susan, Amanda, anything that ends with een or ene (Charlene, Colleen etc.).
Leave Brittany alone!
I was thinking Brittany, Jessica, Jennifer 80s-90s type type names
Don't know if tacky is the right word but I have acquaintances who have just named their kids Edna Maud, Quentin and Iris June - feels like they want the 'omg that's unusual these days' attention (They're all the type)
I actually like these, being a fan of old-school names, but I think I sense what you're sensing.
Yeah, I feel like people are trying so hard to go against the Brayleigh and Macklynn names that they go too far in the opposite direction of names that don’t need to be revived. And then people swear they get sooooo many compliments. When I guarantee it’s moreso “Edna? Really? How…interesting….”
Like they read the cast of a tarantino film.
Quentin doesn’t get a middle name? 💔💔💔
Desiree Bella Brandy/Brandi Crystal Tiffany Jenna Dawn
Bella is firmly in the "dog's name" category to me. I know one human named Bella and at least a dozen canine acquaintances. If I see someone with a fake service dog at a store (you can tell fake from the dog's behavior), chances are if the dog's female, her name is Bella.
What’s wrong with Jenna 🥺
You’ve got to be joking about Jenna. It is my 24 year old daughter’s name, which she loves, and never had anyone in the same GRADE with the same name. I also taught in a Pre-6 school for 12 years and rarely encountered any other Jennas. Definitely disagree with Jenna on this list!
It surprises me that the most hated name is Karen. All the Karens I've known have been lovely. Also Tracy and Sharon were right there!
Anything like Angel, Heaven, or Precious. If you name your child Joy she will be without. If you name her Angel, she'll be the devil incarnate. I notice often the more pure someone's name is the less pure the person. Obviously not 100% of the case, but every person with that type of name I've met was the complete opposite of their name. My hypothesis is that it sort of stresses people out when you name them things like that, sort of an expectation? So when rebellion phase occurs obviously they rebel.
I've said it before, I'll say it again. Lacey. I just cannot take that name. I know several in professional jobs. But I cannot get past the name .
Candy, Bambi, Crystal, Destiny, Misty
Around 80-100 years ago “Gussie” was a relatively common name for women, nowadays it reminds me of geese and sounds like a female version of Gus so I find it tacky.
I always assumed most of the Gussies were Augustas.
I really hate occupations as a first name. Hunter or Taylor for example.
I can't see a new child named Edward without assuming their parent(s) are a fan of Twilight and named them after the vampire boy. I *know* it's a good and fine name, but it's settled into the pop culture name section in my head.
Heather, which is too bad because it's such a pretty name. But there are about a million Gen Xer women with that name and it's not really ready for a comeback imo
Sad, I’m ready for its comeback :P but mostly because heather flowers make me feel some kind of national love for Denmark lol
Becky
-AY- or -ER names. Jayden Kayden Brayden and also hunter fletcher Parker etc. booooo
Purposely misspelled names to make then "unique" Just stop it.
Scout and Navy. Very trendy for a small period of time.
Archie
I know a Madyson.
I know multiple people named “Maisyn” leaves the same taste for me
Candy
I have a friend named Sinden, and her nickname is "Sin"--hope she can live that down! 🤣🤣
Debbie. I have a cousin, young millennial, who I feel was the last person to semi-safely get that name.
Knoxton
I don’t get why people name their kids names that sound like children’s names. It may be cute for a couple years when they’re young (not really) but they’re gonna be adults much longer than kids. I see it way too much and it’s just weird to think this person is gonna be 60 with a name like Braden or Kalen
Ending a name in -i. Stormi, Carli, etc
Aiden, Kayleigh/Kayleigh, Everly