There are so many beautiful "El" names for girls. Choose one and leave Elliot for the boys. |
That's when she meets people in person. How many times have you had to send an email to someone you've only seen the name of online or on paper? I mean, there have certainly been female Elliots (and Charlie's and once upon a time Ashley and Lesley were boys' names too), but it just seems like an added complication. What if she ends up being the sort of person who is bothered by it? |
I work with people who I never meet in person and in some cases don't speak to over the phone - at least not initially. I would assume an Elliot was a man. Would this make a huge difference in terms of work? No. But I'd want my colleagues to know my sex and not to be thrown off by my name. Virtual workplaces are increasingly common, so it's not unusual that people don't meet their colleagues face-to-face. |
| Horrible idea. Poor kid would be saddled would clarifying it to every single caller and new relationship every single day. Might as well name her "T. S." or Richard or Robert if you are going to do that. |
Historically it is, although I'd argue it's pretty unisex today. If I saw the name Elliott on a resume, I'd automatically assume boy. If I saw Ellery, I wouldn't hazard a guess either way. |
| No. It's not great for a boy, but pretty awful for a girl. |
Why, though? If the people you're working with are virtual, what does it matter if they're virtual men or virtual women? And do you send many e-mails to Mr./Ms.? |
Just face it - parents who give their kids names that are traditionally associated with the opposite gender don't really care how their kids fare with these names throughout their lives. They just care about coming off as cool and non-conventional parents toward their own peers. |
| There are reasons why countries who regulate baby names (as several European countries do) and don't allow parents to call their child Lampshade also require that the name be gender specific. |
| Elliot is not a cross-over name. It's a boy's name. If you like cross-over names, go with Charlie or Taylor. If you want to honor the male relative, use it as a middle name or pick a girl "El" name. The female friends I've had over the years with boy names are annoyed at constantly correcting people. The only ones that liked it had a girl name with a boy sounding nick name. It really does sound like you're sending a message to your daughter that you wish she was a boy. Don't do it. |
| Only if you use Stabler for her middle name. |
| I dislike it for a boy or a girl, but it is especially bad for a girl. |
What are the reasons? By the way, here is a German court decision allowing German parents of Indian heritage to name their girl child Kiran, even though the -an ending is usually (though not always) for boy names in German, and even though Kiran is a name for both boys and girls in India, on grounds that it's the parents' right to name their child, unless the name is bad for the child's welfare. http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/entscheidungen/rk20081205_1bvr057607.html |
Because it's bad for the child's welfare to spend their lives clarifying their gender. Of course the rules do and should allow exceptions for foreign names. |
| She will spend her life correcting people |