Elliot for a girl?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Really? It's bad for the child's welfare? There are lots of things that I would put on the list of Bad For A Child's Welfare. Not getting enough to eat, for example. Child abuse. Lead paint. I wouldn't put "being named Elliot, if you're a girl" on the list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Really? It's bad for the child's welfare? There are lots of things that I would put on the list of Bad For A Child's Welfare. Not getting enough to eat, for example. Child abuse. Lead paint. I wouldn't put "being named Elliot, if you're a girl" on the list.

There are things that are bad and there are things that are worse.

[Anonymous]

Our DS is Elliot and we have only gotten complements. She is named after DH's grandfather. We call her Elliot/Ellie interchangeably.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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

The German constitutional court decision was based on the fact that Kiran is a unisex name in India. They would not have ruled like this for parents wanting to name their daughter Thomas. Not sure what they would have done with Elliot, given that there apparently are a few individual cases of girls named Elliot in the US.

[Anonymous]

I like it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our DS is Elliot and we have only gotten complements. She is named after DH's grandfather. We call her Elliot/Ellie interchangeably.

Do you mean DD?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I probably wouldn't do Elliott for a girl, but I love Ellery.

Ellery is a boy name. Like Ellery Queen.

However, I don't have any problem with Elliott, or Ellery, for a girl. So Elliott might have to say, "Hi, my name is Elliott. Yes, I'm a girl." I don't think that would be a big deal.

That would get really old. Having to constantly correct people's assumptions would be a real drag. I don't want my intro to have to include "Yes, I'm a girl" for the rest of my life.

That's a really good point. +1

If you're introducing yourself as Elliott to people in real life, they will presumably figure out your girlness on their own, without your having to clarify.

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.

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.

I'm not a fan of boys names on girls, but I think that many parents who do so, choose to do so, in part, because they feel that their daughters will experience less discrimination if the name on their resume is assumed to be male.

I don't know that I agree, but I do think that people who name their daughter "Elliot" are doing it with as much care and thought and love as people who name their daughter "Jane".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our DS is Elliot and we have only gotten complements. She is named after DH's grandfather. We call her Elliot/Ellie interchangeably.

Do you mean your DD?

I will say that "we have only gotten complements" is more likely to mean that you have polite friends, than that every single person loves your daughter's name. I think that every name will appeal to some people more than others, but that polite people think of something nice to say or keep quiet when they learn a child's name. I know that I'd choose Elodie or Eliana to honor an Elliot, and yet if I met your little Elliot, all I'd say is something like "How wonderful that you honored family! She's adorable."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our DS is Elliot and we have only gotten complements. She is named after DH's grandfather. We call her Elliot/Ellie interchangeably.

Oops! I meant our DD!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our DS is Elliot and we have only gotten complements. She is named after DH's grandfather. We call her Elliot/Ellie interchangeably.

Do you mean your DD?

I will say that "we have only gotten complements" is more likely to mean that you have polite friends, than that every single person loves your daughter's name. I think that every name will appeal to some people more than others, but that polite people think of something nice to say or keep quiet when they learn a child's name. I know that I'd choose Elodie or Eliana to honor an Elliot, and yet if I met your little Elliot, all I'd say is something like "How wonderful that you honored family! She's adorable."

+1. I am a foreigner (lived here for over ten years), and find that Americans in particular usually have a delighted response to about everything, especially something like somebody's child's name. I cannot imagine anyone here letting you know that they think your child's name is awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our DS is Elliot and we have only gotten complements. She is named after DH's grandfather. We call her Elliot/Ellie interchangeably.

The irony...

[Anonymous]

I like Elliot for a girl! I think 'boy' names or 'gender-neutral' names are charming on girls personally. It doesn't so much work the other way around for some reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like Elliot for a girl! I think 'boy' names or 'gender-neutral' names are charming on girls personally. It doesn't so much work the other way around for some reason.

That's becaumaser associate masculinity with strength and it's cool for a woman to have strength, but our culture doesn't think it's so cool for boys and men to have more feminine qualities. It's kind of sexist actually. "You throw like a girl" for example. "Don't cry like a girl." It's a put down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our DS is Elliot and we have only gotten complements. She is named after DH's grandfather. We call her Elliot/Ellie interchangeably.

The irony...

What's ironic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our DS is Elliot and we have only gotten complements. She is named after DH's grandfather. We call her Elliot/Ellie interchangeably.

The irony...

What's ironic?

I'm not the person who posted that, but I think it's slightly amusing, that people are saying that girls names Elliot will be mistaken for boys, and this particular girl named Elliot was just referred to as DS.