Friday, October 3, 2014

Girl's With Boy's Names

I'm tempted to use this entire post to discuss all the tabloid/legal gossip that came out this week about Real Housewives cast members - there's just so much.

There was the sentencing of Teresa and Joe Giudice after their guilty plea to a number of financial crimes back in March. USMagazine.com has a nice little article quoting the sentencing judge who informed Teresa that because she is almost completely devoid of any morality, he couldn't bring himself to give her just probation. So he didn't. She got a year and a half and her better worse half got over three years. In prison. Federal prison. Well, orange is the new black...




Before I move on to the real topic of today's rare post, I also feel compelled to discuss Bethenny Frankel's legal shenanigans. She was told by the judge in her ongoing divorce and child custody case to stop wearing her daughter's pajamas. You may (or may not, if you're me) have missed it this summer when Bethenny posted a photo of herself wearing her four year old's pajamas on Instagram. She caught a lot of slack from fans and haters alike. Well, this week, she also caught slack from a Manhattan judge who told her, in sum, to knock it off.

I'll let you be the judge whether this is "knock it off" type behavior
Image source: Bethenny Frankel Instagram


Okay, onto today's topic: Girls who have boy's names. Specifically, Wyatt Isabelle Kutcher and Lincoln Bell Shepard.

Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher had a daughter a few days ago (congrats to them, if they happen to read...) and they named her Wyatt. In March 2013, Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard named their daughter Lincoln. Wyatt and Lincoln. They name of two very important, very masculine figures in American History. Of course I'm referring to Wyatt Earp and the 16th President of the United States. Is this the start of a new wave of boy names making their way to the girl's side?

I admit that this "trend" has been trending since...forever. Allison was originally a boy's name. True story. People love naming their daughters Charlotte and Alexandra for the sheer joy of calling them Charlie and Alex. Elliot and Cameron have been very popular crossover names in the past decade. There's Evan and Dylan and Hayden and Rowan and Taylor. The examples are too numerous to list. So, maybe the only thing different about Lincoln and Wyatt is that they're the first of their kind and in a decade or two, they will be obvious adds to the list. Maybe Ashton Kutcher is a formerly unrecognized innovator and, at last, deserves some credit...

Thoughts? Anyone in your circle who has used a crossover/unisex name? 
Do you like the trend? Hate it?

1 comment:

The Mrs./The Mom said...

My college roomates name was Ryan. I'm a girl (as indicated by my username)- I was freaked out! Called housing several time before the start of the year to have them double confirm, then triple confirm, that she was a girl. I may have had them quadruple confirm.

It turns out she was a girl! She explained to me that her mom's name was Randi and she wanted her daughter to have a boy name as well. My roommate eventually withdrew from the University and facebook wasn't made available to all college campus until the following year so I lost touch with her. I wonder if she has a daughter if she will continue the trend. I can't remember her last name so I can't even go searching for her.

I said all that to say, I'm on the fence about it. I do like Charlie (or any variation of a spelling) for a girl and there are some obvious gender neutral names like Jamie that will always be acceptable. I think names have such a huge impact on children's future that I personally would be reluctant to do it,unless of course I'm Beyonce and my little Blue won't need to work a day of life!