My daughter has a boy's first name.
Granted, it's a very unusual Old-English name that you never really even hear anymore. But the name fits perfectly. On the one hand, it happens to sound very much like my mother's maiden name in Korean. Therefore, I consider it an homage to my maternal grandfather, a man whom I only met several times in my life before he passed away but who left the greatest impressions on me as a young boy. On the other hand, I have an extremely common last name. And I wanted my daughter to have a unique name not shared by anyone else on the planet. But just to make the matter clear, we didn't give my daughter a boy's name simply because we really wanted a son.
I bring this up now because it seems that ALL of our friends have daughters. There are very few young boys in our social circle. Even stranger, BossLady and I have six couple friends right now who are all pregnant with girls. What's going on here? Is there something in the NYC water that produces abnormally large numbers of XX chromosomes?
Anyway, I think some of our friends were hoping to have a boy. Some of the potential names that we've heard being bandied about for these girls are...James, Dylan, MacKenzie and Michel. All great names. But to my friends who are going to have girls, I now implore you to consider taking a different, less conventional route to giving your daughter a boy's name. Why not create a new name, reflecting the possibly inherent fact that you really wanted a boy?
Here are some suggestions:
(1) Penelopete
(2) Jeffrica
(3) Barryanne
(4) Davida
(5) Brucille
And if you're one of those couples who doesn't want to learn the sex of their baby until the actual childbirth? Well...instead of thinking about a whole slew of both girls AND boys names, feel free to use any one of these names. Who knows? You might start a trend!
(In the interest of full disclosure, I'd like to mention that I came up with this on the subway as a way to entertain myself during the morning commute. It's kind of a fun game and now I can't stop playing it. Anyone else want to give it a try?)
Since when is MacKenzie a boy's name? The first MacKenzie I ever heard of was MacKenzie Phillips, who is definitely a girl. Personally, I chose the "very feminine name with gender neutral nickname" route. :-)
Posted by: tracy | January 07, 2005 at 02:08 PM
My daughter has a boy's name too, spelled a bit differently then the traditional way...but there remains a possibility that she'll get assigned to boy's PE some day. We gave it to her not because we hoped for a boy, we already had one of those. And best of all, it suits her. We use her initials as a nickname which is also boy sounding (Rej or Rejjie) and that fits too.
Posted by: Karan | January 07, 2005 at 02:49 PM
You wouldn't want to share her name would ya? My kids have very common names..what can I say, I'm not very creative. How about Bradlina...that's hard, I can't think of any others.
Posted by: Jenny | January 07, 2005 at 02:58 PM
How about Jimberly, Biffany, Dangela or Bophia? I'm working on figuring out your daughter's name. I think it's Liam Kim. Just found your site through the BOB awards. Been enjoying it.
Posted by: Elise | January 07, 2005 at 05:49 PM
Butchina, Rockyzanne, Boomerina, Juniorette, Appollieu, Condaleza...
BTW, I'm....
~ Shamelessly whoring ~
I'm soliciting everyone's ideas on GREAT seduction music and Ashley Simpleton did not make my list...
"I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person I'm preaching to." - J.R. "Bob" Dobbs, Church of the SubGenius
Posted by: Jim | January 07, 2005 at 11:28 PM
I actually think NYC is a single genetic organism. The abundance of girl babies is an obvious attempt by this organism to breed a replacement for Lea Salonga.
Posted by: The Zero Boss | January 08, 2005 at 02:03 AM
My building must be an outlier, since five kids have been conceived in it over the past five years, and they are all boys. Apparently, 100-year-old plumbing affects the water in some way that stimulates Y-sperm.
Posted by: LOD | January 08, 2005 at 11:52 AM
I went to see a lawyer yesterday and HER name was Kevyn! That did shock me I must say...I thought shed said Kerrin on the phone but no..shes Kevyn!
Posted by: butterflies | January 08, 2005 at 03:43 PM
You realize, of course, that I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out what your daughter's name is. Old-English-type male name you don't hear much anymore that also sounds like a Korean surname. If this was a cartoon, now is the point at which you could steal all my candy while the hamster is running on the wheel in my brain.
Posted by: Moxie | January 08, 2005 at 05:25 PM
in the czech republic in november 1986, the number of boy babies dropped drastically (by about 500 less than the average). this was nine months after chernobyl. since most miscarriages turn out to have been boys, it's believed that the average number of boy and girl babies would have been expected, and that the mothers who were carrying boys miscarried.
so, you know. it COULD actually be the water.
and about the names, i think it was lorrie moore who wrote that boy names tend to mean things like "brave" and "trustyworthy" and girl names tend to mean "wee small thing of the forest" so if you want a name that goes with what you expect of the child, you're almost limited to (traditionally) boy names.
Posted by: anne | January 09, 2005 at 03:37 PM
I am in suspense! What's peanut's name?!
(hey--i voted for ya!)
Posted by: Dollymama | January 09, 2005 at 10:05 PM
Man, where are you in NYC. In Brooklyn we are all having boys
Posted by: cbob | January 11, 2005 at 01:27 PM
Do you people live in trailer parks?
MacKenzie is of gaelic decent meaning son of the leader eg Mac (son of) Kenzie.
Think you need to widen you're gene pool and become more versed.
Posted by: Gavin Ramejkis | May 25, 2005 at 03:36 AM
what relation are you to me? i am matties brother is andrew your dad.ihave granddaughtercalled mckenzie and one called taylor so both got surnames for first name.21 10 05
Posted by: paul ramejkis | October 21, 2005 at 04:47 PM
REGINALDINA GAVINETTA.MATRICIA.DENNISCILLA.FREDENCIA.WILLENTINA.KENNETHOPE.RONALDESSA.CHARLESTENTINA.EDWARDELIA.SAMUELETTA.AND FINALLY JOSEPHELIA THE NAMES OF MY 12DAUGHTERS
Posted by: paul ramejkis | October 21, 2005 at 05:09 PM
REGINALDINA GAVINETTA.MATRICIA.DENNISCILLA.FREDENCIA.WILLENTINA.KENNETHOPE.RONALDESSA.CHARLESTENTINA.EDWARDELIA.SAMUELETTA.AND FINALLY JOSEPHELIA THE NAMES OF MY 12DAUGHTERS
Posted by: paul ramejkis | October 21, 2005 at 05:10 PM
new person on the block
Posted by: paul ramejkis | March 29, 2006 at 08:19 AM
new kid on the block
Posted by: paul ramejkis | April 09, 2006 at 07:29 PM
Oi Paul . Liar !
your kids are called Kerry and Lisa !!
hehe
han x
Posted by: Hannah Ramejkis | May 29, 2006 at 07:52 AM