Opinions on Reagan

CopperBoom86

DH and I found out yesterday that we're having a girl! Picking girl names has been especially difficult for us because neither of us like "girly girl" names. We've narrowed it down to a few that we don't hate, but we both agree our favorite, by far, is Reagan. I've read around a bit and I see that Reagan is generally not well liked here. Besides the reference to the child in the Exorcist (which isn't even relevant anymore) and the reference to Ronald Reagan (which we're indifferent about), what is it about Reagan that bothers you? 

Just FYI, the middle name would be Marie (family name). 

bbiutmcph

Honestly the president thing is big for me. Also I just find the sound of it really unpleasant and the name dated trendy.

A few non girly names to suggest

Arden 
Sloane
Phoebe
Bridget
Ramona
Mona
Piper
Morgan
Brynn
Paige

We used Giada which isn't overly girly eother

magsugar13

To me its a masculine sounding name, just no pretty sounding at all. And all of the above.

CopperBoom86

Brynn is actually on our short list, but I figured I'd be reamed here for adding an extra "n" to the traditional "Bryn." Also on our list is Blake, Parker, and Rowan. I know they're all unisex, which is not popular around here either, but that's what we like and, after all, it is OUR child lol. 

I just wanted to be sure there weren't any reasons for not liking the name beyond just "not liking" it. (Hope that makes sense )

oneblessedmess

I don't mind the associations (I really only think of the president, not the Exorcist). I just don't think it's a very pretty name. It's hard-sounding and doesn't seem very feminine. But I wouldn't side eye it if I heard it in real life.

doodleoodle

It sounds too harsh for a girl IMO. That said, it was pretty popular a few years back so it's not like anyone would side eye it.

SmrBrd2012

All of the above. It's trendy, it doesn't sound appealing, it doesn't look appealing, and it reminds me of Ronald Reagan, so it is masculine to me. I think Brynn is great. Parker, Blake, and Rowan are also way too masculine IMO.

Bringmemylongswordho

I think of the president, and despite being very charming and charismatic,  has a lot of blood on his hands for how he handled the aids crisis .

Generally,  I assume if you name your child the surname of a president,  you agree with that president .

PJpeppercorn

It just sounds so harsh to me. We know four little girls under 5 named Reagan (so I'm in the minoroty of my friends!) but I just don't get it. There are many non "girly" names that sound much more pleasant. 

16isourluckynumber

I think it's a nice name, just a little too trendy for my tastes.  I would go with Brynn if it were between the two.  

CopperBoom86

Every name reminds me of something. Just off the top of my head:

Arden - Elizabeth Arden cosmetics
Sloane - Grey/ Sloan memorial hospital (Grey's Anatomy)
Phoebe - Friends
Bridget - Bridget Jones Diary
Ramona - Ramona and Beezus
Mona - Mona Lisa
Piper - This one just reminds me of a court jester doing a jig with a pan flute

That being said, I don't mind the association with Ronald Reagan. Overall, he was a well-liked president, so I don't think any associations with him would be super negative. ETA: He ranks 11th on the 2015 list of most liked presidents.

Thank you, all, for your replies. We will definitely take them into consideration. We love the name, but I wouldn't want my daughter to be teased for having a masculine name. 

jenna8984

I don't think any of those other names you listed are actually unisex. They are all very much man names to me. I don't hate Reagan, but I hate the "presidential trend" going on right now. So many boys are being named Jackson, Lincoln, Grant and so many girls being named Reagan, Kennedy, Madison. I just think it's very trendy which is why I'm not into it. What about Teagan, Jordan, Morgan?

CopperBoom86

This may come off as controversial, but I promise I'm not trying to stir anything up. I just want to understand...

When someone uses the phrase "gender reveal" here, legions of women come out of the woodwork to say "it's sex, not gender" because the generally accepted belief here is that sex is assigned, gender is a choice. So why is it such a faux pas to give a girl a more masculine name or to give a boy a more feminine name? It seems like if one truly believed in gender neutrality, the socially accepted gender of a name wouldn't matter.  

SmrBrd2012

CopperBoom86 said:

This may come off as controversial, but I promise I'm not trying to stir anything up. I just want to understand...

When someone uses the phrase "gender reveal" here, legions of women come out of the woodwork to say "it's sex, not gender" because the generally accepted belief here is that sex is assigned, gender is a choice. So why is it such a faux pas to give a girl a more masculine name or to give a boy a more feminine name? It seems like if one truly believed in gender neutrality, the socially accepted gender of a name wouldn't matter.  

When are boys ever given feminine names?

CopperBoom86

SmrBrd2012 said:

CopperBoom86 said:

This may come off as controversial, but I promise I'm not trying to stir anything up. I just want to understand...

When someone uses the phrase "gender reveal" here, legions of women come out of the woodwork to say "it's sex, not gender" because the generally accepted belief here is that sex is assigned, gender is a choice. So why is it such a faux pas to give a girl a more masculine name or to give a boy a more feminine name? It seems like if one truly believed in gender neutrality, the socially accepted gender of a name wouldn't matter.  

When are boys ever given feminine names?

Lauren 
Shannon
Ashley
Morgan...

I personally know a male Lauren (spelled Lawren, but not short for Lawrence) and a male Shannon

yellowbean15

I know a couple adorable girls named Reagan so I have positive associations with it and don't hate it like others do. The presidential association doesn't bother me although I am not American. I generally don't assume that presidential names are an ode to their respective president.

I also disagree with the others a bit on this name. I think it is a good non-frilly name choice. To me, if masculine sounding names are your style for a girl, it would be much preferable to choose a masculine sounding female name like Reagan, than a male name like Parker. 

SmrBrd2012

CopperBoom86 said:

SmrBrd2012 said:

CopperBoom86 said:

This may come off as controversial, but I promise I'm not trying to stir anything up. I just want to understand...

When someone uses the phrase "gender reveal" here, legions of women come out of the woodwork to say "it's sex, not gender" because the generally accepted belief here is that sex is assigned, gender is a choice. So why is it such a faux pas to give a girl a more masculine name or to give a boy a more feminine name? It seems like if one truly believed in gender neutrality, the socially accepted gender of a name wouldn't matter.  

When are boys ever given feminine names?

Lauren 
Shannon
Ashley
Morgan...

I personally know a male Lauren (spelled Lawren, but not short for Lawrence) and a male Shannon

All of those are historically male names. Except maybe Shannon.

bbiutmcph

CopperBoom86 said:

SmrBrd2012 said:

CopperBoom86 said:

This may come off as controversial, but I promise I'm not trying to stir anything up. I just want to understand...

When someone uses the phrase "gender reveal" here, legions of women come out of the woodwork to say "it's sex, not gender" because the generally accepted belief here is that sex is assigned, gender is a choice. So why is it such a faux pas to give a girl a more masculine name or to give a boy a more feminine name? It seems like if one truly believed in gender neutrality, the socially accepted gender of a name wouldn't matter.  

When are boys ever given feminine names?

Lauren 
Shannon
Ashley
Morgan...

I personally know a male Lauren (spelled Lawren, but not short for Lawrence) and a male Shannon

Um these are all masculine names by origin so knowing males with these names is not boys named a girl name

CopperBoom86

SmrBrd2012 said:

All of those are historically male names. Except maybe Shannon.

So would that mean giving a girl one of those names is frowned upon because they're masculine? 

SmrBrd2012

CopperBoom86 said:

SmrBrd2012 said:

All of those are historically male names. Except maybe Shannon.

So would that mean giving a girl one of those names is frowned upon because they're masculine? 

Personally? Yes, I wouldn't name a girl any of those. Almost all of them were hugely trendy to name girls a few decades ago. Now most of them are dated to me, because of that trend. Something similar is happening now. It's trendy to give girls boy names. I'm not buying it.

CopperBoom86

@SmrBrd2012 - I can respect that. To each his own.  

SmrBrd2012

CopperBoom86 said:

@SmrBrd2012 - I can respect that. To each his own.  

I can certainly agree with that too!

Bringmemylongswordho

Historically,  once a masculine name is used enough on girls it becomes a "feminine " name and usage for boys stops. That's not unisex or gender neutral. It still enforces the patriarchy and the idea that femininity is weak or lesser then masculinity.  How many times does someone on these boards mention giving their daughter a name like Ryan, Parker or Jordan because they like "strong" names? What kind of message does that send to a little girl?  

Meredith 
Evelyn 
Celeste in addition to the names you mentioned were all once masculine.  All this shows is this trend is older then steam. Now, I personally won't soapbox on names that switched before 1900, but I would not choose them for my own daughter. 

CopperBoom86

Bringmemylongswordho said:

Historically,  once a masculine name is used enough on girls it becomes a "feminine " name and usage for boys stops. That's not unisex or gender neutral. It still enforces the patriarchy and the idea that femininity is weak or lesser then masculinity.  How many times does someone on these boards mention giving their daughter a name like Ryan, Parker or Jordan because they like "strong" names? What kind of message does that send to a little girl?  

Meredith 
Evelyn 
Celeste in addition to the names you mentioned were all once masculine.  All this shows is this trend is older then steam. Now, I personally won't soapbox on names that switched before 1900, but I would not choose them for my own daughter. 

Hmm, that's really interesting. The more you know, right?! 

Just as I side note, I don't want a unisex name for my daughter because they're somehow "stronger" than feminine names. I just personally like unisex names for girls and I honestly don't know what it is about it that I like. From a young age (probably 8 or 9), I wanted to name my little girl Riley. (Now, as a small child, I had no concept of why incorrect spellings of names were, well, incorrect, so I preferred Rylee.) Buuuut DH's sister got knocked up in high school and named her child Ryleigh, so my childhood naming hopes were dashed. 

SmrBrd2012

Bringmemylongswordho said:

Historically,  once a masculine name is used enough on girls it becomes a "feminine " name and usage for boys stops. That's not unisex or gender neutral. It still enforces the patriarchy and the idea that femininity is weak or lesser then masculinity.  How many times does someone on these boards mention giving their daughter a name like Ryan, Parker or Jordan because they like "strong" names? What kind of message does that send to a little girl?  

Meredith 
Evelyn 
Celeste in addition to the names you mentioned were all once masculine.  All this shows is this trend is older then steam. Now, I personally won't soapbox on names that switched before 1900, but I would not choose them for my own daughter. 

I'd also add that it instills a further perpetuation of the boy name being "ruined" for boys, because people then worry that the name sounds too "girly." I've seen this a lot on this board. So clearly there is something wrong with naming boys "girl names" to a lot of people.

Bringmemylongswordho

CopperBoom86 said:

Bringmemylongswordho said:

Historically,  once a masculine name is used enough on girls it becomes a "feminine " name and usage for boys stops. That's not unisex or gender neutral. It still enforces the patriarchy and the idea that femininity is weak or lesser then masculinity.  How many times does someone on these boards mention giving their daughter a name like Ryan, Parker or Jordan because they like "strong" names? What kind of message does that send to a little girl?  

Meredith 
Evelyn 
Celeste in addition to the names you mentioned were all once masculine.  All this shows is this trend is older then steam. Now, I personally won't soapbox on names that switched before 1900, but I would not choose them for my own daughter. 

Hmm, that's really interesting. The more you know, right?! 

Just as I side note, I don't want a unisex name for my daughter because they're somehow "stronger" than feminine names. I just personally like unisex names for girls and I honestly don't know what it is about it that I like. From a young age (probably 8 or 9), I wanted to name my little girl Riley. (Now, as a small child, I had no concept of why incorrect spellings of names were, well, incorrect, so I preferred Rylee.) Buuuut DH's sister got knocked up in high school and named her child Ryleigh, so my childhood naming hopes were dashed. 

In the end, you like what you like, and the important thing is to both own it, but also understand that other people will/may think differently.  

emilyray14

I just feel that the presidential surname trend is so boring and over done by now. I think Brynn is a million times better!

SunnySurprise

All my opinions on the name have already been mentioned above, I just wanted to jump in with a suggestion. You mentioned both Raegan and Riley, so I think there might be phonetically similar names without the drawbacks.... Rachel comes to mind? Rowena, Rihannon, Regina, Riva, Robin or even Raven could be options? Or any name that can be shortened to Rae as a nickname.

jamiesc58

I think the name Reagan is really pretty. I only know one person with that name and she is an 11 year old child. I have never seen the Exorcist. I don't feel like if you choose Reagan, that you are naming her after the president. If you love it, go for it.

Autumnale

Brynn is great. Reagan is fine. I don't like it. I don't hate it. Blake, Rowan and parker are not gender neutral. They are masculin names. 

penelope4612

I think of Reagan as super trendy and don't like it because I associate it with other trendy, dated names.  For example, if you meet a Jessica, you can pretty easily guess she was born in the 80s.  I think Reagan will be like that, and when she gets older she'll roll her eyes and be like, "yeah I was totally one of the Reagans", just like all the Jessicas and Jennifers I know now.

I also was not aware of this (maybe others are) that there are two pronunciations for Reagan.  There is Ray-gan and Ree-gan.  I know a Reegan and think that really sounds significantly worse than Raygan, which I think sounds fine.

ElRuby

I really don't like it... It may be because of the Exorcist but I am not sure... I just really really don't like it.

lm45678

My favorite on your list is Brynn - and I  prefer the extra n.

Suggesting Teagan, I much prefer it to Reagan.

TUGOsQueen

I have a Reagan and the name totally suits her and she never gets any grief or criticism over it. I also know 2 Reagans in their 40s and other older ages so I don't think of it as being trendy like Piper or the Jaden names that will have their decade . Since the new star wars movies, she likes to be called Rey. 
My husband chose it because my due date was Halloween and we joked about the Exorcist. No one ever brings up that reference either. Go for it. Bryn is always on our short list too!!

theGDpaterfamilias

Not a fan for a lot of reasons already cited. It's ten-years-ago trendy like a trucker hat, masculine, and feels like a surname to me. Though it's better than the other choices suggested because it's at least a recognizable female name. I recognize you prefer not using "girly girl" names but your list is working out closer to just not liking girl names. If you want your daughter to wear a strong name, don't confuse strength with masculinity. There are tons of strong and beautiful girl names!

Helen
Margaret
Katherine
Elizabeth
Amelia
Lucille
Diana
Daphne
Eleanor

CopperBoom86

I already said earlier that it has nothing to do with "strength." Also, I get it. I wanted specific reasons why Reagan wasn't well liked and I got them. No need to say the same thing over and over and over again. 

In my opinion, Amelia and Eleanor are as trendy as they come. In fact, a lot of names favored here follow the current "throwback" trend... Hazel, Eileen, Margaret... I mean, come on. Old lady much? Every name in the book waxes and wanes in popularity. Even timeless names are more popular at some times than others. 

In the end, I appreciate the opinions shared here, but DH and I will name our daughter what we see fit to name her. 

AndiPandi127

Well, you did ask why we don't like it, you didn't specify that you only wanted 4 responses. You say the Exorcist reference isn't "relevant" - well, it's not relevant to you, but it is to some other people. And while the president may rank high on some poll - trust me, not everyone thinks Ronald Reagan was a great president. I would assume a child named Reagan has republican parents. Depending on your personal convictions, that could be just fine.

Like you said, though - to each his own. It's certainly not the worst name I've heard. Just don't name her brother Nixon.

alyssa0714

bbiutmcph said:

Honestly the president thing is big for me. Also I just find the sound of it really unpleasant and the name dated trendy.

I completely agree with all of this. Also, I find it to be pretty boring.

alyssa0714

CopperBoom86 said:

Brynn is actually on our short list, but I figured I'd be reamed here for adding an extra "n" to the traditional "Bryn." Also on our list is Blake, Parker, and Rowan. I know they're all unisex, which is not popular around here either, but that's what we like and, after all, it is OUR child lol. 

I just wanted to be sure there weren't any reasons for not liking the name beyond just "not liking" it. (Hope that makes sense )

I wouldn't consider Blake or Parker to be unisex at all. In my opinion, for a name to be unisex it has to be commonly used on both genders, which neither of those are. Rowan is iffy because its not as common of a name for either gender, so I can sort of see that one but I'd still definitely think boy. 

alyssa0714

CopperBoom86 said:

This may come off as controversial, but I promise I'm not trying to stir anything up. I just want to understand...

When someone uses the phrase "gender reveal" here, legions of women come out of the woodwork to say "it's sex, not gender" because the generally accepted belief here is that sex is assigned, gender is a choice. So why is it such a faux pas to give a girl a more masculine name or to give a boy a more feminine name? It seems like if one truly believed in gender neutrality, the socially accepted gender of a name wouldn't matter.  

I think that's a valid point. 

Knottie1442268460

I know a Regan so I have a good personal association. 

I I love the name Teagan.