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Baby Names
Artist4life925
member
Question about specific name & gender connotations!
Artist4life925
member
in Baby Names
Lately DH and I have been arguing about boy's names and girl's names that are interchangeable. I am a very eccentric baby name pick-er out-er, I teach so I see all sorts of names and I associate names with the kids that I don't like (do other teachers do this too?) So for our future kids I've been trying to come up with differently spelled names. DH's last name (which kids will have) Starts with a B and has 2 syllables.
For a girl we've agreed on Aeryn (Erin), and we can't decide on mn:
Aeryn Anne (mine and my mom's mn)
Aeryn Pierce (my fav authors last name)
For a boy I love Kaelan , but DH thinks it's too girly. MNs are:
Kaelan Thomas (My dad's name)
Kaelan David (DH's mn)
WDYT?
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Re: Question about specific name & gender connotations!
My name is Erin and I really must say that the spelling you've chosen is terrible. Sorry! If you are really going to go with that spelling, at least choose Anne as the middle name.
Your DH is right - Kaelen is totally girly. Either middle name is nice.
Kaylin is typically a girl name. Changing the spelling to Kaelen doesn't change that.
As a teacher, I would expect you to be one of the last people to totally botch the spelling of a name like Erin
Actually the name is from a TV show character DH watches.
That doesn't make the it any better.
First of all, I REALLY dislike the spelling you chose for Erin. I do like the name, just not the spelling. I definitely prefer Anne as a MN. If I heard "Aeryn Pierce" I would assume she was a boy.
I agree with your DH about the name Kaelan. It is very girly...but maybe I only think that because I know 3 girls named with this name.
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I agree with the pp's on the spelling of Erin and that Kaelan is feminine.
On unique spellings... It's okay if a name is difficult to spell or uncommon if that's the only way to spell it... but your child would forever be correcting people because Erin is the proper way to spell her name. It may be different, but very annoying. I'm a Meghan and there are so many different legitimate ways to spell my name that I'm constantly having to spell it out for people. I've resorted to going simply by Meg at work because it was getting so bad. I would never intentionally pick a name that people wouldn't know how to spell when I could use a common spelling of the same name instead.
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I agree that Kaelan sounds more like a girls' name ? there were 7 spellings of Kaylin in the top 1000 in 2008 (Cailyn, Kaelyn, Kailyn, Kaylen, Kaylin, Kaylynn, and Kaylynn, plus 7 spellings of Kaylie and 6 spellings of Katelyn) and they were all for girls. The last "a" does move Kaelan a tiny bit away from the more feminine spellings, but not much.
What about Kellen or Kael/Cael or Kaeden? They're NMS, but I think they fall more on the masculine side of the line.
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My name is Erin and I LIKE Aeryn. But I do think that if I just heard the name Aeryn Pierce, I'd think Aaron Pierce and assume it was a boy. But I do think Pierce would work for a girl with a more feminine sounding name.
I like Kaelan too. I don't think I'd call it girly, but it's definitely not to masculine. But I think Thomas or David are good strong names that complement it well.
Erin is a fine name, but I am not a fan of the spelling you've chosen. Your poor child will forever be correcting people who spell it wrong.
As for Kaelan, I agree that it is too girly. We actually have a male Caelan at school and to look at him, it is actually hard to tell of he is male or female. Not that it has anything to do with the name, but his name doesn't help a stranger identify his gender! What about Cullen or Callum?
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This, exactly. I'm actually Erin Anne!
ETA: I second someone's suggestion of Kellan instead of Kaelan.
Changing the spelling of a name does not change a name just makes the parents look illiterate, IMO.
They are both nice names, but I prefer tradition spellings (obviously) Kaelin makes it look girly. The tradition Irish spelling makes it look little more masculine = Calen or Cailen. But it seems to be growing in popularity among girls, so that is something to think about. It is likely that he will have the same name as a girl in his class, which could be very tramatic for a young boy.
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This, exactly.
I hope you're not a spelling teacher.
I agree with your H, Kaelan is girly.
and really, I can't stand simple names that people spell weird. If you want your daughter to be called Erin, then name her Erin. People are going to be messing up Aeryn to no end.
Why Why Why? do you insist on doing this to your daughter?
If you have to put (Erin) in parathesis it means that even YOU know that this child is going to have a horrible time with her name the rest of her life. She is going to have to correct EVERYONE on the spelling, everyday of her life.
Why mom? Why?
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Sorry, I agree with everyone else about the spelling of Aeryn and Kaelan being girly.
What about Kieran? Or Cullen?
Please do not do that to your little girl. She will be FOREVER correcting the spelling of her name. And while the spelling is yooneeke, the name is not. As a pp mentioned it just makes you look iliterate and you will probably get a lot of side-eyes as she grows up. It doesn't even look like Erin, it looks like it should be pronounced A-ren.And if I heard Erin Pierce I would automatically think it was a boy.
Kaylen is DEFINITELY a very feminine girl's name. My niece's name is Kaylen. Your little boy would be forever made fun of, like the boy named Sue.
Agreed. If the name sounds the same when you say it, it's not unique. It's just a really poor spelling of a common name (and I do like Erin FWIW).
And I also agree that Kaelan is very feminine.
Kaelen is SO girly. Seriously, why would you do that to a boy?
I wouldn't choose the Aeryn spelling but, whatever. Aeryn Anne does not flow well at all. Aeryn Pierce is nice.
I'm in agreement with most other posters. Please, do not spell your daughter's name Aeryn. Erin is a lovely name, and she won't have to correct people on the spelling.
I've known several girls named Kaelin, I think it's extremely feminine.
We were going to go with Kieran, but DH thinks it sounds too much like Karen. And I want no association with Twilight fans and go with Cullen.
You gals are right on both accounts. Thank you for the input, I will see if I can convince DH to rethink Kieran or even Kyrian for a boy (Trying to keep up with the K names since both DH's name and mine start with K and since I like Kaelan too much, might move it over to replace Aeryn). Maybe we can even think of some different ones.
Thanks again!
I like Aeryn (and it is a legit name), but I always thought that it was pronounced air-in, not err-in. I've been wrong before though.
Kaelan definitely does have a feminine sound to it though. I think a lifetime of teasing would go along with that name.
Aeryn...NO
Kaelan = girly
I would go with a traditional spelling. If you want something unusual, just pick an unusual name.
And Kaelen is awful, no matter how you spell it. Actually, I take that back. Cailin on a girl is fine.
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aboutDS: 10/11/14
What about using Eryn?
DS: 10/11/14
DS: 10/11/14
DS: 10/11/14
PLEASE do not change your opinion based on other people's opinions. If you like that spelling - and it sounds like you do because you said you and your husband already agreed on it - then go for it!! Guess what - at some point, someone MADE UP the spelling Erin. ALLLLL names and spellings were made up.
I personally really like the spelling Aeryn. Only someone who cannot read would mispronounce that name. I really like Pierce as a girl's middle name. We'd actually considered it for our boy's first name, but I think it's very pretty as a girl's middle name and may actually consider that too.
I have a male cousin named Kalen and I never thought it sounded feminine.