Quinn as a boy's name?

Ashley2180 · August 2011

Hi Everyone,

DH and I are finalizing our list of favorite baby names before our anatomy scan in 2 weeks. I LOVE the name Quinn, but DH will only consider it as a boy's name, not for a girl.

Honestly I'm OK with it, but it seems like only little girls are being named Quinn these days. I just wonder if it would set up a little boy for grief later on if he was a boy Quinn in a classroom of one or more girl Quinn's...KWIM?

Thanks for any thoughts and insights!

westrose · August 2011

I think Quinn is a boys name, not a girls name despite the popularity of the name since Glee

aubreyan · August 2011

I know a lot of people disagree but I feel like Quinn is one of the few tuly unisex names. I really love it for a boy and a girl! If I saw Quinn written I would not assume anything about the child's gender unless I saw the middle name too. Quinn is a great boy name! Go for it!!!

RedCardinal · August 2011

Sounds boy to me, and I know several girls with this name.

mrs.messi · August 2011

I think it is pretty gender neutral...but to me, it is on the feminine side.

Emiliana7 · August 2011

I like it better for a boy than a girl. but it could be because I've recently read the sookie stackhouse/southern vampire mysteries series of books and there is a charactor in the story named Quinn and he is quite manly.

I used to watch Glee and never quite liked it for a girl on that show.

LaComtesse · August 2011

I find the answer to this question often depends on region. I live in NYC and among people I know in the tri-state area, Quinn is very popular for little girls right now. I don't know one boy Quinn, but I know probably four girl Quinns under the age of 3.

526SadieSadie · August 2011

I think it's a girl's-only name, but my friend named his son Quincy and calls him Quinn.

HannahO28 · August 2011

aubreyan:
I know a lot of people disagree but I feel like Quinn is one of the few tuly unisex names. If I saw Quinn written I would not assume anything about the child's gender unless I saw the middle name too.

I agree with this

ChavayJakov · August 2011

I really don't think it will.

My true first name is a boy's name...and the only "grief" I had was explaining that yes, my parents gave me a boy's name with the boy's spelling and not the girl's spelling. Today, while my name still isn't super popularly found in girls, for girls the spelling is almost universally the masculine one.

And I went to school with tons of boys named Kelly and Lee. They are super gender-neutral now, but back then they were really fem-associated and none of them were ever picked on in class or on the playground. I think you are going to run into problems really and truly only if you go off the deep end and name him Sue or Mary. Though, my grandfather had a name that is now (and was then) purely fem sounding and he was never given grief over it either. My son has a name that when you use the shortened version and add an -i/-y on the end (the way mommies do to their boys) it transforms into a girls name. I truly didn't consider it, and always called him -y ... his friends only teased him about it when he became a teen and only then more of a "Mommy's calling you" rather than "she's calling you by a girl's name"... he never asked me to stop calling him by the name, and occasionally one of his friends will use name endearingly as well.

SouthFloridaMommy · August 2011

I definitely think it is a gender neutral name. Growing up, I knew both girls and guys with that name, and when my daughter was in the one year old class at her daycare there was a little boy with the name Quinn. Personally, I wouldn't hesitate to use it for a girl or boy.

ChavayJakov · August 2011

And here's a thread on Male/Quinn from last week that might interest you:

https://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/56783488.aspx

Tambcat · August 2011

The only Quinn I've ever known was a boy.

Really, I think it will be fine even if there are a lot of girls with that name. I knew a boy named Kelly growing up, and I was just like "oh, a boy named Kelly," and that was that.

Ashley2180 · August 2011

Thanks for your replies, everyone! And thanks for the link to the thread about this last week, I'll go check it out.

Charlyne · August 2011

I think of Quinn as a boy's name, but I also see it as more of a NN than anything else, for Quinton or Quincy. I know one girl Quinnlyn NN Quinn.

apc1929 · August 2011

I consider it truly unisex but only Quinns I know irl are girls.. that would make me personally never use it on a boy. Love it for a girl though!

mpstochlinski8 · August 2011

I'd say its more of a boy name but I dont mind it as a girls name

stahlop · August 2011

I'm currently working at an elementary school and we have a few Quinn's, all boys. I think of it like the name Taylor, even though it's considered a girl's name nowadays, I still see it on plenty of boys of all ages. I prefer Quinn on a boy.