| Mila Kunis and Rachel Bilson both gave their baby girls, birthed this year, masculine names |
This year saw another surge of celebrities giving their newborn daughters masculine names.
Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher named their daughter Wyatt while their good friends Rachel Bilson and Hayden Christensen named their daughter Briar.
This time around Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard went with a more feminine name for their second daughter, Delta. But last year, the couple named their first daughter Lincoln. It was the same year that TV journalist Lisa Ling and her husband named their daughter Jett.
And while many didn’t follow Mariah Carey‘s lead in naming their daughter the masculine name Monroe as Carey and husband Nick Cannon did, several celebrities who gave birth this year did opt for it as a middle name.
Jenna Von Oy named her newest daughter Marlowe Monroe; Tila Tequila named her daughter Isabella Monroe while reality TV alum and baby concierge & maternity designer Rosie Pope named her daughter Bridget Monroe. Poppy Montgomery went with the trend but for her son, naming him Gus Monroe.
I am 100% in support of the unisex or masculine name for a girl trend.
Recently, I was reminded of a riddle about a father and son who got in an accident where the son survived and when he arrived in the emergency room for treatment, the surgeon declared, “I can’t operate on him. He is my son.”
Many people guessing that riddle were stumped how could it be. It is because many picture professions like surgeons to be male. The answer is the surgeon is the boy’s mother.
Similarly, in my professional life, because my name is odd, whenever I get unsolicited pitches at my law firm for services via email or snail mail, the sendees always err on the masculine and address me as Mister. The assumption is most lawyers are males and it’s a safer guess.
But it doesn’t stop in predominantly masculine fields. When I ran a small boutique public relations firm, whenever I would eventually meet a client or someone I was only corresponding with electronically or over social media, they’d tell me they thought I was a male. This would be the case despite the fact that PR is a traditionally heavy-female field. Perhaps, business owners are thought to more likely be male.
But from that experience, I know that I was granted any benefit of the doubt and extra leeway given to males by accident. Naturally, the presumption will be trumped once there is an in person meeting but by then, we would have had plenty opportunity to prove our value on the merits and not be burdened by any negative stereotypes or limitations heaped upon women.
If but for that, I say go for masculine names for girls. Give them a head up and without the burden of sexism across a computer screen.