A Girl Named Stanley

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

filed under: family

Obama's headstrong mother might have gotten that way by being named Stanley.

A boy named Sue, meet a girl named Stanley. Stanley was actually the name of Barack Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, after her dad, who wanted a boy.

It seems like a cruel trick to play on a child, but times may be changing says Babynames.com founder and momlogic friend Jennifer Moss, "Boy names have become really "in" for girls, especially in Hollywood, Brendan Fehr of CSI Miami fame just named his daughter James Olivia, and actress Soleil Moon Frye named her daughter the masculine sounding Jagger Joseph."

Certain names, it seems, just morph into names for the opposite sex. Leslie, Erin and Ashley all started out as boy's names. OK, but we don't think Disney's coming out with a Princess Stanley movie any time soon.

What do you think of gender-bending names?

3 comments so far | Post a comment now >>

I don’t have a prob. with gender bending names…often times they can sound really chic. Then again, some names are just awful whether it’s for a girl or boy!

- Anabelle

Posted 04/15/08 02:45 PM

I didn’t like my name when I was a kid - i got teases but i like it now. My parents wanted a girl so it’s different.

- Toni

Posted 04/15/08 05:12 PM

i do not recommend parents to name their children with gender bending names. That causes way too much confusion with the child and it could lead to permanant damage. i feel that when the child goes to school there are already so many things that kids make fun of why give them more gun fire?

- vanessa

Posted 04/23/08 02:22 PM