"Avery" for a boy?

We're thinking about "Avery" for our boy due in May. He'll be our 2nd;
our 1st is Eric. Eric will be about 2.5 years when our 2nd is born.

I see that although Avery was once more popular as a boy's name than as
a girl's name (USA Social Security data), its popularity as a girl's
name has surged ahead in recent years, passing up boys in 1998 and now
(2004) at #77 for girls and #226 for boys. Further, it seems to be
still rising for girls while holding fairly steady for boys.


By the time a 2006 baby reaches school age, are school children likely
to think of Avery as a girl's name? If so, that might not sit well with
a boy. Any thoughts?

BTW, any idea why Avery has suddenly become so popular as a girl's
name?


I made a chart showing its popularity from 1880 - 2004 for both boys
and girls. It's interesting how for girls it went from nothing (below
#1,000) before 1989, when it showed up at #971, then rocketed up to #77
in 2004. It's also interesting how, for boys, it was in a very gradual
downward trend from 1880 - 1952, then shot up and has trended upward
ever since, though nearly flat since 1994. What happened in 1952 is
that the very popular "Charlotte's Web" was published, in which Fern's
little brother is named Avery.

Until the CVS test results came in, we were fairly sure the name was
going to be Katherine. We had gone through the whole gender-choosing
process, and thought we had given the Y-sperms about 3.5 days to die
off before the egg came down. I guess Avery's sperm was a hardy one!

Thanks for any thoughts about naming a 2006 baby boy Avery.


Thanks,

Greg

Just being honest here; Avery reminds me of the address labels that I
use.


wrote:
We're thinking about "Avery" for our boy due in May. He'll be our 2nd;
our 1st is Eric. Eric will be about 2.5 years when our 2nd is born.

I see that although Avery was once more popular as a boy's name than as
a girl's name (USA Social Security data), its popularity as a girl's
name has surged ahead in recent years, passing up boys in 1998 and now
(2004) at #77 for girls and #226 for boys. Further, it seems to be
still rising for girls while holding fairly steady for boys.


By the time a 2006 baby reaches school age, are school children likely
to think of Avery as a girl's name? If so, that might not sit well with
a boy. Any thoughts?

BTW, any idea why Avery has suddenly become so popular as a girl's
name?


I made a chart showing its popularity from 1880 - 2004 for both boys
and girls. It's interesting how for girls it went from nothing (below
#1,000) before 1989, when it showed up at #971, then rocketed up to #77
in 2004. It's also interesting how, for boys, it was in a very gradual
downward trend from 1880 - 1952, then shot up and has trended upward
ever since, though nearly flat since 1994. What happened in 1952 is
that the very popular "Charlotte's Web" was published, in which Fern's
little brother is named Avery.

Until the CVS test results came in, we were fairly sure the name was
going to be Katherine. We had gone through the whole gender-choosing
process, and thought we had given the Y-sperms about 3.5 days to die
off before the egg came down. I guess Avery's sperm was a hardy one!

Thanks for any thoughts about naming a 2006 baby boy Avery.


Thanks,

Greg

In article .com,
"MsLiz" wrote:

Just being honest here; Avery reminds me of the address labels that I
use.

You beat me to it. That's my first association, too.
--
Sara
accompanied by TK, number two, due in April of 2006

Just being honest here; Avery reminds me of the address labels that I use.

Yes, many people who see the address labels all the time are probably
not aware that Avery was the last name of the founder of that company,
Stan Avery. Many companies are named after their founders, and many
given names were originally surnames. I wouldn't let all that get in
the way of a name choice. Thanks, though.

My concern is whether a boy born in 2006 and named Avery is likely to
go through school with most schoolmates thinking he has a girl's name.

Greg

wrote:
Just being honest here; Avery reminds me of the address labels that I use.

Yes, many people who see the address labels all the time are probably
not aware that Avery was the last name of the founder of that company,
Stan Avery. Many companies are named after their founders, and many
given names were originally surnames. I wouldn't let all that get in
the way of a name choice. Thanks, though.

My concern is whether a boy born in 2006 and named Avery is likely to
go through school with most schoolmates thinking he has a girl's name.

Greg

What I can tell you is that no matter what you name your child (unless
you choose something unusually cruel) kids will find a way to make fun
of it and/or your child. Trust me :-) My son's first name was
cute...very malish, but they found ways to make fun with his last name.
Or it'll be freckles. Or a small nose. Or a big nose. Big feet.
Curly hair. Kids can be cruel creatures. I've been around the block
on this one; having been a kid and called "ringo" becase I had a big
nose. My last name was made fun of as was the number of our house "69".
I lived through my grown son's teasings due to having freckles and
last name that instead of the jingle "order in the court", they used
"odor in the court."

With that being said; name your child something that doesn't start off
bad and hope for the best. (ie. Dick)

wrote in message
ups.com...

My concern is whether a boy born in 2006 and named Avery is likely to
go through school with most schoolmates thinking he has a girl's name.

If I heard that name I would probably think so. I had many a female Avery as
students about 5-10 years ago. No boys, IIRC.

I'm not really a fan of androgynous names. My friend named her daughter
Logan and I'm just starting to get used to it 1.5 years later.

JennP.

wrote and I snipped:

BTW, any idea why Avery has suddenly become so popular as a girl's
name?

Murphy Brown's baby girl. (On the sitcom.) ???

-Patty, mom of 1+2

I'd think Avery is a boy, myself. Even though it has a close
association with a girl I knew in high school who's name was Averil,
not to mention Averil Lavigne. So there are feminine notions there
anyway...

Stasya

Murphy Brown's baby girl. (On the sitcom.)

According to Wikipedia and other sources, Murphy Brown had a baby BOY
and named it Avery.

Also according to Wikipedia, Murphy's mother's name was Avery. The
actress who played Avery died, and so the writers had the character die
too. Then, Murphy named her boy Avery after her mother. All according
to Wikipedia; I never watched a single episode myself.

Also, it looks like that would have been in 1992, three years into the
name's dramatic rise as a girl's name. Whatever caused Avery to
suddenly become so popular as a girl's name would have happened in 1989
or shortly before. Wait....Murphy Brown's mother, Avery Brown, first
appeared on the show in 1988. And the actress who played Avery Brown,
Colleen Dewhurst, won an Emmy that year (and again in 1991) for her
performances as Avery Brown. That has to be it!

Greg

wrote:

My concern is whether a boy born in 2006 and named Avery is likely to
go through school with most schoolmates thinking he has a girl's name.

Greg


I know of an Avery [boy] who is now about 5 months old... :-) His mum
attends yoga with me.

Jacqueline