{"id":11271,"date":"2015-05-05T08:54:20","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T12:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=11271"},"modified":"2015-05-05T10:17:33","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T14:17:33","slug":"baby-name-to-consider-franklin-for-a-girl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2015\/05\/05\/baby-name-to-consider-franklin-for-a-girl\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Name to Consider: Franklin for a Girl"},"content":{"rendered":"

Swistle,<\/p>\n

First, I’ve been a lover of baby names since I was a little girl (I’m 26) and your blog has helped me see that I am not alone in this hobby. I say hobby because I have no plans to have a baby in the next couple years. Although I have helped a friend or two name their babies, so it has been helpful, at least.<\/p>\n

Anyways, I was watching Marvel’s Daredevil last night and loved that Nelson is nicknamed Foggy, by way of Franklin. And I thought how fun to name your son Franklin and then come up with Foggy. It’s weird, but I’m kind of loving it!<\/p>\n

So, I’m writing it down on paper to see what it’d look like and all that jazz… And instead of seeing Franklin, I saw Frank-lin. And that got me thinking, is Franklin useable for a girl’s name?? And once I got thinking, I had to send an email to see what you thought?!<\/p>\n

I realize it’s probably a strong male name for most people, maybe even myself. But I wonder… it’s got the appeal of being a surname name (which is all the rage now), girls are already named and nicknamed Frankie, and it ends in Lin\/Lynn (which could give her another option if she dislikes it which she’s older).<\/p>\n

So I know this is not your typical Q\/A but I really hope you post it. I’d love to hear what you and the readers think.<\/p>\n

Thank you,
\nNatasha<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

I’m split: half of me is saying, “Oh, yeah, I can see it: kind of like what happened with Lachlan\/Locklyn, and the -lin ending could definitely sound more like a girl name (Madelyn, Katelyn, Carolyn, a million others), and I don’t see why not!” And the other half of me is saying, “Noooooooooooooooo!”<\/p>\n

Let’s see what’s happening with the name’s current usage. The Social Security Administration reports that in 2013, there were 545 new baby boys named Franklin; it isn’t in the data base at all for girls. But let’s check spellings that use a Y, a common feminizing technique: in 2013, there were 20 new baby boys named Franklyn, but it still isn’t in the data base for girls. Even names such as Joshua and Robert are in the data base for SOME girls (13 and 8 respectively in 2013), so I think it is safe to say that the name Franklin is currently used nearly exclusively for boys in the United States.<\/p>\n

I think it could be used for a girl, but that it would make a strong, strong statement, similar to naming a girl Joshua (soft sounds and an -a ending like so many girl names) or Robert (girls already named and nicknamed Bobbi and Robin). Unless the usage changed, she would spend her entire life dealing with paperwork errors and surprised\/confused reactions at a much higher rate than average; not an enormous deal at all for someone who liked that, but a burden\/bore for someone who didn’t (or for someone who enjoyed it the first thousand times but then wearied of it). If on the other hand, the usage DID change, and Franklin\/Franklyn became a unisex name, it would be a different story and I’d have a different opinion.<\/p>\n

For me, Franklin fails the “Would I want this name myself?” test, even though I love the name Franklin, love the nickname Frankie for Frances or Francesca, and don’t mind regularly needing to spell my name for people. Part of the appeal of boyish nicknames for feminine names, I think, is that it’s a individualizing choice: the feeling is that it’s a bit of a rebellion against a feminine name or traditional path. “My parents tried to name me something frilly and girly, but that’s not me!” Swapping that option, so that the rebellious choice is choosing a feminine, traditional nickname, feels less exciting.<\/p>\n

It fits with a current trend for celebrity baby names: recent baby girls have been named Maxwell, Lincoln, Owen, Wyatt, and James.<\/p>\n

I think it would make sibling names challenging. Sister names wouldn’t be too difficult (Maxwell, Lincoln, Owen, Wyatt, and James would all fit the style), but what would be a good brother name for a girl named Franklin?<\/p>\n

I’d love to see the name Franklin get more popular for boys, and I’d also love to see Frances and Francesca get more popular for girls. So although half of me thinks Franklin for a girl is a justifiable decision, and a creative and interesting choice if shock value is one of your naming preferences (and that IS a familiar naming preference), the other half of me thinks there are other great established choices that are still pleasingly surprising without being so startling and potentially difficult. If you did use it, I would recommend spelling it Franklyn to assist the Lyn\/Lynnie nickname.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Swistle, First, I’ve been a lover of baby names since I was a little girl (I’m 26) and your blog has helped me see that I am not alone in this hobby. I say hobby because I have no plans to have a baby in the next couple years. Although I have helped a friend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-name-to-consider"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-2VN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11271"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11283,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11271\/revisions\/11283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}