A. writes:<\/p>\n
Why aren’t more people using the name Scout, for boys? According to the Social Security Administration data, there were only 59 boys (and 148 girls) named Scout in 2010. I have heard it used, in real life, as a girl’s middle name (which her parents also used as a pet name for her), in homage to the character in To Kill a Mocking Bird. And I do like it for a girl, but I kind of love it for a boy.
I think it has a very adventurous\/rugged masculine feel, like Hunter, Ranger, Colt and Sawyer, and the Boy Scout association makes it sound capable and good citizen like (although, I actually have some issues with the Boy Scouts of America’s stance on certain issues, the idea of boy scouting remains positive in my mind) .
I do see the possible downsides of it sounding too much like and being confused for Scott (a name I find utterly lackluster due to personal associations and it being out of fashion) and it sounding like a dog’s name, but I still kind of love it and imagine it being adorable on a little boy and handsome on a man. What do you and your readers think of Scout? I love your blog(s) and a would love to know what you think about Scout!<\/p><\/blockquote>\nI have four associations with the name Scout:<\/p>\n
1. Jean Louise Finch’s nickname in To Kill a Mockingbird (female)<\/p>\n
2. The daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore (female)<\/p>\n
3. Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts (either male or female)<\/p>\n
4. A talent\/sports\/military scout (either male or female)<\/p>\n
Considering that I think the To Kill a Mockingbird association is likely the strongest one in the U.S. (and re-emphasized by so many parents citing the book as the reason they chose the name), a 59m\/148f split is more boys than I would have expected. I see the gap widened in 2011: according to the Social Security Administration, there were 51 male babies and 182 female babies named Scout. <\/p>\n
It’s an interesting question, because I think if the name had entered our culture without the book, it would very likely have been as a boy’s name. As you’ve mentioned, it sounds like Scott, and it works well with names like Hunter and Ranger.<\/p>\n
But instead it’s considered a boyISH name for a scrappy girl—and meanwhile, the book To Kill a Mockingbird is commonly taught in high school year after year, which doesn’t allow the association to fade. And the name remains unusual, which doesn’t allow the association to dilute.<\/p>\n
What does everyone else think about why Scout isn’t used more for boys? Do you think it could be tipped by, say, another famous Scout, but this one male? Maybe a handsome, winking, rugged type?<\/p>\n
And let’s have a poll over to the right to see what we think of the name for a boy at this point. [Poll closed; see results below.]<\/p>\n
Poll results for “Scout, but for a boy”<\/b> (380 votes total):<\/p>\n
I love it! I’d want to use it! – 16 votes (4%)
I like it! I’d want to consider it! – 32 votes (8%)
I like it for someone else’s baby – 124 votes (33%)
No particular opinion – 39 votes (10%)
Slight dislike – 96 votes (25%)
Strong dislike – 73 votes (19%)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A. writes: Why aren’t more people using the name Scout, for boys? According to the Social Security Administration data, there were only 59 boys (and 148 girls) named Scout in 2010. I have heard it used, in real life, as a girl’s middle name (which her parents also used as a pet name for her), […]<\/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-6137","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-1AZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6137","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=6137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6137\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}