JFF - What Would Your Name Have Been?

Updated on March 29, 2012
F.W. asks from Washington, DC
42 answers

So everyone, were you ever told what your name would have been if you had been the opposite sex? Or what would you have liked your name to be when you were young. I would have been called David after my dads best friend who also happens to be my uncle (he married my moms sister) and I always wanted to be called Stephanie when I was little. I think I watched too much Dynasty!!! :-) I love my name now though as its not too common and it can't really be changed .....even though people sure do try!! I get feebs, fee-fee (WTH) and my big brother calls me FA_HAY grrrrrrrr....

What can I do next?

  • Add yourAnswer own comment
  • Ask your own question Add Question
  • Join the Mamapedia community Mamapedia
  • as inappropriate
  • this with your friends

Featured Answers

~.~.

answers from Tulsa on

Yep. I was going to be Patrick Christopher if I were a boy. My maternal grandmother wanted to name me April Delight. I was born in April and my mom's middle name is Delight. No offense to anyone named that, but to me it sounds like a stripper name! I am glad my parents went with Amanda. It's always seemed like a good name to me. :)

3 moms found this helpful

A.M.

answers from Kansas City on

Should have been Carrie Lorraine...(both my great grandmothers names) but my cousin was born before me and she is Carrie Lynn. My mom let my dad pick it after that.

Boy - UGH I'm so glad I'm female...Demetrius! What they hell was my dad thinking?

2 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

S.H.

answers from St. Louis on

fun question!

I honestly don't know what my name would have been....but my sis would have been a Robert. Time to call Mom!

My middle name is for Yvonne DeCarlo....the original Mrs. Munster. (insert eye roll here, please). My mom picked my 1st name & insisted on it....or Yvonne would have been 1st. I actually LOVE my name.

My older son would have been Savana Rae....& too, funny: about 5 years after he was born, we met one of my cousins....who was born a few months before my son & her name was Savana Rae!

My younger son would have been Viva Grace, honoring my memory of both of my gr-gmas. Viva is pronounced with a long "i" sound....& my DH hated it, because he always thought of the paper towels. :)

2 moms found this helpful

More Answers

R.D.

answers from Richmond on

Not sure if I had been a boy, but I know I was ALMOST Laura Ashley and every time I see those bedding sets, I giggle a little.

3 moms found this helpful

M.B.

answers from Orlando on

My mom wanted to name me Jesse James. But she sided with my dad and went with M. Nichole

3 moms found this helpful

C.M.

answers from Johnson City on

It's a darn good thing I was a girl! My mom insisted she was having a girl and never entertained a boy's name. This was in 1970 way before you knew the sex of the baby. She had said along she wanted to name me C. and my Dad said all along he wanted Deborah. After she had been in labor with me for several painful hours my Dad leaned in and whispered to her, "Honey, you can name her anything her want!'

At Nicole--my daughter's name is Samantha Josephine. She goes by Sami Jo mostly but I call her Samantha Jo a lot too.

2 moms found this helpful

A.S.

answers from Iowa City on

I was going to be Asher if I was a boy. Other possible female names that my dad rejected: Bronwyn and Hannah.

If my girls were boys they were going to be Calum and Thaddeus.

2 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

L.*.

answers from Chicago on

I would have been Joel . I always liked the names Jennifer and Stephanie .

2 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

K.P.

answers from New York on

My name (and any of my sisters) would have been Brian David if any of us were boys!

2 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

S.E.

answers from New York on

im so glad i was a girl.. if i had been a boy my name wouldve been billy bob.. not on purpose, my parents didnt realize it until after they had me but i wouldve been william after my dad and robert aftter my uncle - william robert - billy bob ... friggin ay good thinng i wasnt

2 moms found this helpful

S.T.

answers from Nashville on

My dad tried 4 times for a boy, and ended up with 4 girls. So, he always called us the name we would have had if we were a boy... We had a Donald, Steve, Jeffrey, and Michael (our names are Donna, S., Jennifer, and Michelle - LOL)

Mine is the only one that really stuck... to this day, my nephews (now 18, 12, 9, 6... still call me "Aunt Steve" and I LOVE it! my dad passed 22 years ago and it is something that kind of keeps him here so to speak.

2 moms found this helpful

J.S.

answers from Jacksonville on

If I was a boy my name would have been Douglas Wade.
There was a furious fight over my first name. My mother wanted to call me JennyBeth as a first name. My dad refused. It went back and forth up until the day I was born. I think dad waited till mom was too exhausted to argue any more. :) Thank goodness dad won. So I ended up with J. Elizabeth.
JennyBeth...what the hell was she thinking?

2 moms found this helpful

N.P.

answers from San Francisco on

Andrea B. your answer cracked me up because my mother DID name me after her dog.

My mother got married when she was 20 and my father was 24. She wanted to have babies right away but my father wasn't ready. He told her to wait, wait wait. After a couple of years he wanted to make her happy so he bought her a dog and she named him Nikky. She loved that dog, but still wanted kids. Wait, wait, wait! I'm not ready! Was the mantra of my father. Finally, when she was 25 and he was 29, he felt ready and she had me at age 26. Two and a half years later, my sister was born. Nikky the dog died of kidney failure when I was about ten years old and my mom was heartbroken. He was her first baby.

If I were a boy I would have been Nicholas. I'm just glad that no one in my family called me Nikky for short. One boy in highschool called me Nikky and I couldn't break him of it and finally stopped trying. He was dating my best friend so I put up with him.

Funny story though, I ended up marrying a Nicholas. So, there ya go.

2 moms found this helpful

H.G.

answers from Dallas on

My name would of been mason and my twin sister would of been Mathew. (I like my would be name better :)
** if I could choose my name it would be Vivian or Marilyn! But what's weird, I didn't want my daughter to named either??

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.D.

answers from Boston on

I'm a J. but if I were a boy I would have been a William. Also, it sounds like my dad got to pick the names. My mom liked Melissa for me and Bobbie Jo for my sister! I grew up wishing I were a Melissa and I think my sister was pretty happy she wasn't a Bobbie Jo!

1 mom found this helpful

I.G.

answers from Austin on

I think if I had been a male my name would be Dillon. As far as girl names-- I love my name. No changes needed there. :)

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

M.T.

answers from New York on

I'm M. Gail and if I had been a boy, I would have been Gary Michael. When I was little, like maybe kindergarten age, I wanted to change my name to Bernadette ( I watched too much ZOOM, lol)

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.C.

answers from Savannah on

Interesting: I know mom was thinking Amber, Paige, or A.....I don't know what she was thinking if I was a boy, but I'll ask. :) As a little kid I wanted to be Stacey (my best friend) or Trixie (my favorite book character, Trixie Belden).

My oldest son: I wanted to name him Joseph Varrick at first, but my husband suggested Joseph Samuel, and I loved it. Those names went together well, and my husband's grandpa was Joseph and my grandpa was Samuel. If he was a girl, I wanted to name him after my grandma. Her last name was Lee, and I was just going to change the spelling to make it a female middle name: Love Leigh. My husband almost passed out and said NO (because it would be terrifying in combination to how people mispronounce our last name---oh my!) I hadn't even thought of that. But I dug my heels in and said "Pray it's a boy, because a girl is going to be named after my grandma!"
My youngest son: We didn't even think about girl names. After thinking briefly about Joshua, which I love, we realized there's too many "J" names in the family, and he was named Victor Michael; Victor was my husband's dad's name, Michael is my dad's name. We liked that a lot. Truth is, there has been ZERO (seriously, zero) girls born in my husband's direct line in 14 generations (documented!) so we just kinda figured a good bet was on this one being a boy too---which was great by me! There have been some female cousins, but no females in his direct line.

1 mom found this helpful

R.A.

answers from Providence on

My name was always going to be Rae or Ray if I turned out to be a boy. I was named after my mother's father. My brother on the other hand was going to be named Sadler, but they chose this for his middle name instead.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.C.

answers from Washington DC on

Don't know about the boy name, but my mom wanted to name me Heather. My dad however said "You are NOT naming my daughter after a weed. Her name is Angela Marie". and that was the end of that discussion, and since my mom had named my sister with no objections from my dad ... here I am .. Angela Marie.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

N.J.

answers from Fort Walton Beach on

I'm Nicole, My birthday is March 31, and if I had been born on April 1, my parents would've named me April... The doctor told my parents I was a boy, so my name was Nicholes, but then I popped out a girl. :)

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.B.

answers from Boston on

I assume I would have been named Timothy, which the brother after me got. My mom wanted Maureen, but my dad dated a girl with that name and didn't like her.

My oldest son would have been Cecila, my younger sons would have been Catherine.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

P.B.

answers from Spartanburg on

I was going to be named after my grandma (dad's side) per family tradition, no exception. LUCKILY, my granny has two names, so my mom gladly avoided her first name (horrible: Vincenza) for my sweet sounding and more appropriate, real name (granny's second name). Pheewww...

1 mom found this helpful

L.W.

answers from Dallas on

If I was born a boy my mom was was going to name me Michael Shea. She wanted to name me Heather but decided to name me Stephanie instead at the last minute. I was going to name my eldest Ryan if she was to be a boy but instead she ended up with the name Amy Lynn. I too was thinking of naming her Heather as well. Luckily my name and my dtr's name wasn't Heather b/c if it was my current husband wouldn't have anything to do with me due to the fact that his psycho dtr's name is Heather. LOL.....

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

S.A.

answers from Milwaukee on

Michael. Name is Michelle. So pretty close. When I was young, I always liked Samantha, probably because I liked Who's the Boss!

1 mom found this helpful

N.B.

answers from Minneapolis on

I was meant to be a Samantha Jo as girl, named after my Maternal Grandparents Samuel and Josephine. But my parents were in a bad way during my gestation (and my brother who is a year and 11 days older than me), so Mom went off script and named me a different name all together. (my brother too)

So I became a N. Anne. She simply loved the name and that spelling. Had I been a boy I would have been Nicholas (not sure on a middle name). When I was 7-years-old I got a great gift of a niece named Samantha Jo (I literally thought she was my Christmas gift and she is one of my favorite people in the world and I treasure our relationship!)

St. Anne is the patron saint of housewives (a bit of a need on my mothers part back then to be looked after) and my brothers middle name is Anthony, the patron saint of lost things (moms fave saint!) and again, symbolic to her as she felt lost I guess?. Kinda funny as we were all very very close to her, but that brother and I, as the youngest, were THE closest to her. She always called us her Guardians, and we will always have that!!

In my family everyones middle names (histroically, as far back as some geneology shows) are after a family member or very close family friend. All but the 2 of us. We are the oddballs but fell blessed to have them and to know why!

1 mom found this helpful

B.K.

answers from Chicago on

Mine would have been Robert and my nickname would have been Bobby or Robby. Boooooring.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

T.A.

answers from Seattle on

I was almost Stephanie because my dad is Steven, and I would have been Jeremiah if I was a boy! Jeremiah was a bullfrog :) or Derek Steven..

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

H.P.

answers from Orlando on

Hi!
I havent ever asked my Mom what my name would have been if I were a boy. I'll have to do that. I do know that my Mom wanted to name me Tammy. Funny thing is, my husband's sisters name is Tammy & so is his stepsister. Would have been too many Tammy's.
On another note, I have a friend/aquaintance that changed her babies name when she was 7 or 8 mos old. I dont have a problem with that at all, as it is none of my business. But I havent ever heard of a family doing that. They just didnt think she looked like the name they originally gave her.
My Mom is a personalized freak! She would flip on me if I changed one of my kiddos names..just for the simple fact of everything being personalized.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

B.

answers from Augusta on

I was almost April Michelle.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.B.

answers from Pittsburgh on

My name was supposed to be Shannon, but my dad had had a dog named that and my mom refused to have me named after a dog. As for the a boy name I dont know.

My son if a girl would of been Naomi, his name is Austin Edward. As for my daughter her name is Naomi, but I wanted to name her Montana or Harley. My husband won that fight. If my daughter would of been a boy we where going to name her Jesse Earl.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

E.J.

answers from Lincoln on

Funny how now so many find out the gender... my son won't be able to say what his name could've been. We didn't pick out a girl name!

For me, I would've been Travis.

1 mom found this helpful

M..

answers from Detroit on

I was supposed to be Joseph, my parents were really counting on a boy, but I was the 3rd girl. Whoops!

I always wanted to be Paige or Vanessa.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.K.

answers from Fayetteville on

Adam. And as a girl was going to be named Mackenzie or Morgan... don't know where J. came from. lol

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

S.S.

answers from Chicago on

my mom says she never had a boy name picked for me lol. I was her first and she just never even considered a boy. but my name was almost Michele Renee however the song S. was number one on the chart and apparently my dad sung it to my moms belly every night and here I am.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

W.K.

answers from New York on

This is fun!

My mother never had a boy name for me as far as I know. But Im guessing I would have been named after my father since my older brother was named after my fathers father. My younger brother is named after my father.

My mother had a crazy idea for our names - she said if I was blonde she was going to name me Paulinda - well I was born brunette so I got W.. Now if you ask my father he said he got my name out of a Penthouse magazine comic strip!

My sister was going to be Yvette if she was blonde and Yvonne if she was brunette - well she came out brunette.

I dont think I could have pulled off Paulinda anyway.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

R.R.

answers from Dallas on

I wold have been Lance Kenton..

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

L.K.

answers from Kansas City on

I don't know what I would have been if I were a boy, but my mom had a thing for double consonants. She thought of Debra Dawn and Kerry Kim, so I'm glad I got the Lori Lynn!

And another quick story about names. The very condensed version is that my daughter was going to be Jessica. For a variety of reasons, (really long story) we literally changed our minds at the last minute to Ellen. I found out later that Ellen is a family name. My mom's grandma was a Rose Ellen, but she only knew her as Grandma Rose. As were 2 other family members on that side of the family. I think it was Divine Guidance!

1 mom found this helpful

⊱.H.

answers from Spokane on

My parents decided they were going to name me Stacey (my mom said she *knew* I was a girl so she didn't even have any boy names picked out) ~ I was born on the first day of summer so they changed their minds at the hospital and they were going to name me Summer. Well....when the nurse came in to fill out the b.c. they named me Stephanie :)

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

D.K.

answers from Cincinnati on

Had I been a boy, my name would have been Shannon after my great grandfather. My parents were both in agreement for the boy's name they had picked. Funny how that name is more common for a girl now. There were two girls in my grade and one boy with that name when I was in elementary school.

My parents totally disagreed on a name for a girl. My mom wanted to name me Ticia or Tisha. My dad hated it and insisted I would end up being teased all the time. He said people would call me tissue paper which could evolve into toilet paper. He wanted to name me Dawnetta, but my mom hated the a on the end. So, my mother finally agreed to take my dad's choice if she could change the spelling and pronunciation to get rid of the "uh" sound on the end. Their compromise was D.. Two syllables instead of three. The funny thing is some of the names people teased me with were much worse: dang it, darn it, d--n it. Most people called me donut. And it really annoyed me at how they thought they were oh so clever for connecting donut with D.. You know, I really hate donuts now.

When I was a kid, I liked the names Leslie, Lisa, and Lisette. I hated correcting everyone on how my name is pronounced. But I was stubborn and insisted on being called D.. I wouldn't let people shorten it to just Dawn. I figured if my name was decided because of that last letter, I was going to make sure everyone used it! I have never met another D.. (I do know that there are some others out there.) I've grown to like my name.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

R.J.

answers from Seattle on

Thomas if I was a boy.

I was very nearly Nicole or Veronica. My mum's favorite was Nicole, my dad's was Veronica.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

S.2.

answers from Raleigh on

My mom wanted me to be Rachel but my dad and mom's sister liked Carrie Ann...so Carrie Ann I am. (Ann is middle name, I just go by Carrie.) I have no idea what my boy name would've been. I should ask.

For Updates and Special Promotions
Follow Us

Related Questions