2771: Names Ending -eigh and Feminizing Masculine Names Jul 22, 2024

In recent decades, there has been a trend to give children distinctive names, balancing the perceived need for uniqueness with the desire to avoid raising too many eyebrows. This balance is increasingly achieved through creative spelling. As the trend for distinctiveness grows, it often results in variations around a limited set of tools.

Common names like Ashley and Riley have begun to be spelled with an -eigh ending, resulting in names like Ashleigh and Rileigh. The latter has other variations, with Ryleigh being the most common -eigh ending name of 2017 among a couple hundred now. This trend first emerged in earnest in the 1960s with a handful of names, predominantly Irish and British surnames that were long ago turned into male names and then feminized, such as the two examples above. The spelling could in part be a visual cue of their femininity.

The trend now not only includes classic names with the [i] or [eɪ] sounds at the end, altering their spelling, but also invents new ones. This spelling evolution overlaps with the feminizing of many traditionally masculine names—like how Charlie (and indeed Charleigh) is now more common for girls than boys—especially those ending in [i] or [eɪ] like Kelsey, Lesley, Sydney and Lindsey, seen as is, though Syndeigh and Lindseigh etc. are exclusively for girls. While this trend of giving girls traditionally boys' names, or as a result, neutral names, has seen explosive popularity in recent decades, there is not even one serious contender in the reverse.