So I was driving around on Friday and my mind wandered to what zarapipe would end up choosing as a name and I thought "Hmmm I wonder if she'd go for Rory?" And then this post happened. Freaky.
Anyways, I agree that Rory Piper is a great name. I wouldn't worry a bit about the male/female association, but then I'm in the South where girls are regularly named Blake, Ryan, Dylan, Elliot, Kyle, etc. I think Rory is fully a girl name on this side of the pond.
I also wouldn't let GG dissuade you. I obsessively love Veronica Mars and wouldn't think twice about using Veronica as a name if I liked it. Your DD will be around a lot longer than the pop culture reference. I wish my parents had stuck with the Rhiannon idea for me instead of choosing a top 10 80s name.
I see it on either sex. It can also be short for Aurora, which I heard on a 4yo recently. I have a hard time pronouncing the Rs together, but it's cute.
Yeah, I can see how sometimes it may be hard to pronounce. I'm not a fan or aurora. For me that is harder to say than rory. Reminds me of rawwwrrr like a lion.
The pronunciation issue kills it for me. I had difficulty saying Rs as a kid (and speech therapy for it), and being named Rory would have meant that I couldn't introduce myself until I was like 10. Heck, I still have to think about saying it right. My 4 yo with articulation issues would not be able to say it. It is common enough for kids to have trouble saying Rs that it would make me nervous to use a name so dependent on being able to say them well.
Until about a week ago, I only knew irish boys with that name. Then DS moved to the toddler room at his daycare and there is a darling little girl in there with the same name and it suits her well. I do like it more for as a nickname, but I certainly see it standing alone now.
There are lots of male Irish and Scottish names that are used as girls names in the US. My DH has a name that people in the US automatically assume is a girl's name but his colleagues in the UK and Australia assume is male. So, I'd say that your DH's argument does not really have merit Most people in the US will probably assume that Rory is a girl.
The pronunciation issue kills it for me. I had difficulty saying Rs as a kid (and speech therapy for it), and being named Rory would have meant that I couldn't introduce myself until I was like 10. Heck, I still have to think about saying it right. My 4 yo with articulation issues would not be able to say it. It is common enough for kids to have trouble saying Rs that it would make me nervous to use a name so dependent on being able to say them well.
This reminds me of three kids I used to babysit for -- Peter, Eric and Greg. None of them could pronounce R's, but they all teased each other mercilessly for not pronouncing their names right. My name also starts with an R and my stepdaughter couldn't pronounce it correctly until she was 7, so we tried to avoid R's for this reason.
I like Rory, but I think of it more as a masculine name. In general, I'm not a huge fan of unisex names.
I mentioned upthread this is my friends kids name. I am always self conscious about saying it and thinking about it too hard trying not to mess it up. His grandma calls him Roy.