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As a mn, I like it. I've used it in girl combos--and other masculine names like Drew, Ryan, Bryce, Billie, and Douglas, too--and it can be cute. I especially like them paired with musty, dusty feminine names, like Agnes, Millicent, and Cordelia. As a first name, though, I would never use James. Hypocritical, maybe, but as fun as I think James can be as mn for a girl, I think it would be a drag as a fn.

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For me, the problem with James as a girl's first name is not that it's masculine, and it's not me being opposed to boys' names on girls (because I flat-out Do Not Care). It's more that James is so very, very popular for boys. I'd hate to have a first name that is given to only 20-odd girls per year nationwide but is in the Top 20 for boys. I think it would get old for little Miss James, I really do.

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That said, it would be easier to be a female James than it would a female Matthew or Benjamin. The unisex Jamie and the girly Amy are both be nickname options for a girl if she becomes frustrated with James.