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Valentine
I know that this is a forum favorite for boys, but I like it for a girl. Please don't hate me :PIn France Valentine was a popular girls name and even though it is pronounced -TEEN there, I also like it for a girl pronounced the English way (as in Valentine's Day).What do you think of Valentine for a girl?With the French pronunciation?The English pronunciation?There is a female character called Valentine in "Ender's Game".Please rate my list: https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/6232
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I prefer it as a female name and with the French pronunciation, probably since that was how I encountered it for the first time. For boys, I prefer Valentin, which is how we’d spell it in Denmark. Pronounced nearly identical to the French version, but not quite. I think it’s handsome. I don’t care for the English pronunciation because I associate it with Valentine’s Day which I find super tacky.
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Valentine is one of few names on my PNL that I regard as truly unisex. I think (with the English pronunciation) it works well for both men and women - as does the nickname Val.
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I don't like it for either
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Valentine (English prn) for a girl is alright... It's not my favorite. Because I always suspect someone means it to sound like "Valentine" in the cheesy sense of "dear one," which I do not like. And because I like it as a guyname, and like thinking it sounds masculine and like it means vigorous.It *could* just be a name that means vigorous, and sounds alright to use for gals... I can see that, and it'd be cool. But it's kind of a stretch for me, because I tend to think that people would not ever have thought of using it cross-gender, if the Valentine's Day "dear one" meaning and associations did not exist.Valentine (French -een) for a girl is alright, but I don't like the sound of it. I think Valentina is much more appealing, sounds more vigorous, elegant and powerful.more explanation you didn't ask for, about how I feel about this name:I feel like when it's gendered masculine (mentally picturing "on a boy/man") and pronounced the English way, it sounds like its meaning. Like a traditional guyname, but antique style. English equivalent of Valentin.It's not that it couldn't be a cool girl name even though it is traditionally more masculine in English - I think it could. But it's the Valentine's Day thing, *interacting* with the gender of the bearer... ruins it. Ruined the Ender's Game character for me completely - her name made me cringe. She obviously existed only to show off something good about Ender, and her name really set that off, for me, and it was just yuck.The worst way to imagine the name, in my mind, is if it's on a boy, but is meant to evoke the cheesy "dear one" thing and Valentine's Day romance stuff. Names for boys that I feel are trying to seem "tender lover"-ish gross me out bigtime, they're like Peaches or Allure for a girl, too objectifying/sexualizing. For this reason, I would hesitate to use Valentine for a boy, even though I think it's awesome - I would hate for others to think it sounds romancey.

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This message was edited 8/6/2021, 1:04 PM

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I like Valentine on both genders (and starting to like it more on a girl), however I only like the English pronunciation; the French one is dull.Moreover, I adore Valentino and prefer it to Valentine.
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Drat, I had a response all written out and lost it all!I like Valentine for a girl as well, it's very pretty. It's delicate without being overly sweet, as I find Valentina is. The French version is quite nice, it puts a different spin on it for me. If I used it, I would likely use the English pronunciation, since that is what everyone would assume it was, no sense complicating things.
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I prefer it on a boy, but I quite like it on a girl. It's sleek and a little bit Gothic.
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I actually think Valentine is pretty androgynous. I like it for a boy or girl. For a girl I like Valentina even more. The meaning is good.The val-en-TEEN pronunciation however makes me think male. Val-en-TINE sounds unisex to me at least. The name itself is lovely. It’s a unique, interesting, and recommended choice in my book.
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