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Maybe for a dog, but it sounds too weird for a human.

Scout is fine. I know a lovely female dog named this.

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Would I want it to be my name? No. I find it too childish and silly for an adult.

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I also dislike it when people obviously use it because it's trendy and then claim they named her after "To Kill a Mockingbird". That is only her nickname, her name is Jean Louise. Now, I don't have a problem with people naming their daughters after her and using the nickname, it is just always so obvious that they didn't read it by the way they talk about it.

I like it

Sounds like an animal name to me. I had a guinea pig named Scout when I was a kid.

It says, smugly, "Look at me - my parents are so literate!" Me, I prefer not to use nicknames as full names, especially when the option is something genuinely pretty and timeless, like Jean Louise.

Just sounds like a pet's name to me, I wouldn't take it seriously irl.

To Kill a Mockingbird came to mind. I think it's a little weird.

It just sounds so ugly! Abrasive, like scour grout.
Also I think of scouting as highly unskilled, something you get stuck doing if you're the junior member of a party. Someone who's considered not too bright and dispensable, that's why they are sent out alone with a high risk of getting killed or captured. It makes a good dog-name. It's sort of like Champ or Lucky or Honey as a name, seems kinda trivial and small, to me.

Don't like it

My parents named their dog Scout, and I thought it was cliche then. I don't like it any more for a person. It's like a compromise between Sparky and Atticus. Or an emotionally void word name like...Arrow...not even as potentially cute as Archer. I'd rather name a girl Hunter than Scout. I think it bothers me that it's a verb.

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I do think Bear's suggestion would be fun to come across, though.

This message was edited 9/13/2021, 5:38 PM

Love it as a nn for Scholastica. :0)