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I care about current usage because it is an indicator of how my children's names will be recieved and what it will be like to live with the name. This is extremely important to me because I don't name for myself: a name is a gift I give to another human being. To the best of my ability, I want that gift to be the best "fit" it can possibly be. My personal belief is that a name greatly biased toward one gender is not a good fit for the other, regardless of what was the rage in 1292. My child has to live with it now. If this argument strikes you as weaker than a celebrity endorsement, well, I probably couldn't explain it to you any further.

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So yes, if I could stomach the names to begin with, I would never use Ashley, Lindsey, or Whitney on a boy, just as I wouldn't use Logan or Ashton on a girl.

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You're right that August is relatively uncommon, and I certainly don't think it would be traumatic for a girl to be named August. I don't, however, believe that most names change because of usage by "adventurous" individuals, unless that individual is famous and/or influential. I believe most names change because of changes in their climate of usage--societal and cultural changes that push parents to and from different kinds of names. Or maybe it's a combination of the two in some magic ratio. I don't think we know. Perhaps August will change over time, perhaps not. It will be interesting to see.

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Although I don't share your views on this issue, I've had fun discussing it with you. Thank you for the time you've taken to reply.

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