Personally I'd give
Michael as a middle name. I don't mind gender-switching in the middle name slot at all. I think it's cooler there, and more effective. I think I'd brag if I had a boys name as a middle because it'd just be cool. As a first name though, it's a little awkward. And there are plenty of strong female names to choose from, so I just feel the male name should be secondary. As a first name, it could be worse, but there's a lot to consider.
A female
Michael would probably be okay in elementary school as long as she didn't change schools because when kids are young they don't know which names are normal an which aren't. I remember going to kindergarten. My favorite name was
Darlene, but I remember how names in my class like
Kathryn,
Gregory, and
Jillian were fascinating and new to me. There was also a female
Shaun. I remember thinking this might be a male name, but I figured it must be used for girls too and I just didn't realize it. I don't remember anyone in our school saying anything about it at all until we got to junior high. When you grow up with kids since kindergarten, how can you suddenly decide to tease them about their name? Now in middle school, a girl
Michael will probably have some trouble as she meets lots of new, still immature people who don't think before they speak. But they are mature enough to get over it pretty quick. A 12-year-old's attention span is short-lived. However, she'll get a lot of crazy looks from adults who tend to be less open-minded, and it may cause confusion on job applications. People are automatically going to assume she is male unless they see her in person. The name could give her a lot of problems and she'll probably dread the initial shock when she tells new people, especially older adults her name. Now if your willing to risk that, I'd just make the decision carefully. You'd better hope your daughter is like yourself. I'm actually nothing like my mom (she nearly named me
Chrystal!), but then again my mom is very different from my father, who I'm more similar to.
I can't muster up combos for
Michael as a first name myself, sorry. But I can dig it as a middle with a feminine first name. Something like this...
Diana MichaelJulia MichaelKate MichaelNora MichaelAudrey Michael (I actually really like this, much better than
Michael Audrey)
Jaqueline MichaelCarmen MichealBrooke MichaelSophie MichaelVictoria MichaelLucy MichaelJane MichaelLisa MichaelHolly MichaelBridget Michael
I actually enjoyed making those combos =). Very cool. I dig cross-gender names as middles.
Another option: Maybe give her the initials MJ. They could be simple feminine names, but call her MJ as a nickname. Maybe...
Mary JaneMary JosephineMerideth JaneMerideth JosephineMaeve JoanMaeva JuniperMarlow
JaneMarla Jane