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I'm seeing Gabriel rise quite a bit in popularity, which is good and bad (bad because I love it and don't want to see it soaring up the charts :b). But in the past it's been seen as feminine, which I've never been able to "get" (along with Adrian, Julian, etc....but I love all of those names). Some languages (Spanish, French?) pronounce it just like Gabrielle, but the feminine form of Gabriel in Spanish, at least, is Gabriela, so there's a clear distinction. If you don't want your son to be called Gab-ree-ell but at least some people, though, don't use it. I have known a few Gabriels none of whom were teased, that I know of. I've always found it interesting that people make fun of Galen and other names with "gay" in them, but don't necessarily pick up on that with Gabriel. Maybe because it's much more recognizable? The only drawback of it for me, besides a possible increase in popularity, is I wouldn't use it if my ln started with a B, because he'd likely be called Gabe (which I also love, btw) and Gabe Brock sounds like Gay Brock. For that matter, if his ln was Rock it would also sound like his name was Gay Brock. :-/ It's one of those ones that needs to 'flow well' with the mn and ln, I guess. :)

This message was edited 12/21/2007, 4:17 AM