My Joey is a little girl.

[JoeysMom]

I just found out that Joey is a girl. I was impatient and had Joey sexed. I have been calling her Joseph since I got her two months ago. Should I feminize the name? I am horrible at bird gender guessing. I have a male quaker parrot named Samantha, whom I just call Sam. I have also had a male budgie who was named Zoey. I still would like to call her Joey as a nickname. What do you guys think?

Thanks,

-Joeys Mom

[MissK]

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." -William Shakespeare

First, I think Joey won't care. There are lots of mis-gender-name-matched birds. If it bothers you, I would suggest you just start getting sloppy about your pronunciation and let Joey slide into Joy. Joy is a girl name, and quite apt for a beloved pet, I would think. Conversely, you could pick a new name, hyphenate it with Joey (Joey-Susan, for example) and then phase out the Joey part to leave the new name. Or you could just flat out change the name. It isn't like your bird's not smart enough to learn a new name.

If it were me, I would probably go with the first option. Next bird, name it more carefully.

I had the same sort of surprise with one of my Budgies, named Riff Raff. I got two youngsters, named them Riff Raff and Dr. Scott. As it happens, they are named after male characters in a movie, BUT I don't feel either name is necessarily gender-specific if you don't consider the movie. I thought everyone knew that film, but a surprising number don't, and the names seem odd to them, but none of them blinks at Riff Raff being a girl. Actually, if you Google, you'll find Riff Raff being a male singer of some sort and a women's clothing boutique. I've always known this term as being vaguely synonymous with "rabble". So, you pay your money and take your choice! I could have changed her name to Magenta, but honestly, once I knew her as Riff Raff, it was a done deal.

-MissK

[InTheAir]

Josephine, abbreviated to joey? Josephine is a great name to say when your little delight has done something naughty like pulled all the keys off your computer too

We named our bird on the presumption that the breeder was correct in guessing the sex was female, then had him dna tested a few months later. He's a boy. Since Neil was not an option for a couple reasons he has stayed nila. He still doesn't seem to care, it just makes strangers refer to him as she at first...

Missk: I wanted to call my Collie riff raff beforr i got her, but she turned out to be way too prissy and tidy to suit it. It's a cute name for a budgie though.

[ellieelectrons]

Agreed. Joey is a fine name for a girl. My aunt Jodie used to get called Joey all the time and it could also be short for Josephine, Josephina, Joanne, Joanna, etc. In Australia, baby kangaroos are called Joeys and they can be male or female.

Ellie.

[MissK]

Honestly, she's a little disreputable at times. I think it suits her fine! Pre-naming never works for me......

-MissK

[sanjays mummi]

It doesn't matter what you call a bird, it's not as though you will need to call her in from the garden. I suspect Sanjay might be a henny penny, but Sanjays the name he/she is stuck with, as long as he gets fed etc, he doesn't care!

[Skyes_crew]

My bird's name is Skye. I always thought the bird was female. Assuming the DNA test is correct I now have a boy with a name you can't possibly make masculine. At first it bothered me. I'm ok with it now. My kids call him Luke Skye Flyer. I call him mine

Maybe I should get another bird and call him Darth Feather...or is that too much.............

[JoeysMom]

Thank you for all the responses! I guess I will end up switching Joseph to Josephine. I will still call her Joey, and Josephine when she is being a naughty birdie. I am glad that I did the DNA test now though. I had waited and until Samantha was five and by then it was too late. He only refers to himself as Samantha, not Sammy or Sam.

@Skyes_crew: Have you thought about Skyler/Skylar? I have a budgie named Skyler (unsure of gender). Two friends of mine growing up had this name, one a girl and one a boy.

[Skyes_crew]

I call him skyler when he's being bad lol. My husband wanted to know how that was better than Skye...I shrugged and said I don't know, but as a mom when you yell at your kids it's always better to have two or more syllables

[JoeysMom]

I agree completely! All of my birds have "formal" names that consist of two or more syllables. I normally only call them by their full names if they have been naughty. For instance, if Alex (one of my budgies) decides to climb the blinds and play king of the budgies I yell "Alexander Budgie!" and he comes down from his throne right away!

I like Josephine the more I say it. Although it sounds dainty and pretty. Joey may be pretty, but dainty does not describe her!
I think it will work though!

[sanjays mummi]

So it's Alexander on Sundays?, Sanjay usually gets called sweety,