# Any feminine names that became masculine? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 30, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-feminine-names-that-became-masculine/498193 "2009-05-30T20:08:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-feminine-names-that-became-masculine/498193/1 "2009-05-30T20:08:19Z")
The English language is full of names that started out masculine and became feminine or unisex. Cameron Vivian Evelyn Jaime Alexis etc. Are there any examples of the opposite, feminine or unisex names that are now chiefly masculine? Maybe there are some obvious examples that I’m missing, but none come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-feminine-names-that-became-masculine/498193/2 "2009-05-30T20:14:40Z")
IIRC, wasn’t Douglas originally a woman’s name in the Middle Ages? And some names, like Alexis (pronounced alex-cee or say) are still masculine in foreign countries. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-feminine-names-that-became-masculine/498193/3 "2009-05-30T20:30:34Z")
My niece has 2 daughters, Austin and Gunnar. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-feminine-names-that-became-masculine/498193/4 "2009-05-30T21:12:57Z")
Shirley Meredith Beverley ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-feminine-names-that-became-masculine/498193/5 "2009-05-30T21:18:54Z")
Guys - I think the OP is asking for names that are masculine NOW, that were feminine BEFORE, not the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-feminine-names-that-became-masculine/498193/6 "2009-05-30T21:22:32Z")
Yeah, that seems to be exactly what the OP is asking. I’ve been wracking my brains and I can’t think of any, although I do recall the (not exactly helpful) point from _Freakonomics_ that while masculine names frequently cross over to feminine names, the opposite is rare. They didn’t give any examples, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-feminine-names-that-became-masculine/498193/7 "2009-05-30T21:40:59Z")
Probably pushing it a bit, but how about Artemis? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-feminine-names-that-became-masculine/498193/8 "2009-05-30T21:43:50Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Guys - I think the OP is asking for names that are masculine NOW, that were feminine BEFORE, not the other way around. Exactly. Implicit in the OP is that these names are common in English, as many names in languages like French retain the masculine. Artemis is a good example, although most of the examples I can think of are fictional characters. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-feminine-names-that-became-masculine/498193/9 "2009-05-30T21:49:51Z")
When Beckham and Posh named their son Cruz, some English college professor claimed that it was a girl’s name. [Cruz Bustamante](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruz_Bustamante), [Cruz Reynoso,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruz_Reynoso) and [Cruz Martinez](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruz_Mart%C3%ADnez) beg to differ. Bless Google. Found the mistaken pedant: > [@](#): > > Cruz is a common surname in Spain and South America, but is an unusual first name, according to Lola Oria, Spanish language tutor at Oxford University. > > She said Cruz is actually an old-fashioned girl’s name, adding: “It is quite a strange thing to do to a little boy.” ---
**Author:** ![sugar\_and\_spice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@sugar\_and\_spice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugar_and_spice)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-feminine-names-that-became-masculine/498193/10 "2009-05-30T22:27:55Z")
This is a bit of a cheat answer, but … Jaime is a common boys name in Spanish, equivalent to James. And in the US, it looks like Jaime is now more popular as a boys name than as a girls name: [link,](http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager#prefix=JAIME&ms=false&sw=f&exact=false) data is from SSA. The boys name was #321 in 2008, the girls name has fallen out of the top 1000. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-feminine-names-that-became-masculine/498193/11 "2009-05-30T23:44:31Z")
douglas is the only one i can think of. when it solely for girls it was spelled douglass. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-feminine-names-that-became-masculine/498193/12 "2009-05-31T00:09:25Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > douglas is the only one i can think of. when it solely for girls it was spelled douglass. 😕 When was Douglas(s) primarily feminine? If the etymology I have seen is correct ( from the Gaelic for “dark/black river” ), the earliest association I know of is the surname of the famous Scottish borderer family. Do I have that wrong and it predates that substantially as a given name? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-feminine-names-that-became-masculine/498193/13 "2009-05-31T00:17:29Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > 😕 > > When was Douglas(s) primarily feminine? If the etymology I have seen is correct ( from the Gaelic for “dark/black river” ), the earliest association I know of is the surname of the famous Scottish borderer family. Do I have that wrong and it predates that substantially as a given name? Elizabethan era. [Lady Dougless Sheffield](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Sheffield) was one of the lovers of [Robert Dudley](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Dudley,_1st_Earl_of_Leicester), the rumored lover of Queen Elizabeth. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-feminine-names-that-became-masculine/498193/14 "2009-05-31T00:25:17Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > 😕 > > When was Douglas(s) primarily feminine? If the etymology I have seen is correct ( from the Gaelic for “dark/black river” ), the earliest association I know of is the surname of the famous Scottish borderer family. Do I have that wrong and it predates that substantially as a given name? You are nearly correct about the etymology: Old Irish _dub_ “black, dark” + _glas_ “blue, blue thing,” i.e. dark water. It started as a desciptive place name, then became a surname, and only then a given name. Interestingly, although a lot of Old Irish given names begin with _dub-_, Douglas is not among them. Cameron (“crooked nose,” Gaelic _cam_ + lenited _sron_\*) was also an epithet before it became a bizarre given name. I’ve never understood the prediliction for naming girls after deformed faces. \*the “e” is originally an epenthetic vowel, if anyone cares. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-feminine-names-that-became-masculine/498193/15 "2009-05-31T00:38:09Z")
Did my name start out as a boy’s name, or a girl’s name, or has it always been unisex but mostly used for girls? (Shannon) I’ve met two boys with the name, but their parents named them after the same damn song that inspired mine. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-feminine-names-that-became-masculine/498193/16 "2009-05-31T00:46:45Z")
[A quick look](http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/popularity_of_Shannon.html) indicates that is has always been more popular in the US for girls than for boys. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-feminine-names-that-became-masculine/498193/17 "2009-05-31T00:56:54Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Did my name start out as a boy’s name, or a girl’s name, or has it always been unisex but mostly used for girls? (Shannon) I’ve met two boys with the name, but their parents named them after the same damn song that inspired mine. The word started life as a place-name, Old Irish _Sinand_ or _Sinond_ (pronounced roughly shin-ahn or shin-onn, respectively). Like most river-names, it’s a feminine noun, but it was never a given name among Gaelic-speakers, so I don’t know which came first. My name books say it’s American in origin (as a given name, that is), but they’re silent as to the original gender. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-feminine-names-that-became-masculine/498193/18 "2009-05-31T01:39:54Z")
Not common, and kind of rare and 19th century sounding, but in Spanish, sometimes males had a female middle name (likewise females having a male middle name). [Eugenio María de Hostos](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenio_Mar%C3%ADa_de_Hostos) being the first name that comes to my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-feminine-names-that-became-masculine/498193/19 "2009-05-31T05:04:25Z")
> [@sugar\_and\_spice](#): > > Jaime is a common boys name in Spanish, equivalent to James. I thought that “Diego” was the Spanish equivalent to James? ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-feminine-names-that-became-masculine/498193/20 "2009-05-31T07:11:22Z")
Cameron is still appropriate for a male, IMO. Despite Cameron Diaz, the name still sounds masculine to me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-feminine-names-that-became-masculine/498193.md?page=2)