# Curious: Unisex Names **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 19, 2005, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-unisex-names/304520 "2005-05-19T02:02:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Carm6773](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2bfe46/32.png) [@Carm6773](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carm6773)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-unisex-names/304520/81 "2005-05-22T22:52:44Z")
I have a niece named Hunter , her sister is named Tierny. I also have a nephew (cousin to Hunter and Tierny) named Birkley, but I could see it as a girl’s name too. My name, Carmen, is considered a unisex name. I teach with a woman whose name is Carroll. We have a girl on our team whose name is Brett and another young lady with the name Sydney. We had a boy at our school a few years back named Ariel. I may start a “WTF” name thread, since most of my students have unique names. ---
**Author:** ![GillianBoardman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc79bd/32.png) [@GillianBoardman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GillianBoardman)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2005, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-unisex-names/304520/82 "2005-05-22T23:03:11Z")
Has anyone mentioned Glenn? ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-unisex-names/304520/83 "2005-05-23T09:24:37Z")
Sydney IS a girl’s name. Sidney is the male version. See Sidney Poitier, and his daughter Sydney. Likewise, Sydney, NSW was named after a woman (which is how I remember which gender gets which spelling). ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-unisex-names/304520/84 "2005-05-23T16:40:16Z")
> [@irishgirl](#): > > Likewise, Sydney, NSW was named after a woman (which is how I remember which gender gets which spelling). > [@](#): > > [Arthur] Phillip originally named the colony “New Albion”, but for some uncertain reason the colony acquired the name “Sydney”, after the (then) British Home Secretary, Thomas Townshend, Lord Sydney (Viscount Sydney from 1789). This is possibly due to the fact that Lord Sydney issued the charter authorising Phillip to establish a colony. > **[Sydney](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney)** > > Sydney (/ˈsɪdni/ (listen) SID-nee; Dharug: Gadi; Greater Sydney, Dharug: Eora) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Port Jackson and extends about 70 km (43.5 mi) on its periphery towards the Blue Mountains to the west, Hawkesbury to the north, the Royal National Park to the south and Macarthur to the south-west. Sydney is made up of 658 suburbs, spread a Indigenou... ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-unisex-names/304520/85 "2005-05-23T21:13:52Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > Wasn’t John Wayne’s name originally Marion Morrison? And then there was Marion Berry, onetime mayor of DC, and now a congressman from Arkansas (unless it’s another Marion Berry which I doubt). ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-unisex-names/304520/86 "2005-05-24T10:30:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Sean/Shawn is Irish for John, I’m not entirely sure how it got to be a girl’s name. Let’s see **irishgirl** , we could be generous and say that a lot of people have a hard time hearing the difference between Sean, ‘John’ in Irish/Scots, and Siän, ‘Jane’ in Welsh, which leads to little girl babies being given the ‘wrong’ name … but I’m not convinced 😉 [hijack] I get the impression that names in the Americas are just used/adapted a lot more freely than in Europe. Potentially through the whole ‘melting pot’ thing. In Latin America I’ve met a lass called ‘Kennie’ - her Dad’s best friend was a Ken; another called Alegna, her mother’s name was Angela; a Yusuf Lopez whose catholic parents just liked the name and Sao Paolo abounds with Japanese/Portuguese combinations. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-unisex-names/304520/87 "2005-05-24T20:49:59Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > And then there was Marion Berry, onetime mayor of DC, and now a congressman from Arkansas (unless it’s another Marion Berry which I doubt). [Marion Berry](http://www.house.gov/berry/) is white, was born in 1942, and represents Arkansas’s First Congressional District. The black man who served as mayor of Washington was born in 1936, and his name is Marion [Barry.](http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAbarryM.htm) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-unisex-names/304520.md?page=4)