# Do you know what you would have been named, if you'd been the other gender? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 25, 2017, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-you-would-have-been-named-if-youd-been-the-other-gender/789818 "2017-06-25T11:28:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-you-would-have-been-named-if-youd-been-the-other-gender/789818/1 "2017-06-25T11:28:57Z")
Inspired by a comment on the thread about translating your name, I happen to know that the name my parents had chosen for me it I had been a boy was Natan Chaim. I don’t know what Natan appealed to them, but at least they were consistent in going with the Hebrew version, and naming me “Natan” instead of “Nathan,” like they named me Rivkah instead of Rebecca. The middle name is the same-- Chaim is the male version of Chaya. Interestingly, when my brother was born 3 1/2 years later, they named him Joshua, and not Natan. Not Yehoshua, either. I was always I little jealous of him over the “not Yehoshua” thing. I got over it, but when we were kids, and in public school, which was full of Joshes, and I was the only Rivkah, I was jealous. If my brother had been a girl, I think my parents had settled on Miriam, but I’m not sure they were totally good with it. He might have come home with a last minute change, as much as my parents were the types who like to be over-prepared. ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-you-would-have-been-named-if-youd-been-the-other-gender/789818/2 "2017-06-25T11:40:34Z")
I’d have been Christopher John and my sister would have been Todd Christopher. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-you-would-have-been-named-if-youd-been-the-other-gender/789818/3 "2017-06-25T11:40:35Z")
If I had been a boy I’d be David. I have a cousin named David, born seven weeks after me. Our moms were sisters. I don’t know if we both would have had the same name, or if my aunt had another name on tap in case I’d been a boy. My sister, born in 1959, would have been Dwight, named for the POTUS. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-you-would-have-been-named-if-youd-been-the-other-gender/789818/4 "2017-06-25T12:41:20Z")
Javier. As well as being a popular name locally, and the name of my father’s favorite brother, my birthdate took place next to a yearly novena (nine days of prayer) and two pilgrimages dedicated to the saint. We refer to St Francis Xavier as “the universal Navarrese”: there are others who are well-known in specific areas of geography or knowledge, but none who’s so widely famous. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-you-would-have-been-named-if-youd-been-the-other-gender/789818/5 "2017-06-25T12:54:04Z")
Orley Richmond … IV. Yeah. Christy is fine by me. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-you-would-have-been-named-if-youd-been-the-other-gender/789818/6 "2017-06-25T12:59:25Z")
I have to say Christy is a lot, lot better :needs an eye-crossed smiley: ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-you-would-have-been-named-if-youd-been-the-other-gender/789818/7 "2017-06-25T13:16:30Z")
Jeanette. ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-you-would-have-been-named-if-youd-been-the-other-gender/789818/8 "2017-06-25T13:16:42Z")
Julie, which is alliterative with my last name. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-you-would-have-been-named-if-youd-been-the-other-gender/789818/9 "2017-06-25T13:51:26Z")
Yes, because my younger sister got the name instead. Sandra. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-you-would-have-been-named-if-youd-been-the-other-gender/789818/10 "2017-06-25T14:06:43Z")
Nancy. They spent 8+ months thinking about it and they came up with Nancy? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-you-would-have-been-named-if-youd-been-the-other-gender/789818/11 "2017-06-25T14:08:26Z")
No idea, but I do know that my mother originally wanted to name me Bruce. She caught all kinds of shit from her coworkers because that was the boss’s name, so she changed it. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-you-would-have-been-named-if-youd-been-the-other-gender/789818/12 "2017-06-25T15:05:28Z")
Given that my older sister was named for her mother and my dad’s sister (Mary Martha), and I was lnamed for my dad’s father, I suspect that Ida (my dad’s late mother) would have been on the leaderboard. Ida been OK with that. Anne would have been incontention, too, being the name of my mom’s mother and a sistger. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-you-would-have-been-named-if-youd-been-the-other-gender/789818/13 "2017-06-25T15:16:16Z")
I would have been named after my grandmothers instead of my grandfathers Emma Lorena May most likely or Lorena May Emma maybe ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-you-would-have-been-named-if-youd-been-the-other-gender/789818/14 "2017-06-25T15:56:10Z")
Something that starts with a K or a K sound. Katie, Karen, Kathleen, Carol, Carolyn, etc. This was decades before all the “Kaitlyns” came into being. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-you-would-have-been-named-if-youd-been-the-other-gender/789818/15 "2017-06-25T16:12:41Z")
Molly. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-you-would-have-been-named-if-youd-been-the-other-gender/789818/16 "2017-06-25T16:14:53Z")
No decisions had been made about names before I was born. Mom was pretty out of it, and ended up in the hospital for 6 weeks after I got to go home\*, otherwise I wouldn’t have had the name I have. She’d always sworn to not use my name for a son since it was so common on Dad’s side of the family. She didn’t really realize till weeks later just what name she’d agreed to while laying in that hospital bed. - For a definition of home that means living with my grandparents till Mom was home. They covered while Dad handled my two sisters and a very sick wife in the hospital. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-you-would-have-been-named-if-youd-been-the-other-gender/789818/17 "2017-06-25T16:16:43Z")
Since I’m Michelle, I’m assuming I would have been Michael. But not too long ago, I found out my dad had wanted to call me Roxanne - kinda wish he’d won that battle. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-you-would-have-been-named-if-youd-been-the-other-gender/789818/18 "2017-06-25T16:44:06Z")
Scott Michael. Not sure where the Scott came from but Michael was my dad’s name. I wound up going to high school with a guy named Scott Same-last-name-as-me. My sister would have been Andrew Michael. Poor dad finally got someone named after him when my oldest niece Mikaylah was born. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-you-would-have-been-named-if-youd-been-the-other-gender/789818/19 "2017-06-25T17:31:15Z")
I would have been Emily. No idea about middle name. No family history for the name Emily so no idea where that came from. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-you-would-have-been-named-if-youd-been-the-other-gender/789818/20 "2017-06-25T17:41:26Z")
Dirk Carlyle [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-you-would-have-been-named-if-youd-been-the-other-gender/789818.md?page=2)