# I used to be a man...(names thread) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 9, 2001, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-a-man-names-thread/80543 "2001-09-09T18:42:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-a-man-names-thread/80543/41 "2001-09-10T21:26:57Z")
I thought of another: Laurie I have known both men and women who spell it this way, however normally women will spell it Lori or Lauri or Lorry or some other variant. ---
**Author:** ![monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monster)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-a-man-names-thread/80543/42 "2001-09-10T21:35:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crunchy Frog \* > \*\*I went to school with a boy Cary and a girl Carrie. > \*\* And I went to school with a boy Kerry. (Like Kerry Wood, but not him) ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-a-man-names-thread/80543/43 "2001-09-10T21:43:37Z")
Frankly, I don’t think names like Cory or Shane are relavant to this discussion. Like many “new” first names, they are gender-neutral. (Although Shane Barbi is hardly gender-neutral. I’m surprised she hasn’t put Sia’s eye out with those things. And vice versa.) Here are two more that used to be last names, and then mens’ names, but are now more often used for girls: Kelly and Kerry. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-a-man-names-thread/80543/44 "2001-09-10T21:49:14Z")
And then there’s the late NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt’s kids\*: Kerrie, Kelley and Dale Jr. Two are male, one is female. I used to have a real problem figuring out which of the K’s is which… FTR Kerrie’s the son, Kelly’s the daughter. - There’s also a little girl from his marriage to Theresa, but I don’t know her name. It’s a distinctively feminine name anyway IIRC, so wouldn’t fit into this discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Skijumper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3e96dc/32.png) [@Skijumper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skijumper)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-a-man-names-thread/80543/45 "2001-09-10T22:10:05Z")
I have two male relatives, Evelyn and Vivian , whose name I can never spell correctly. (‘E’ or ‘a’?) A female friend called Ellison who was named after her grandfather. A friend of mine named his daughters after male saints - Michael and Stephen (we call her Stevie for short). Although I don’t know how common is that. You can imagine the raised eyebrows their boyfriends get: “I’m taking Michael to the prom tonight…” And then there are the two Jamies I know - one’s a young boy, the other a woman in her 30’s. ---
**Author:** ![ARose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@ARose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ARose)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-a-man-names-thread/80543/46 "2001-09-10T22:38:41Z")
I can vouch for the “Alex” part. The “A” in my name is short for Alexander, which is now Alex. For some reason my ever-intelligent, ever-witty comrades in elementary school found it necessary to point out that my name, “could be Alexandria, HAR HAR HAR HAR!!” Also my fairly recent cousin is an Alix. It makes it great fun at family happenings. “Oh my, Alix had another accident. Lemme clean it up.” I glance around nervously, “Huh?! No such accident here _squishes seat of pants…_ Nope. I didn’t do it, and don’t come NEAR me with those baby wipes, ma’am.” I guess thats the summary of my contribution… ~ARose ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-a-man-names-thread/80543/47 "2001-09-10T22:53:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tevya \* > \*\*I knew a guy from Russia named Sasha. I always thought of that as a girl’s name until I met him. \*\* I think Westerners tend to get pretty mixed up about Russian names. There’s the movie _La Femme Nikita_ and Elton John’s song _Nikita_, where the title character is female - but then we have in real life the former Soviet leader Nikita Kruschev. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-a-man-names-thread/80543.md?page=2)