Dylan: male
Stacy: female, but I wouldn’t say anything to Stacey Keach because Mike Hammer would stomp on my liver.
Kendall: I don’t think I have ever met anyone with that name but my first thought would be female.
Devon: Again I don’t think I have ever met anyone with the name but my first thought would be it shouldn’t be a name for a human but if you force me, male.
For reference I am a 42 year old male.
Tracy was a hugely popular girl’s name in England in the 1960s-80s, btw, enough that you would never have named a boy Tracy if you lived in the UK - unless you secretly hated the child.
But to my ear (and mind), the emphasis being on “Ken”, “Rand” or “Mitch” makes “KEN-d’l”, “RAN-d’l” and “MITCH-'l” (the “-all” or “-ell” ending getting swallowed to sound like “kindle” or “spindle”) feel very different from Mi-SHELL or Dan-YELL.
Anyway it’s clear the majority of this country by now consider “Kendall” at least as, if not significantly more likely to be a little girl’s name as a little boy’s name (if not “a [presumably adult] big redneck guy”)… So the fella’s gonna either do some ‘splainin’ or get used to dubbing himself “Ken” or “Kenny” when he gets older. I predict the latter.
All of the female names you mentioned (a) have the accent on the last syllable and (b) have an “el” spelling, not an “al” spelling.
I’ve never encountered Kendall as a girl’s name, but even if I hadn’t met a number of male Kendalls, I’d automatically assume it to be a boy’s name because of the structure and sound (and the accent on the “Ken”).
If it was “Kendelle” (accent on the “elle”), I’d assume girl.
They’re all legit for either sex but:
Dylan - Predominantly male, but increasingly female
Kendall - Predominantly female
Stacy (Stacey) - Overwhelmingly predominantly female
Devon (Devin, Devyn) - Predominantly female
Dylan - Male but I know a girl named Dylan
Kendall - Female
Stacy - Female
Devin - Totally a girl’s name
boy, boy, girl, boy
Yet I knew a girl Devon growing up. Still a boy name.
I’ve read (and this site agrees) that the popularity of “Tracy” as a girl’s name stems from Katharine Hepburn’s 1940 portrayal of Tracy Lord in The Philadelphia Story.
Emma = Female
Dylan: Male.
Kendall: Female. I cannot think of a male Kendall I have ever known.
Stacy/Stacey: Female.
Devon: Male.
Devin/Devyn: Female. (Yes, for some reason the vowel change alters my view. I think I have known one male Devon and one female Devyn - and no others.)
Dylan - Predominantly Male
Kendall - Male
Stacy (Stacey) - Female
Devon (Devin, Devyn) - Male
Dylan - equally unisex
Kendall - only male
Stacy (Stacey) - predominantly female
Devon (Devin, Devyn) - predominantly female
I’m a dude, age 44.
All boys names except Stacy. I’m male, 33.
My associations
Dylan -Male but can go female, but she’ll be a tomboy if it’s a female.
Kendall -Female but could be the other. I’d give it 60-40 odds of Female.
Stacy (Stacey) -Female 95%
Devon (Devin, Devyn)-Male to the first two spellings, and never seen the 3rd one.
If it’s a female, I automatically associate it w/ Porn for some reason. So male but could be female potentially.
Dude- age 24
Dylan - mostly male
Kendall - I babysat a Kendall ib the mid-Eighties and a friend’s sister is one. Both are female.
Stacy - I do know a few female Stacy’s and I dated a male one. Of course I know about Stacey Keach since we share a last name! Both on that one.
Devon - both. I know a female and I know of Devon Sawa the actor.
My actual first name is a M/F one as well and I shared it with my dad. Caused a bit of confusion with Motor Vehicle! I use the middle one and always have.
Dylan - Female
Kendall - Female
Stacey - Female
Devon - Female
The thing is once one girl takes a name, it becomes a girl’s name.
Names like Chris and Terry(i) don’t count because they are short for names. Girls aren’t named Christopher and boys aren’t named Christine, for example.
So all parents do by giving a girl a boy’s name is create the next generation of Staceys (names that were male and now aren’t)
Dylan - Male (my cousin)
Kendall - Female (classmate)
Stacey - Female (sister’s classmate)
Devon - Male (classmate)
As for Markxxx: Then every name that isn’t short for something is female. There’s always at least one person who will name their girl a guy’s name. I will point out that Mark is also short for Marcella, but by your own admission, that doesn’t count. But neither does Bobbi…
Just as he said. Of course, there probably are people who would call their kid ‘Salami’, too, but I can’t believe we’d honestly spend time asking if it was a masculine or feminine name.
(Female, 35, and - for the record - absolutely not named ‘Devon’, thank goodness.)
Dylan - boy
Kendall - girl
Stacy (Stacey) - girl
Devon (Devin, Devyn) - girl
Will go back and read the thread now!