# The social phenomenon of giving girls male-associated names **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 3, 2014, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-social-phenomenon-of-giving-girls-male-associated-names/677803 "2014-01-03T16:02:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-social-phenomenon-of-giving-girls-male-associated-names/677803/81 "2014-01-09T15:20:06Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > There is a mystery novel in which the solution hinges on the fact that Evelyn is both a man’s and a woman’s name. But the pronunciation doesn’t give things away? ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-social-phenomenon-of-giving-girls-male-associated-names/677803/82 "2014-01-09T15:26:35Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > One of my company’s sales contacts for a particular manufacturer is a guy named Stacey. There are several customer service reps within my company who have never spoken to Stacey – they’ve only seen his emails – and are adamant that this individual is not a man. I called to make an appointment with a gynecologist named Dana once and the receptionist warned me, as I’m sure she did with all new patients, that Dana was a man. I wonder what percentage of women changed their mind upon hearing that (I was one of them). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-social-phenomenon-of-giving-girls-male-associated-names/677803/83 "2014-01-09T15:33:29Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > Not my area of expertise, but you’re confident it’s derived from a Japanese god instead of the common name Susanna? 😕 I’m reasonably sure a Mexican Susano’s name is derived from the common name Susana - one n. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-social-phenomenon-of-giving-girls-male-associated-names/677803/84 "2014-01-09T15:44:02Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I grew up believing that my own surname, Osborne, was a good English name and was surprised to discover that Osborne is also the name of an old company in Spain that makes brandy. Wait, there’re Osbornes in Spain? Your cousin Bertín is quite famous (the name is short for Norberto) and I went to college with another of your relatives 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-social-phenomenon-of-giving-girls-male-associated-names/677803/85 "2014-01-09T16:09:50Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > In the late '70s-early '80s I knew a guy named “Stoner”, which was his mother’s maiden name. I remember his mom telling us about how he came home from his first day of junior high school practically in tears because he’d just found out what it meant. Fortunately for him, by high school he’d grown into a tall, well-built, good-looking, popular guy and nobody hassled him about the name. Poor kid. Did his parents know about the associations with that name when they decided on it? Though I guess he could have just shortened it to “Stone,” though that always seems like a soap-opera name to me. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-social-phenomenon-of-giving-girls-male-associated-names/677803/86 "2014-01-09T16:27:21Z")
A related phenomenon is names adapted for the other gender. Everyone knows that “Roberta” and “Josephine”, say, are female names, but they’re derived from the male names “Robert” and “Joseph”. In fact, nearly every male name seems to have an equivalent female name… But there are almost no names that go the other way, male names that are masculinized versions of female names. You’ll never meet an “Elizabetho”, or a “Rebecco”, or “Deborus”. ---
**Author:** ![llcoolbj77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb9ed0/32.png) [@llcoolbj77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llcoolbj77)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-social-phenomenon-of-giving-girls-male-associated-names/677803/87 "2014-01-09T20:02:26Z")
I’m expecting a daughter in June. Her name will by Ryan. We keep going back and forth on middle names. My first name is Elizabeth (ha!), and I like Ryan Elizabeth. But we’ll see. Ryan was my husband’s mother’s name. Actually, her name was Virginia Ryan (family name) Burke. She hated the name Virginia. So when she got married, she became Ryan Burke Walker. Incidentally, my husband goes by Burke, which was his Mom’s maiden name. I think Ryan is a cool name for a girl. I hope my girl is cool. This family does come from old money. And the great grandmother and great aunt were named Douglass and Cecil, respectively. They both were college graduates when that was pretty rare, and matriarchs of their respective families. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-social-phenomenon-of-giving-girls-male-associated-names/677803/88 "2014-01-09T20:06:10Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > A related phenomenon is names adapted for the other gender. Everyone knows that “Roberta” and “Josephine”, say, are female names, but they’re derived from the male names “Robert” and “Joseph”. . . . Similarly, the name “Jethrene,” derived from “Jethro.” ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-social-phenomenon-of-giving-girls-male-associated-names/677803/89 "2014-01-09T20:29:30Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > A related phenomenon is names adapted for the other gender. Everyone knows that “Roberta” and “Josephine”, say, are female names, but they’re derived from the male names “Robert” and “Joseph”. In fact, nearly every male name seems to have an equivalent female name… But there are almost no names that go the other way, male names that are masculinized versions of female names. You’ll never meet an “Elizabetho”, or a “Rebecco”, or “Deborus”. Mario? ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-social-phenomenon-of-giving-girls-male-associated-names/677803/90 "2014-01-09T20:29:41Z")
> [@Silver\_Fire](#): > > Oh, and I’m not an Elizabeth (it’s my middle name) but I was born in the early 80s and the only Elizabeth I know is a teenager who goes by Liz. Years ago I knew a woman named Ellie and that might have been from Elizabeth, but I don’t think so. So, best case, I’ve met just two first name Elizabeths. This is crazy to me, it’s such a common name, at least where I’ve lived on the East coast of the US. My aunt, sister, a close friend, about 4 of my other Facebook friends are all legal Elizabeths (though they may go by Beth, Liz, or Betsy), I know two Elizabeths under 4, and I’ve met countless others of all ages. I know so many more women with it than the comparably ‘trendy’ Jessicas, Jennifers, Ashleys etc who are all close to my age. Though I do meet a hell of a lot of people, working service and sales jobs and changing jobs frequently. Eli- means ‘my god’ in Hebrew so there are a ton of traditional Biblical/Hebrew names which incorporate it, both male and female. It seems to me that many or most popular English names that are seen as completely female and aren’t adapted from a male name, are those that are the names of women in characters from specific stories in the bible. Deborah, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Sarah, Anna, Mary, Hannah, Abigail, Rachel, Naomi etc etc. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-social-phenomenon-of-giving-girls-male-associated-names/677803/91 "2014-01-09T20:43:45Z")
It’s also so convoluted, how names are adapted and spelled across time and different cultures. Take the currently popular male name Evan. It seems like it has to be a feminized form of the traditional Hebrew feminine Eve/Eva. But it’s actually a Welsh form of the common Hebrew name John. Iefan in Welsh ended up being spelled Evan in modern Englis and is now widely used in America. Mario is a Latinized form of the Roman name Marius, which was a common last name which ended up being used as a first name. Nothing to do with the female Biblical name Mary. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-social-phenomenon-of-giving-girls-male-associated-names/677803/92 "2014-01-09T23:18:58Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I’m not going to say how recently I discovered that [Evelyn Waugh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Waugh) was a dude, because the shame might be too much to bear. My mom went back to college in her 40s and told of how one of the young women in class went on and on about how important Evelyn Waugh’s female perspective was. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-social-phenomenon-of-giving-girls-male-associated-names/677803/93 "2014-01-09T23:23:21Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > My mom went back to college in her 40s and told of how one of the young women in class went on and on about how important Evelyn Waugh’s female perspective was. :smack: I just say _Lost in Translation_ for the first time coincidentally. Johansson’s douchy husband thinks she is being a smartass when she points out Evelyn was a guy after dumb girl uses the name to check into the hotel. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-social-phenomenon-of-giving-girls-male-associated-names/677803/94 "2014-01-10T00:46:00Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > But the pronunciation doesn’t give things away? I’ve heard two pronunciations (Evelyn was my grandmother’s name), but I wasn’t aware they were gender specific…which one is which? ---
**Author:** ![Krav\_Manga](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/krav_manga/32/3153_2.png) [@Krav\_Manga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krav_Manga)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-social-phenomenon-of-giving-girls-male-associated-names/677803/95 "2014-01-10T04:25:31Z")
My daughter has a traditionally male name. It is my middle name, and we have heard it used as a girl’s name before, once or twice. I don’t particularly care if anyone else thinks it’s weird or trendy. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-social-phenomenon-of-giving-girls-male-associated-names/677803/96 "2014-01-10T06:18:48Z")
Anne Rice was born Howard Allen O’Brien. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-social-phenomenon-of-giving-girls-male-associated-names/677803.md?page=4)