# What would your name have been if you were born the opposite gender? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 11, 2004, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941 "2004-01-11T05:24:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941/41 "2004-01-11T16:48:10Z")
After my dad. He’s a III. My brother is a IV. I am so lucky. ---
**Author:** ![AntaresJB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@AntaresJB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AntaresJB)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941/42 "2004-01-11T17:23:30Z")
My parents decided for me they wanted to go with something celestial. If I had been a boy, I would have been Orion. Since I came with the innie genitalia, I got Antares instead. I guess I’m lucky I didn’t get Cassiopeia or Betelgeuse or something… ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941/43 "2004-01-11T17:48:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AntaresJB \* > \*\*My parents decided for me they wanted to go with something celestial. If I had been a boy, I would have been Orion. Since I came with the innie genitalia, I got Antares instead. I guess I’m lucky I didn’t get Cassiopeia or Betelgeuse or something… \*\* Your parents aren’t descended from The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, by any chance? 🙂 I would probably have ended up as Paul, which is **YoungerBrotherPorpentine’s** name, but my mother was pushing for Sebastian for a while (which would have been _much_ cooler, but I don’t think my dad would have agreed). ---
**Author:** ![Alexnbink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/cab0a1/32.png) [@Alexnbink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alexnbink)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941/44 "2004-01-11T17:58:54Z")
My mother told me that if I was a boy my dad wanted to call me Bolo. My last name is Donolo. Bolo Donolo. I sincerely hope he was joking. ---
**Author:** ![AntaresJB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@AntaresJB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AntaresJB)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941/45 "2004-01-11T18:18:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fretful Porpentine \* > \*\*Your parents aren’t descended from The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, by any chance? 🙂 > \*\* Okay, from googling it appears this is some sort of Harry Potter reference, but as I’ve never read any of the books and only saw the first movie once on video when I was drunk, I don’t get it. So I’ll just fake-giggle and pretend I got it. 😃 Seriously, I don’t know what my parents were thinking with me. My older sister is Morgan, which was my mom’s middle name and somebody’s maiden name before that, I think. My little brother is Clayton, which was some grandfather’s name or something, I think. Fairly normal names, really. And then smack in the middle they decide to go all starry-eyed. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941/46 "2004-01-11T19:29:24Z")
Vincent.(my younger brother’s name) My dad really liked the name, so when my older cousin was going to be born, he suggested Valerie or Vincent to _my aunt_. My cousin and I both turned out to be girls, so he had to wait for my brother to come along to use the name 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941/47 "2004-01-11T19:31:33Z")
Nolan Edward. Nolan after my father’s late dearest best friend, and Edward after my mum’s oldest brother who died as an infant in the influenza epidemic in 1918. My nickname would have been Ducky :eek: Instead, I am called after my mum/her favourite auntie (although I have the boy’s spelling of the name, thanks, mum!), and my second name is after my mum’s oldest sister, who died in 1925 at age 7 from food poisoning. My mum calls me Carrot. 🆒 PS – My gran, my dad’s mum, was _very_ domineering, and when she was a new wife, my mum very easily intimidated, and she was informed by my dad and gran that the first child would be called after my granddad (himself a very kind man whom I never met, alas.) Poor mum was quite upset during her pregancy as my gran always referred to the impending baby as ‘him’ and ‘Charles’ – mum felt helpless to fight back, cos as she tells me, ‘This was 1950, and she was just a wee timid Irish girl used to minding her elders’. I don’t think mum stopped grinning once during the baptism – my sister was actually called after Debra Paget (or Kerr – I can’t remember!). ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941/48 "2004-01-11T19:34:54Z")
PS – how domineering? My auntie’s oldest son is called Carl, and my uncle’s oldest son is called Charles… ---
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941/49 "2004-01-11T20:15:03Z")
I’m Tom (Thomas), and my fraternal twin brother is Patrick. Had we been girls, we would have been Megan and Lauren, respectively. I’m not sure why my mom decided that I was Megan and Pat was Lauren, but frankly, I’d rather not think about it. ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941/50 "2004-01-11T20:50:34Z")
Allison. The parents, you see, they know this world is killing me. Ha! ---
**Author:** ![libwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/76d3ee/32.png) [@libwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/libwen)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941/51 "2004-01-11T20:52:20Z")
Were I a boy, I would have been Benjamin Daniel – Benjamin because my mom liked it, and Daniel after my great-grandfather. ---
**Author:** ![Bugnorton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bugnorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bugnorton)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941/52 "2004-01-11T21:19:44Z")
Kelsey Kennedy (another in a long line of Kelsey Kenndeys) ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941/53 "2004-01-11T21:57:36Z")
Christina…and yes, I have a younger sister with that name. ---
**Author:** ![BraheSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941/54 "2004-01-11T22:00:48Z")
Katherine, after my mother’s best friend. I know this because she told me - and she also told me that they’d been _planning_ on having a girl since the ultrasound didn’t show the characteristics of a male. That does wonders for the self-esteem of a young adolescent, I tells ya. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941/55 "2004-01-12T01:05:26Z")
Henry. It’s the name of my mom’s first husband, (not my dad), who died young. I never understood why my dad was going to let me be named after some dead guy my mom used to be married to. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Badger\_Racing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@Atomic\_Badger\_Racing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Badger_Racing)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941/56 "2004-01-12T01:20:03Z")
Probably Alice, since that’s one of my middle names now. ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941/57 "2004-01-12T01:26:02Z")
Jacob, after my maternal grandfather. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941/58 "2004-01-12T02:37:06Z")
Georgette Sue, allegedly, in honor of my grandfather. This raises two questions, though: 1. Why didn’t they call me George? 2. Why didn’t they call my younger sister Georgette Sue? I think my parents are lying. Of course, my mom wanted to call me “Stone” anyway. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941/59 "2004-01-12T02:55:32Z")
It’s possible I would have ended up the same. Mom always wanted to name a girl Lesley - then she married one! I got the “ey” spelling as he already had the “ie”. Not that it matters, anyway. I’ve always been called by my second name, Ann. There’s was also some discussion about “Thomas”. I never had a brother, but the cat I grew up with was Tommy! ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941/60 "2004-01-12T03:15:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AntaresJB \* > \*\*Okay, from googling it appears this is some sort of Harry Potter reference, but as I’ve never read any of the books and only saw the first movie once on video when I was drunk, I don’t get it. So I’ll just fake-giggle and pretend I got it. 😃 > > \ \*\* There’s a character called Sirius Black. [Sirius, the dogstar.](http://reference.allrefer.com/encyclopedia/S/Sirius.html) As for what I’d have been called if I were a boy, Mom assures me it would have been Brad Jeffrey, as that’s my younger brother’s name, but then out came the the fact that Dad wanted to name me Lola. After a http://www.lola-group.com/index\_flash.cfm"]car-maker, who has a lot to do with Le Mans. Mom, bless Cecil, swiftly put a stop to that. Then Mom and I went off on a tangent, and decided that if I had been a boy, Dad probably would have wanted to name me Ford. Or Edsel. For small favors I am eternally grateful. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-your-name-have-been-if-you-were-born-the-opposite-gender/223941.md?page=4)