# Would you give your newborn son a stereotypically female name?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-give-your-newborn-son-a-stereotypically-female-name/718585>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [April 26, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-give-your-newborn-son-a-stereotypically-female-name/718585 "2015-04-26T17:30:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 38

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**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-give-your-newborn-son-a-stereotypically-female-name/718585/38 "2015-04-27T00:04:23Z")

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> [@Freudian\_Slit](#):
>
> What are examples of people giving girls a stereotypically masculine name? I can’t say I’ve heard of that.

There are a lot of names that in Anglo-American are considered feminine to one extent or another that were originally completely masculine or at least neutral (purposely ignoring spelling variations):

Adrian, Alexis, Ashley, Aubrey, Audrey, Avery, Beverly, Blair, Bobby, Bret, Cameron, Carol, Charly, Christy, Ciaran, Clare, Cory, Courtney, Crystal, Dale, Dana, Danny, Evelyn, Fay, Fran, Franny, Francis, Gale, Gene, Gillian, Ginger, Hilary, Jamey, Jan, Jess, Jessy, Jody, Jordan, Josie, Julie, Kay, Kelly, Kelsey, Kim, Lanny, Laury, Lee, Leslie, Lindsay, Lou, Lucy, Lyn, Marion, Nicky, Paige, Patsy, Piper, Randy, Rene, Robin, Ronny, Sandy, Shannon, Shelly, Shirley, Stacy, Steph, Stevie, Tamesin, Terry, Tracy, Valery, Viv, Vivian, Whitney, Winnie

I wrote about this in a failed thread attempt back in 2006:

> [@Gender ambiguous given names (in Anglo-American/Anglophone culture)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-ambiguous-given-names-in-anglo-american-anglophone-culture/363061/1):
>
> I’ve been thinking about gender-ambiguous given names in Anglo-American culture (or let’s expand it to English-speaking culture in general). For some reason, I find it fascinating. I’ve worked up a list and I hope the Doper community will find it interesting enough to continue.
> 
> An overarching principal seems to be that there is some critical “feminineness” stage after which a name is no longer accepted as a masculine name at all.
> 
> It seems to me there are several categories of gender-ambiguous names (feel free to add to the list):
> 
> 1. Names that were originally exclusively masculine names that gradually made the transition to ambiguous names and are now pretty much exclusively feminine names.
> 
> 2. Names whose gender specificity was based on a spelling differentiation whose ability to differentiate has been lost and has resulted in a name becoming gender-ambiguous or almost completely feminine. (Leslie/Lesley, Valery/Valerie, Vivian/Vivienne, Francis/Frances, Carol/Carole)
> 
> 3. Diminutives that have transitioned from predominantly masculine to predominantly feminine (and are no longer treated as diminutives), or are currently in transition.
> 
> 4. Names that were originally place names that were used as masculine given names and have been transferred to use as feminine names (often by example of a famous person).
> 
> 5. Foreign names that are masculine in their home culture but have become (predominantly) feminine in Anglo-American culture (e.g., Ananda, Chandra). …
> 
> 6. Names currently in transition from predominantly masculine to predominantly feminine.

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