# ­xkcd thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [May 28, 2020, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574 "2020-05-28T00:57:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/301 "2020-12-05T05:50:22Z")
It’s been a trend forever. Many names now thought of as female had been more male before. Sydney is now more often a girl. Robyn. Leslie used to male mostly but flipped in the ‘50s. Addisons were all males pretty much until the ‘90s. Lynn flipped in the ‘20s. Not sure if any have gone the other way though. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/302 "2020-12-05T06:02:42Z")
> **[Contiguous 41 States](https://xkcd.com/2394/)** > > Linguists, settling some inscrutable grudge, have been steadily sneaking more backdated synonyms for 'sharing borders' into the dictionary. They've added 'contiguous,' 'coterminous,' 'conterminous,' and next year they're adding 'conterguous.' missing are DE, KS, NE, NM, ND, PA, SD spoiler tagged by WE? New Zealand has also been left off many maps. Are they doing the same thing? Leaving off Belgium and Cyprus or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/303 "2020-12-05T06:21:59Z")
It’s kind of amazing how “right” that map seems before you look at it closely. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/304 "2020-12-05T06:49:04Z")
Interesting datum: if you google “map showing all fifty states” on an image search there are fifty-nine results before you get a map ([this one](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/united-states-america-map-colorful-showing-boundary-along-scale-there-fifty-146111574.jpg)) that shows all fifty states with Alaska and Hawaii located in the correct positions relative to the other states and shows them at the same scale. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/305 "2020-12-05T13:29:54Z")
Would’ve been nice if @dtilque had spoilered the right answers. Oops. > [@Wheelz](#): > > It’s kind of amazing how “right” that map seems before you look at it closely. Yeah. identifying what’s missing is a _lot_ harder than I’d expect. It was a masterstroke to leave the obvious baby states like RI & CT in place. He could have _really_ messed with our heads by giving the Michigan UP a bogus abbreviation. I started out trying to find 9 missing states, since 50 - 41 = 9. D’oh! :smack: ---
**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:** [December 5, 2020, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/306 "2020-12-05T13:47:44Z")
@Little_Nemo, that map still doesn’t show Alaska and Hawaii at the same scale as the rest. Though that’s an artifact of their choice of Mercator projection. Oh, and “Ryan” is now turning into a girls’ name, too. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/307 "2020-12-05T14:39:23Z")
I’ll accept that it’s a map in which all the states are distorted by a single projection commonly applied to all. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/308 "2020-12-05T17:34:48Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Would’ve been nice if @dtilque had spoilered the right answers. Oops. It wasn’t like it was a quiz. But yes, in hindsight, I should have figured some people would treat it as one and spoilered that. ---
**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:** [December 5, 2020, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/309 "2020-12-05T17:53:52Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Not sure if any have gone the other way though. “Chris,” maybe? I know a few Christines from my mother’s generation who go by “Chris,” but among people my age and younger, all the Chrises I’ve ever met have been male. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/310 "2020-12-05T18:00:16Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > “Chris,” maybe? I know a few Christines from my mother’s generation who go by “Chris,” but among people my age and younger, all the Chrises I’ve ever met have been male.  Chris has been a male name for a _very_ long time. It’s short for Christopher. ---
**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:** [December 5, 2020, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/311 "2020-12-05T18:25:17Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > Chris has been a male name for a _very_ long time. It’s short for Christopher. Yes, I know. What I’m saying is that it’s an example of a formerly unisex name that has become almost exclusively male over the last few decades. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/312 "2020-12-05T19:13:52Z")
[Baby name wizard](https://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager#prefix=chris&sw=both&exact=false) is a fun site to track name popularity in the United States over the years. “Chris-” in its various forms actually just exploded across the board for both genders beginning in the '50s, peaked in the '70s, and has been coming down since. Maybe slightly more male at its peak but now, from '90s on, mostly male and indeed before the unisex explosion was more female for several decades at least. ---
**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:** [December 6, 2020, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/313 "2020-12-06T13:58:58Z")
And “Mario” and “Mary” have different origins, but Mario’s popularity was probably influenced by Mary. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/314 "2020-12-06T14:17:45Z")
The name “Mary” comes from “Maria”, an old Latin name, and while it is coincidentally similar to the Hebrew “Miriam”, it actually predates Christianity. The male version of “Maria” was “Marius”, which is the origin of “Mario”. Therefore, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that Mario and Mary do in fact have the same origin. ---
**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:** [December 6, 2020, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/315 "2020-12-06T14:27:40Z")
But girls named “Mary” aren’t named for anyone named “Marius” (or the female variant thereof); they’re named for the mother of Jesus (or possibly for one of the other New Testament women of the same name). If I’m not mistaken, the Biblical Marys were all actually “Miriam”, were they not? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/316 "2020-12-06T14:42:36Z")
They were, but “Mary” isn’t a translation of the Hebrew name “Miriam”, it’s a translation of the Latin name “Maria”. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/317 "2020-12-06T14:53:48Z")
Gale has apparently switched from a majority girl’s name to a majority boy’s name. There was a male character named Gale in the Hunger Games. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/318 "2020-12-06T14:56:57Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > “Mary” isn’t a translation of the Hebrew name “Miriam”, it’s a translation of the Latin name “Maria”. But the Latin name Maria (for the biblical person) is simply the Latin version of the Greek Μαρία, which is the Greek version of the Aramaic name Maryam. מרים (Miriam, Maryam) → Μαρία → Maria → Mary ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/319 "2020-12-06T15:02:03Z")
Except that its being a female name had followed its being a male name. Link above. Before the 1930s all male. Peaked as a female name in the '40s and then dropped fast. Hardly any female Gales named in the past 40 years. And Gail has always been female but also was one only popular for a short time in the '40s. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/320 "2020-12-06T15:14:08Z")
Huh. I stand corrected. I always assumed the name originally came from the Maria gens. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=17)