Why Do Names Change Gender?

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SOURCES AND FURTHER READING
Name Gender Over Time: www.jefftk.com/p/name-gender-...
Gender Name Migration: schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/...
8 Baby Names That Switched Gender: blogs.ancestry.com/cm/its-a-b...
Why Some Parents Turn Boys’ Names Into Girls’ Names: www.theatlantic.com/family/ar...
Hello, My Name Is: www.amazon.co.uk/Hello-My-Nam...

[@NameExplain]

What is your name in the opposite gender? EG Patrick becomes Patricia.

[@e.blessssssingg]

Emmet

[@yellowflag9945]

i’m a guy called Charlie, so my girl name would probably be Charlie

[@modmaker7617]

(My name is Łukasz the Polish equivalent of Luke/Lucas) Luke/Lucas' female form is Lucy/Lucia.

[@_Mr.Tuvok_]

Aaron becomes Erin Apparently

[@Mrs._Fenc]

Ernita. I'm named after my great grandmother, lol.

[@andreujuanc]

Fun fact: In Spanish "Maria Jose" is female, and "Jose Maria" is male :D

[@camelopardalis84]

In Germany (and possibly other German-speaking countries) you can't give a boy a girl's name. Unless it's a middle name and that middle name is "Maria". There are at least two famous-ish German comedians with "Maria" as their middle name.

[@jackyex]

@@camelopardalis84 that's the case in Spanish, kinda.

[@camelopardalis84]

@@jackyex I wouldn't be surprised if this were the case in a couple of places that are (mostly) Christian. Or at least places with a "much" Catholicism in their history. Based on OP's comment, I also wonder if I (here in Switzerland) could give a daughter of mine the name "Josef" as a middle name.

[@glock4455]

Huh, as a brazillian i've seen both names around here but never stopped to realise that lol

[@MitsukotheDarkAngel]

Haha weirdly enough in French “Jean-Marie” and “Marie-Jean” are masculine.

[@Puppetmaster_penguin]

The one that has always fascinated me is Avery. I am 25 years old and when I was in elementary school, Avery was more common as a boys name. But by the time I was in high school, it is now much more common as a girls name.

[@junjunjamore7735]

I'm 26 and I don't remember any girl with that name.

[@kittye8340]

I know multiple girls named Avery. Never a man. 22 btw

[@Cole_West]

I've had classes with atleast 2 guys named avery, and probably the same amount of girls too

[@jeffjacobson59]

Star Trek Actor Avery Brooks is a strong black man

[@kenaikuskokwim9694]

Anyone over 60 would remember when Avery Brundage ruled the Olympics with an iron hand. Especially about amateur status. He was a teammate of Jim Thorpe's in the 1912 Games. Thorpe was stripped of his medals later when it was discovered that, while never having received a penny himself, he had once competed against professionals in semi-pro baseball. That's how strict the IOC once was, and Avery Brundage fought to carry on the tradition.

[@Supertomiman]

You forgot Ashley. Although I notice that in the UK it's still a predominantly male name, while in the US it's almost exclusively a female name.

[@honeyfugle]

From what I've seen in the Uk, if it's spelt Ashley, it's seen as a boys name, but if it's spelt Ashleigh it's a girls name

[@fatimaallawati947]

@@honeyfugle Why is Ashely in the UK a boys name? Like why do we need SUCH a long name Ashleigh??

[@alexrcastaneda]

I didn't know Ashley was a male name in the UK. I've Always seen it as a female name.

[@Supertomiman]

@@alexrcastaneda I'm not from the UK but I follow the Premier League really closely. Tons of Ashley's there. Ashley Cole, Ashley Young, Ashley Williams, etc.

[@AsaTJ522]

Kelly is similar. I've never met a male Kelly in the US, but it's still a common male name in Ireland.

[@SuperiorX99]

My name is Ariel, and, despite what the Little Mermaid has you believe, it is gendered and means 'The Lion of God' in Hebrew. It has been historically been linked to men for a very long time. In fact, in many languages (such as Spanish), the name is very 'masculine' sounding and naming a girl 'Ariel' will be seen almost as unusual as calling a girl David. The feminine form is 'Ariela'. That being said, I have yet to meet any woman named that, probably because it sounds very close to 'Areola'

[@arthur_p_dent]

The women's name is typically spelled "Arielle", in analogy to "Emmanuelle", which in French is the female version of "Emmanuel". (in other languages, short forms would include "Manuel" for boys and "Manuela" or "Emma" for girls) (Goes without saying that "Emmanuel" is another Hebrew name, the "-el" ending meaning "God" giving it away)

[@marceloorellana5726]

There are many Arielas. Ariela Caceres is a popular journalist in Honduras.

[@hkrohn]

In Israel, Ariel is commonly used for both boys and girls.

[@EricaGamet]

Every Ariel I know is indeed Jewish and most go by Ari. I think of The Little Mermaid as being Arial... but maybe that's just the font, lol.

[@HippieVeganJewslim]

@@hkrohn כן. There’s no silent e in Hebrew, and many words are accented on the last syllable. So Daniel and Ariel are pronounced as Danielle (a Jewish lass in my school had that name) and Arielle in Hebrew. Daniel and Ariel are spelt just as Danielle and Arielle in Hebrew.

[@ericaohmg95]

My legal name is Korean. I’m a cis woman, but I have a super masculine Korean name. I’m named after a king named 현종 (Hyunjong). Even Korean people hear my name and call me 현정 (Hyunjung) which would make it more feminine and modern. My preferred American name is Erica, which is obviously the feminine version of Eric. My boyfriend is a man named Reilly, and we’ve both met more women Riley’s (or whatever spelling) than men.

[@scottgrohs5940]

I’ve heard of East Asian people using three separate conventions for taking a Western European name: assuming a name that sounds similar to their native name (e.g. 선 애 = Shaunae), assuming a name that has a similar meaning to their native name (which requires etymological knowledge), or assuming a name that they like.

[@ericaohmg95]

@@scottgrohs5940 I’ve heard of this as well. My aunt named me Erica when I moved to the US when I was a little kid and that’s just what I went by!

[@user-rp6bf5pi3n]

Cis woman??

[@cyberia___]

@@user-rp6bf5pi3n Biologically a women As in born as a female or assigned as such

[@Mimiheart9]

The Hebrew name Noa is feminine. Most English speakers associate it with a similar-sounding Hebrew name Noach or Noah, which is masculine. A lot of Americans think that Noa is masculine name as a result. Not quite switching from female to male, but I definitely have seen men with the name Noa.

[@jamesslick4790]

👍👍

[@Random2]

I was surprised to not find Maria (Mary) -> Mario as an example of female names with a male counterpart. So many examples were of male names with a female counterpart that this obvious one seems a strange omission.

[@highpath4776]

I wonder in English we dont have a clear Mario name = more Marcus or Mark.

[@jaydengreenberg9618]

Mario doesn't come from Mary, its just used as if it isthat way.

[@Random2]

@@jaydengreenberg9618 Are you sure? I have had two different professors back in high school telling me that.

[@jaydengreenberg9618]

@@Random2 Yes, i think

[@medealkemy]

Mario comes from the Latin Marius. Mary comes from the Hebrew Miriam. Different names

[@Ekami-chan]

Seeing the title made immediately thought of names Ariel and Gabriel. Also this is really interesting as non-english speaker, I have never thought of Billy or Billie sounding as different gendered names, and Gale is sounding masculine name to me. :D

[@risannd]

Ariel is used by man and woman alike. There's a famous male singer in my country named Ariel.

[@BobbiDoll]

I could be wrong, but Gale would be for a male, and Gail for a female.

[@SiqueScarface]

@@risannd Ariel is definitely a male name. The female form would be Arielle. Ariel is one of the archangels form the Bible.

[@raine7021]

Interesting, Gale actually sounds more gender neutral to me :)

[@captainyulef5845]

I always thought Arden seemed llike a boy's name.

[@likebot.]

I'm scratching my head about Nicola Tesla now. Some of names normally considered feminine that are names of men I've met are Stacy, Tracy, Courtney and Beverly.

[@alidaweber1023]

Nicola is Serbian for Nicholas. It's the familiar saint's name. His father was an Orthodox priest.

[@zhihuangxu6551]

NBA star Tracy McGrady!

[@noeswantra2295]

In Serbian, Nicholas is Nikola, its feminine form is Nikolina. So Nikola Tesla is fully a masculine name

[@gilbregman4646]

Things get confusing when you switch languages. The name Andrea, for example, is feminine in English but it's a man name in Italian.

[@TJ52359]

Growing up Kelly and Stacy were exclusively Female Names... Tracy was pretty much as well... but Musicians Tracy Lawrence, Tracy Byrd and Trace Adkins debuting in short order hindered the illusion there (and for me, implied it was a 'southern' thing

[@risannd]

Some names differ in gender by country. Jean is male name in France, but female name in English-speaking world. Carol is male name in Romania. Yuri is male name in Russia, but female name in Japan.

[@Puppetmaster_penguin]

Yes. There is a strip mall near me where there is a barbershop owned by an Uzbekistani man named Yuri and in the same strip mall, a hair salon owned by a Japanese woman named Yuri.

[@SWLinPHX]

“Jean” is French for John. It has nothing to do with the English Jean for women, or Gene for men.

[@romanr.301]

Yuri can be a feminine or masculine name in Japanese.

[@NBrixH]

In russian i believe 'Yuriy'' would be more accurate

[@juanausensi499]

@@SWLinPHX It has something to do because they come from the same source. Masculine Jean and femenine Jean both come from hebrew Yohanan (like John)

[@TheGabygael]

as a french speaker it always feels odd to hear a feminine presenting person being called nicola, because in french nicholas and nicola are pronounced the exact same way and the feminized version of nicolas is nicole

[@Nurichiri]

It's interesting that in French Jean is male, but in English Jean is female.

[@medealkemy]

@@Nurichiri That's because Jean is the French version of John, while Jean in English derived from Jeanne in French

[@chadst.pierre5257]

@@Nurichiri also in French there are males given female names as middle names. Like Jean Marie or even François Marie. My 5th great grandfather was named Jean Marie St. Pierre Senior and his father's name was Jean Louis Xainte Marie St. Pierre.

[@MartinInBC]

I remember telling some French girls in a youth hostel that my name is Martin, and they laughed at my standard English pronunciation of it with the N sounded, because in France that's the feminine pronunciation, with the male pronunciation being the utterly French 'Mart-angh'.

[@GumaroRVillamil]

​@@medealkemy neither are their versions of one another. Rather, both are the localized versions of the Hebrew (a Semitic language) Yohanan through the Latin Ioannes, from which you get John, Jean, Joan, Juan, Jan, Janos, Ian, Sean etc depending which Indo-European language you speak.

[@TheCastIronChancellor]

When I was in the Marine Corps, I noticed that both male and female officers could be addressed as Sir but only female officers could be addressed by Ma'am. Could this be a result of the same phenomenon where male names become feminine but not the other way around? My name is Chelsea, which is a masculine name in England. So the male version of Chelsea is Chelsea. Some women choose to use Chelsey, Chelsee, or Chelsie but I'm an original.

[@gemmam5703]

I'm from England and I've never met or heard of any boys/men named Chelsea; only girls/women. It must've fallen out of fashion for males long ago as I didn't even know it was originally a male name until you mentioned it.

[@TheCastIronChancellor]

@@gemmam5703 I have a male cousin several times removed named Chelsea. It might be primarily female now. I know Chelsea Clinton and Chelsea Handler made the name very popular for awhile. Thankfully, I was named after a street in California that my mom grew up next to.

[@TomJohnson67]

It's interesting how the gender of a name can also change depending on the country. Here in the UK, the name Morgan is more often male, whereas in the US, it's usually female.

[@stevenglowacki8576]

When i was in high school, there was both a boy and a girl named Morgan. The boy had a brother who I'm friends with on Facebook, and is now dating a female Morgan.

[@fermintenava5911]

That reminds of W.I.T.C.H., my favourite comics back then, where one of the main heroines was named Will (short for Wilma / Wilhelmina) and then got a half-brother named William, who her wider family tended to call "Will" and she insisted to call "Billy".

[@IdliAmin_TheLastKingofSambar]

I like the story about how Major League Baseball pitcher Madison Bumgarner (who is, uh, aggressively male) had a high school girlfriend named-wait for it-Madison Bumgarner.

[@grantorino2325]

Were they related?

[@IdliAmin_TheLastKingofSambar]

@@grantorino2325 Heh. Wouldn’t surprise me.

[@InventorZahran]

I'm more intrigued by their last name Bumgarner. Did they garner a lot of bummers?

[@mariawesley7583]

Growing up in the South (USA) I noticed that many debutantes have their mother's maiden name as a 1st name. I think it has to do with honoring both the matrilineal and patrilineal families. It's announcing who your people are, especially if you're "old money".

[@taikonautaparawara]

In Brazilian portuguese Ariel is gender-neutral, even though is a Disney Princess name, i met many boys named Ariel. Don't know about other places...

[@cookinwithlil6549]

I think Ariel is gender-neutral in most countries

[@Ettibridget]

Israel: Ariel Sharon.

[@SuperiorX99]

@@cookinwithlil6549 Ariel is actually gendered, Ariela being the feminine form. It's Hebrew. That being said, in Spanish (my mother tongue), it's typically seen as a male name. I would've expected all Romance language names to maintain their genders across other Romance languages, but it's interesting to hear that Ariel is neutral in Portuguese

[@risannd]

In Indonesia, there's a famous male singer named Ariel (stage name), commonly called along with his band name Noah. Despite the biblical nature of his stage and band name, he is a Muslim. Indonesians have weird relationship with names indeed.

[@uranus8308]

Ariel is more associated with Boys here in the Philippines. Its female equivalent is "Arielle/Ariella" not much of a difference in pronunciation but I think it suits 'em

[@compareandcontrast6629]

Similar to billy/billie, my name Jesse is usually spelled Jessie, when used for girls

[@saulcontrerasOfficial]

Where can I find a woman like that? Jesse's girl!

[@ZhangtheGreat]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z6SyhoOpZtqWbdU B*Witched was asked why they picked the name "Jesse" for this song. They simply said it can be both a guy's or a girl's name, so it has wider appeal. Go figure.

[@StuartSimon]

Jesse is a name unto itself. Jessie is usually a nickname for Jessica.

[@HalfEye79]

There is a big source, which isn't Christianity: Roman names of families. For example: Gaius Julius Caesar was of the family of the Julier. The male members had the family-name Julius and the female members had the family-name Julia. Both names (especially Julia) are still quite popular.

[@MartinInBC]

I remember a few years ago doing some research to find the MOST gender-neutral name ie. the one with the most equal number of males and females bearing it. It was 'Kelly'.

[@lionberryofskyclan]

huh, where I'm from (and in this current time), Kelly is almost exclusively a female name. I've never heard of a man named Kelly. Interesting!

[@MartinInBC]

@@lionberryofskyclan Kelly Slater, world surfing champion.

[@BelaCoxinha]

There is a girl in my School named Kelly, and i thought Kelly was a female name until i met some dude named Kelly who ran a cafeteria.

[@greywolf7577]

What about Jordan? That seems to have a lot of people of both genders.

[@Jan_Koopman]

When thinking about (fe)male/neutral names, I always think of the character Sam(antha) Carter from Stargate SG1. Her introduction was so great! Soldier: "We're still waiting for a Sam Carter... where is he?" Sam (walking in): "SHE already arrived!" (Saluting): "Samantha Carter, reporting for duty!" Other soldier: "But I understand you go by 'Sam'..."

[@lamarhenderson8058]

I had a friend whose girlfriend was named "Why-vehtuh" - spelled Y-V-E-T-T-E.

[@pyrofestimo]

shouldn't it be pronounced "E-vet"?

[@bearstarpresents2264]

@@pyrofestimo Yv- names come from Scandinavia via Normans to France. Scandinavia pronounce them Yah ( as in Yes) French pronounce it E-. Why-ve could either be Scandinavian or an Americanism of a name or just the parents chose it from a book and never looked up the different pronunciation. The Yv- name of a relative comes from her mom having a Swedish foreign exchange student in her major in college.

[@lamarhenderson8058]

@@bearstarpresents2264 No. They were just hillbillies.

[@estebanleon5826]

I haven’t seen the video yet but I have two guesses. Guess 1: In the past, people didn’t know the gender before birth. They would announce the gender and then find out it’s another gender. Several of those babies got famous. Other people thought the name was cool. Guess 2: In current days, people are more flexible with names. They like the flow and use it regardless of gender.

[@screwyourhandle]

I think that one of the main reasons why the shift is usually from male to female, is simply that men tend to shun things associated with women. Once it's become "tainted" with femininity, it's now dangerous to your masculine image. It's like the one-drop rule, but with gender. Same thing happens with fashion, like how high heels were originally worn by men.

[@Tadfafty]

My old enemy sexism.

[@juanausensi499]

That's one reason. I found out recently another possible reason: there were (not sure if that is still the case nowadays) more masculine names than femenine names. I found that out when i was making a random name generator.

[@Felinefreak]

According to my grandmother, in Polish, any name ending with the letter 'a' was female, anything else is male.

[@Tadfafty]

Hingsrfwrehigdfga Hingsrfrwrehigdfg Those sound like they could be Polish names

[@adrianblake8876]

Names having male and female equivalents isn't "new", Solomon, and its female equivalent Salome are both assessed since ancient times (appearing in the Bible). Fun fact: there are even two male Salome's mentioned in the Bible. Another reason for a shift between male and female names: the "-iah" suffix was considered theophoric in ancient times, but feminine in modern times, so Daliah was a male's name in the Bible, but a female one today. (although it's considered old-timey and of the previous generation, replaced with Dalette, e.g DJ Dalette Ratchester...)

[@JohnBender1313]

My name is Matthew. I once met a girl in high school literally named Matthew. It was quite strange tbh. But I liked her. I'm proud to share my name with her.

[@sethmdsoon]

So her name is Matthew Matthews?!

[@johanlugthart7782]

In Dutch we like diminutives. And we did that with a lot of male names to make them female. And now some of the names sounds really old in the male or female version, but still normal in the other. Geert -> Geertje Floor -> Floortje

[@highpath4776]

Gertrude and Florence ?

[@BelaCoxinha]

We also have diminuitives in portuguese.

[@breakaleg10]

Evelyn Waugh marrying Evelyn Gardner = Hevelyn and Shevelyn

[@medealkemy]

Noice

[@ToastyNoneofyourbusiness]

1:21 I knew a trans woman once who still went by her masculine birth name. She has changed her name before (not legally) but all throughout high school i knew her by her masculine birth name. It wasn't a name like leslie either, it was a very typical and common boyish name. Wherever she is i hope she's doing well

[@gamermapper]

Maybe she was closeted?

[@ToastyNoneofyourbusiness]

@@gamermapper no, she was out to the whole school. She told me she liked her name. Gender-wise while she presented feminine and that's what she was transitioning to, her actual gender was a bit more nuanced. At least, that's what she told me. So long as she's happy, it's not my place to question it.

[@HippieVeganJewslim]

If She can change Her name illegally, I can change my name from Denis Moses Gostev to Abdullah Isa Goldstein.

[@kaengurus.sind.genossen]

In German, names often are made female by adding -a or -e, of many names there exist both versions, though usually one is way more common. Also (from Latin, German version) Julius (male) Julia (female) Julian(o) (male again) Juliana/Juliane (female again, last more common in German)

[@tiagotimoteo4004]

This also applies with Romance languages. In Portuguese it's mainly with - a.

[@JCO2002]

Here in Jamaica, people just make up names out of thin air, many of them ridiculous. As for cross-gender names, in the paper today they reported how a man named Justine had been arrested for slitting the throats of four kids and their mother. Up the road, there's a guy named Hortense.

[@perfectallycromulent]

my great-aunt was named Hortense. she went by Tenny. i really is just a terrible name to modern ears.

[@purplealice]

I once met a transman whose birth name was "Erin", who is known known as Aaron. I also once knew a transwoman whose name was Dana, which is suitable for any gender.

[@tnk4me4]

Erin earned an iron urn in Aaron.

[@GarisonC]

Leslie Jordan, Carroll O’Conner, Robin Williams, etc. I can think of so many more, this topic has interested me for awhile! Thank you for the video! Also, I feel like Tracy is a good contemporary example of a male name becoming female rapidly.

[@HippieVeganJewslim]

Robin (Hood, Christopher Robin Milne, Batman’s sidekick) was a men’s name to me, until I read about a woman with such a name.

[@jaycee330]

Meredith Wilson. Gale Gordon. Shirley was a male name as well.

[@peteg475]

Before the mid-20th Century, the name "Shirley" was occasionally used as a boy's name. Maury Povich's father was a Hall of Fame sportswriter named Shirley Povich.

[@danieleatwell7757]

There was a famous professional wrestler in the UK known as Big Daddy whose real name was Shirley Crabtree.

[@medealkemy]

Shirley was only a boys name, up until Charlotte Brontë wrote a bestseller starring a spirited young lady with that name. Her father had expected a boy. Probably why Anne Shirley was named like that

[@snardfluk]

Patrick, in the US sometimes African-American men have e names with the feminine ending el or elle like Ronelle, Donelle or Denzel, like Denzel Washington, probably because their mothers just liked the sound of them.

[@exmormonroverpaula2319]

I think part of the dynamic with girls' names is that once the girls with a popular name start growing old, the name goes out of fashion. Names like Gertrude, Henrietta, and Mildred were popular in my grandmother's time. But most people don't want to give their baby girl an old ladies' name.

[@Caio-sw7hh]

well in brazil there is a going on trend of giving children old ladies names lol Violeta, Ursula and Aurora used to be the names of my grandma’s friends, now theyre the children moms yell at the park

[@greywolf7577]

I wonder why that doesn't happen with male names as frequently.

[@camelopardalis84]

I will absolutely have to watch this to find out if "Philip" really used to be a female person's name. Or has become one.

[@otsoko66]

Going along with this is English speakers thinking that if a name ends in -a, it must be feminine. Which really messes up Russian names: Nikita, Mischa, Vanya, etc are all absolutely and unambiguously boys' names in Russian (often a diminutive form) -- but get interpreted as girls' names in English speaking countries. So when in Umbrella Academy, when 'Vanya' announced he was now 'Victor', I was completely confused, he just changed from one boy's name to a different boy's name.

[@eunbiasedfan2873]

I mean not really. Joshua, Noah, Isaiah, Jeremiah are all pretty common male names in English speaking countries that end with -a sound.

[@HippieVeganJewslim]

Vanya is a diminutive for Iván, or John. It has nothing to do with the name of Victor. I was named Deniska (Denis), and almost Misha (Michael).

[@ZhangtheGreat]

I had a teacher named Gay Place (Place being her husband's last name after she married). She was born in the early 20th Century, so there was no chance that her family could've known what her name would've eventually sounded like.

[@Benni777]

Names are my favorite social construction!! Which is why I love this channel so much! ☺️

[@leaczinkota1979]

Yeah, the concept of names itself is so fascinating.

[@charlesgill1854]

It’s funny how Billy / Billie the rule is swapped from Charlie / Charley.

[@Steveofthejungle8]

I think it’s interesting how the James Taylor and Jordan are two that are pretty evenly known as male and female names

[@susanvaughan4210]

My Uncle's name was Shirley. His Son's name was Carol. And of course there are many Marios (I assume named for Mary.)

[@stevenmichaelhachey4483]

4:15 My baby cousin, born in January, has the middle name "Thomasin", another very uncommon feminine form of Thomas. She is named after our grand uncle Thomas, so it is not a regional thing here in Boston.

[@Kunaimaru]

Sasha is a nickname for Alexander in Russian. i think it became a female name everywhere else because it ends with A.

[@saulcontrerasOfficial]

Yeah that's interesting

[@gamermapper]

Sasha is a gender neutral nickname for both the female ND the male variants : Alexander and Alexandra It's like Alex in English

[@gamermapper]

Nikita (Mikita in Belarusian and Ukrainian) is also a male name but considered female outside of Russia probably because of A

[@Kunaimaru]

@@gamermapper It must be nowadays. Now we got to learn when does the russian started to call Sasha to Alexanders, when Alexandra was invented and when they started to call Sasha to Alexandras.

[@HippieVeganJewslim]

Who says names ending in a are women’s?

[@jimpennin9588]

You are partly wrong about names being a human invention. We know now that orcas, dolphins, and elephants have name for each other. I'm sure there are many more I forgot about. In fact it would be interesting if you made some videos about that.

[@jaydengreenberg9618]

My name is Jayden and it seems to be a more recent name used without much history besides coming from Hebrew. In addition to names being assosiated with Gender, they can also be assosiated with race. However due to it being a recent name, Jayden isn't assosiated with either and I've seen people of all races and genders using it (although it is more commonly male). It also has no correct spelling

[@uydagcusdgfughfgsfggsifg753]

I used to work in tech sales for a bit, and I stg every single man with a female name is so insecure about it. I’d always go “Hey, is this X”, but I learned I had to say “Hey X” for names like Leslie since they always got angry

[@highpath4776]

Had a friend called Leslie ( a Chap from Carlise ) and another Lesley ( A lady from Peterborough )

[@saulcontrerasOfficial]

There are plenty of male Samuels that go by Sammy. My brother, Sammy Classic Sonic Fan, Sammy Sosa, etc. However plenty of people feel like "Sammy" is just for Samantha and find it weird when they meet a guy named Sammy.

[@EricaGamet]

I'm named Erica, obviously from the male Eric. I grew up (in the 70s/80s) with boys named Dana, Stacy, and Tracy. I knew about 4 Drews and those were boys and girls. My niece is Jordyn, which I only knew as a boy's name growing up. There was an actress on a popular drama in the early 80s whose name was Christopher... her dad wanted a boy or something and was attached to the name. I like that names are becoming more gender neutral... especially as people are embracing the fact that a large chunk of people don't feel 100% comfortable at the furthest ends of the gender spectrum.

[@primalaspie]

The list of names that changed gender in the 20th century is rather odd to me. I've definitely met men named Lauren and Leslie, plus I've seen Gale and Whitney still as primarily masculine names. They are, admittedly, rare names more generally and the few personal encounters I've had with people with these names allow for a wide range of individual experiences just by chance. (Also to be noted is that there is _not_ an age factor, I am 16)

[@sofia.eris.bauhaus]

oh wow, as a foreigner all of those name sound definitely feminine, except Gale which seems pretty neutral. here in germany, gendering of names is much more strict, gender neutral names are hardly a thing here, which franky sucks.

[@alexrcastaneda]

To me I see Whitney as a female name.

[@SuperSokra]

In Greece, we have grammatical gender names. Many names either have one possible gender (e.g. Socrates), others however have different forms depending on the gender. Gender neutral names can exist if they are used as informal nicknames (e.g. Alex)

[@otherssingpuree1779]

Sikhs have a lot of gender neutral names. I have had both male and female friends with same names.

[@thedunelady]

A good example of a female name that's used for boys is Artemis (who was the Greek goddess of the hunt, the twin sister of Apollo). For years it's been a common male name (e.g., Artemis Fowl of The Fowl Adventures, Artemus Gordon of The Wild Wild West). I don't think that's happened for any other Greek goddess names (Hera, Athena, Aphrodite). I've always been curious about how this happened to Artemis.

[@nahometesfay1112]

Perhaps because she's a hunter which is associated with masculinity

[@gregoryferraro7379]

I used to work (in the US) with a lot of people from Bulgaria. It's traditional that men get names from the Bible or history, and women are named after flowers. I worked with Lilia (Lily), Malina (raspberry), and Nevina (calendula). Also women's names usually end in -ina.

[@HippieVeganJewslim]

That’s how raspberry is said in Russian: малина. It ain’t a common name for Russian women, though.

[@Evilnor7]

My favorite has always been Courtney. I grew up with a female one and ended up learning later that it was more common with guys! Also, so many different ways of spelling "Carrie, Kari, Carey," etc., I swear there were half a dozen people I knew who pronounced it the same, but spelled it differently, and at least 2 were male.

[@Puppetmaster_penguin]

I certainly do not think it's more common among guys.

[@MrCarni2]

Andrea is a female name in Hungary. We have András as the male counterpart, which is roughly the same as Andrew in the English-speaking world but what I find fascinating is that I've seen Andrea appear as a male name in other languages.

[@workinggarlic]

as someone who has changed his name (Im Trans!) names absolutely fascinate me and I always love to here stories about how people got their names

[@Tadfafty]

I hate that the trans flag just shows up as white on KZbin.

[@BelaCoxinha]

@@Tadfafty It appears in mobile

[@nevoben-ami257]

Hebrew speaker here! In Hebrew names - like every other word - have a gender to them. In fact, lots of names are words unto themselves: Yuval meaning stream, Ori meaning my light, Noam meaning comfort... However, through the ages, people started calling people names that weren't necessarily their gender. This is how Yuval - which is a male word - is now used for both genders. Now that I think about it, there might be more male-word-derived names than female ones, but I'm not at all sure about that.

[@Jayvee4635]

Correct me if I'm wrong. Names with -son were historically Anglo-Saxon and Central Germanic Patronyms. Due to the names like Maddison (which is a Matronym in this case "Son of Maud or Magdalene") now being used as Female names, it is now weird to hear that they could have been given the surname of Maddisdaughter in the Middle Ages

[@Puppetmaster_penguin]

Madison only became a popular female name after the 1984 movie "Splash".

[@maxhand1562]

It may have changed by now, but when I was younger, it really threw me when I moved to south Alabama from north Alabama and found the name Shannon, which was used for boys in the north, was used for girls in the south.

[@danielsociety9234]

Some more examples of male names becoming female I’ve encountered are Lindsey and Stacey. Also interesting to note that in North America Ashley is pretty much exclusively a female name but in the UK and Australia it’s a man’s name.

[@HalfEye79]

There is another example of a name, wich changed gender, but this time, it is a bit weird. There is a male name of Andreas with the female version of Andrea. But in Italy, there is the name Andrea the male version. Like Andrea Bocelli (singer) or Andrea Doria (admiral).

[@ryananderson.227]

As a woman named Ryan I loved this video

[@saulcontrerasOfficial]

Hi Ryan

[@graffiti9145]

Eek

[@SiqueScarface]

The probably celtic male name Wendelin turned into Gwendoline centuries ago. Wendelin, an abbot and hermit of the 6th and 7th century, appears to be of Scottish or Irish origin (gaelic: Fionnalán), was canonized as St. Wendelinus of Trier, and is buried in St. Wendel, Germany.

[@mariadoshirak5515]

In my language ( Russian) most of the names have female and male varieties but ones are mole commonly used for girls and overs for boys.

[@JohnRDVSMarston]

I think that, for names to go back to being neutral, those who already are separated by gender for eons and has dozens of variants (Paul, for example: there's Paulo, Paula, Pauline, Paulina, Paulino, Paulette, Paulet, Pauletta, Paulinho, Paulinha, Paolo, Paola, Pablo, Pabla and probably many more that I haven't remembered) would be extremely hard to turn neutral

[@auldfouter8661]

Famously the author Evelyn Waugh had a wife called Evelyn - they were referred to as He Evelyn and She Evelyn. His full name was Arthur Evelyn St John Waugh , which must have given a few folk problems with pronunciation. St John can be rendered as Sin Gin , and Waugh is Waw in England , but Wauch ( rhyming with loch ) in Scotland.

[@NovaRuner]

I would like to mention that I have an uncle named Paul, and an aunt named Paulette. They are brother and sister.

[@DeusExHackina]

My name is a boy's name in Wales (where my dad's from) and a girl's name in the US. XD It bothered me a lot when I was young, but now I just have fun guessing how the next person reading it will pronounce it. XD

[@MadTheDJ]

Her name is pronounced "Lauren Buh-CALL," not "Lauren BACKLE." Just FYI.

[@frankhooper7871]

Glad I wasn't the only one to notice that

[@holeeshi9959]

I wonder how much could cross cultural pollination result in name changing genders.....I am half Chinese, in at least pre-anime times, the character "子" is usually male(confucious is 孔子), and is extremely common since Zi actually means son, but it happens to be the same character as the Japanese "子"Ko(as in Yoko, Meiko, Yoshiko etc.) which is female, I don't think Chinese are keen to give their sons names ending in "Zi" anymore. I wonder if name like Maria, which is fairly normal among males in the Spanish speaking world, but is completely female in English, would cause the name to shift one way or another

[@TheGabygael]

something i barely ever hear about (and i don't know if it was the case in the english speaking world) but in parts of france is was, up until the 20th century, the norm to give a religoious or legal name to your kid upon their birth and since the rules of what names could be used we somewhat strict up until the 90s you would call the child whatever sounded right in everyday life that why most people were called something that had nothing to do with whatever was on their official documents, with that in mind i can easily imagine a parent calling their daughter philip to et the protection from the saint but calling her margaret her entire life

[@PuzzledMonkey]

Let me introduce you to my Uncle Marvin, called Buddy, Aunt Claire was called Lynne, Aunt Geri was called Gyl (pronounced Jill), my father Lawrence called Danny, and myself, named Louis but called Ted.

[@ajwinberg]

My son has a name that is actually considered a boys name or at least it originally was, but now it is considered a unisex name, and often when doctors office call to confirm appointments, they will say her appointment, which makes no sense to me, be cause his name is Amory and it is a boy's name. Albeit, it's not a common name here in America.

[@tomhalla426]

For cutesy trivia, Donald John Trump, and his then wife Ivana named their eldest daughter Ivanka, his middle name and their names all being variations of John.

[@saulcontrerasOfficial]

Is your name Thomas, Tomas, or just Tom? Were you ever known as Tommy?

[@tomhalla426]

@@saulcontrerasOfficial Thomas Michael jr. The last person left who calls me Tommy is my older sister. My late grandmother did, too.

[@gamermapper]

Ivanka and Ivana seem like the female version of Ivan

[@tomhalla426]

@@gamermapper As far as I know, it is Janet and Jeanette, Jane and little Jane, and the various versions thereof.

[@ectooo]

hello! I'm Hector, a trans woman that decided to keep my given name, despite it being considered quite masculine. I think the reason why masculine names becoming gender neutral are more common than feminine names is because of what Simone de Beauvoir observed in her book, The Second Sex. the masculine is usually considered natural, the standard, while the feminine is usually seen as artificial, differentiated ( just look at bathroom signs. the men's bathroom sign is just a person, while the women's is a person + a dress). a girl being named with a "generic person's name" stands out less than a boy being named with an "especifically feminine name".

[@treinenliefde]

As somebody who only knows the name Leslie from Leslie Green (the architect for London Underground) Im very shocked to hear that Leslie is actually a girls name nowadays

[@seannolan9857]

Most names that end in ie are usually feminine, so it just fits pattern recognition. Plus on this side of the pond we had Leslie Gore to feminize it.

[@Ettibridget]

How about Lesley?

[@brianedwards7142]

I'm a fan of the late Gale Gordon. The best co-star Lucy had IMO and SUCH an appropriate name, considering his patented slow build up to blowing his top.

[@Josh_Fredman]

Ah, what a great show! I haven't thought about ol' Mr. Moonie in years.

[@chrisamies2141]

In the 20th century at least in the UK 'Lesley' was a girl's name and 'Leslie' a boy. The name Les (e.g. Les Dawson) is going to be either Leslie or Lester.

[@jackabug2475]

I can think of at least one female name that got turned into a male name (and then back again): Demeter, the Greek goddess. There's a saint named Demetrius (there's some question as to whether he was a real person or just typical Catholic syncretism a la "Saint" Brighid) who was of course named after Demeter, but then when names were recorded in Latin like you talked about, women named after him became Demetria, and from there people began to actually name their daughters Demetria. AFAIK that name has fallen out of favor everywhere now... Possibly someone from Greece can correct me.

[@kirabowie]

Jack, I used to work with a Demetria, whose family comes from Greece. I don't know if the name is popular in Greece or among Greeks living outside of Greece or not, and as someone who works with kids, I've met a kindergartner named Demetrius.😉

[@jackabug2475]

@@kirabowie Thanks for the data points!

[@kirabowie]

@@jackabug2475 You're welcome! 😁

[@vaclav_fejt]

Fun with Czech names: Jiří (George) has a pet form "Jirka". "Jirek" is a rare curiosity. Jiřina (Georgina or Georgette) has a pet form "Jiřka". Both "Vlastimil" (loosely Patrick) and "Vlastimila" have "Vlasta" as a pet form, however the prevalent female official form of this name is also just "Vlasta". Same goes with "Karel" (Charles) and "Karolína" (Caroline) are simplified as "Kája". "Karla" (Carol) is very rare.

[@dursty3226]

it's really fitting that this was suggested by someone named Rory. over there in the UK i know it's pretty exclusively a boy's name, but here in the USA it can also be a girl's name! i think the most popular example of Rory as a girl's name is Rory Gilmore from the tv show "Gilmore Girls." (her real name is "Lorelai" but she went by "Rory" as a nickname, because her mother was also named "Lorelai")

[@purplealice]

PHilippa generally gets reduced to Pippa, which is kind of a cute name.

[@highpath4776]

And means something very male in some european languages

[@RexxDraconem]

You touched on this with Billie, but you may find this interesting. My wife's name is Casey. Traditionally in my experience the spelling Casey is typically male (Think Casey Jones from TNMT) while the female spelling is Kasie (Kasie Hunt on CNN).

[@MouthJaw]

Tbh I remember old names from Old English like Alvin and Alvina I wanted to name my daughter the original Spelling of Elvina because it means Magical Elf Friend

[@alexrcastaneda]

My name is Alexis and when I was in middle school i realized that there were girls named Alexis as well. I'm from south america and the name Alexis is predominantly (if not exclusively) male. But I've come to know that Alexis is used for females both in Europe and in the US

[@kenny13a]

In spanish, most female names are ended with an a, so the russian name "sasha", that is a male name in russian, is only used for females in spanish. Also, the name Quimey, a mapuche word, its used in female and male subjects with no change in the spelling or pronunciation.

[@paddywan]

It is also interesting that the name Ashley seems to be a predominantly female name in the USA but in the UK I mostly associate it with Ashley Cole and Ashley Young who are both male

[@parabolaaaaa4919]

idk if this is in the video but gendered names led way to grammatical gender, like italian words and names that end in o are often madcukine (i think) but words and names that end with a are often feminine (i think)

[@parabolaaaaa4919]

oh you did kinda

[@camelopardalis84]

It's also just often the case that a name ending in -a is female and the same name ending in -o is male. I'd say you see this rather often in Italian. - Antonia / Antonio - Claudia / Claudio - Fabrizia / Fabrizio - Paula / Paulo - Stefania / Stefano - Valentina / Valentino

[@PockASqueeno]

I like gendered names, as it’s pretty useful. If you’ve never met someone, and your friend says, “I have a friend named Bob,” you can typically assume Bob is a man. Also, it helps with babies, especially if the baby isn’t dressed in pink or blue. “Aww, how cute! What’s your baby’s name?” (she happens to be wearing yellow) “Julia.” “She’s adorable!” It just simplifies things a lot.

[@magpie_one]

But why would you need to know a strangers gender? That adds nothing to your knowledge of them as a person...

[@Tadfafty]

@@magpie_one As a transgender person I believe it can be important, at least to some people in some regards.

[@greywolf7577]

@@magpie_one Gender used to tell you a lot about what a person's activities in life would be (what jobs they had, whether they likely stayed home with the kids, what they wore, how their hair looked, how they sounded, what their interests were, and many other things). Even today, if you were looking to date someone, you'd probably be more keen to meet someone of the gender you wished to date. So gendered names are still useful.

[@daredevil6145]

@@magpie_one why not? If it adds more information with simplification, even able to pictured sometimes... it is good.

[@rebeccamenkel195]

This was fun. I have an Aunt Tomesa and I always just assumed my grandmother made up the name.

[@dnkal2875]

That whole video is only related to mostly English speakers. In Greek .names can't change gender. Male names are male and female are female they are not neutral names . Some are only female. some only male, most have equivalent in both gender but they are distinct and can't be used by the other gender.

[@Monada79]

My youngest daughter is named Charlotte which I know is a male variant of Charles. She's named after Spanish Baritone who name was Carlos. I could have gone with Carlota or even Carla but we live in Spain and Charlotte is not very common. At 5 years old she can already spell it.

[@auldfouter8661]

There was a Thomasina in my primary school class , who was usually referred to as "Ina" . At secondary school there was even a Hughina , who went by her name in its full form ie not Ina.

[@kirilvelinov7774]

In Russia we use the endings ov and ova for male and female names respectively! George Pavlov Mary Pavlova

[@alanjyu]

Do you have any videos on gendered family names in Slavic languages?

[@fnjesusfreak]

There was a girl in my high school class named Elisha (which is traditionally a male name).

[@ShadowStray_]

I think her name must have been a spelling of Alicia, just coincidentally matching the spelling of the male biblical name

[@anaxios]

I've known (or known of) men named Kelly, Shannon, Kim, Mandy, Wendy, and Marion. I'm sure there are others I can't think of off the top of my head.