Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Are They Really "Unisex" If They're Only Used On Girls?

When discussing unisex names online, I'm always surprised at how many people are shocked or sympathetic for their poor old Uncles Kelly or Courtney or Marion. It must have been so hard growing up with a girls' name! :p
I'm not going to get into how I feel about girl-names and "weakness", so bypassing that, do people not realize just how many of our established feminine names actually used to be commonplace on boys?
So, a list of feminine/unisex names that were formerly exclusively masculine, or are feminine in the U.S., but masculine in other regions:

  • Addison
  • Alexis (masculine in Europe & South America)
  • Ariel (masculine in South America)
  • Ashley
  • Aubrey 
  • Avery
  • Bailey (still masculine elsewhere*)
  • Beverly
  • Blair (still masculine elsewhere)
  • Brin/Bryn/Brynn (still masculine elsewhere)
  • Brook
  • Cameron (still masculine elsewhere)
  • Camille (still unisex in France)
  • Carol/Carroll/Karol (still masculine in Eastern Europe)
  • Charlie (still mostly masculine elsewhere)
  • Clair
  • Courtney
  • Dana
  • Elliott (still masculine elsewhere)
  • Emerson
  • Emery
  • Esme
  • Evelyn
  • Finlay/Finley (still masculine elsewhere)
  • Florence
  • Francis/Frances
  • Gale
  • Harley
  • Harlow
  • Harper
  • Hilary
  • Jamie (still mostly masculine elsewhere)
  • Jan (masculine throughout Europe)
  • Jean (masculine in France)
  • Jewel/Jewell
  • Jocelyn (still masculine in France)
  • Joyce
  • Kelly
  • Kelsey
  • Kendall
  • Kennedy
  • Kim (still masculine in Scandinavia)
  • Kristen (masculine in Scandinavia)
  • Lacy
  • Lauren
  • Laurie
  • Laverne
  • Leigh
  • Leslie
  • Lindsay
  • Lynn
  • Mackenzie (still masculine elsewhere)
  • Madison
  • Marion
  • Meredith (still masculine in Wales)
  • Morgan (still unisex elsewhere)
  • Page/Paige
  • Pearl
  • Quinn (still mostly masculine elsewhere)
  • Reece/Reese (still masculine elsewhere)
  • Remy/Remi (still masculine elsewhere)
  • Riley (still masculine elsewhere)
  • Robin (still masculine elsewhere)
  • Rory (still masculine elsewhere)
  • Sasha (still unisex throughout Europe)
  • Shannon 
  • Sharon (still unisex in Israel)
  • Shea/Shay (still mostly masculine elsewhere)
  • Shelby
  • Shelley
  • Shirley
  • Stacy
  • Sidney/Sydney (still masculine in the Netherlands)
  • Taylor
  • Teagan
  • Tracy
  • Vivian
  • Whitney

* for the purposes of brevity, "elsewhere" = "every English-speaking country apart from the U.S."

Still haven't decided if the U.S. is leading the trends, or is just crazy.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

<*insert semi-cheesy holiday title here*>

I swore I wasn't going to do a holiday-themed post, because they are everywhere, but I just couldn't resist.
So, for the season of giving, here's a compilation of names that mean "gift".
Whatever your holiday is, I hope it's a happy one!

Boys:
  • Abishai (ah-bi-SHY, Hebrew)--"my Father's gift"
  • Ata (ah-tah, Arabic)
  • Csaba (CHAH-bah, Hungarian)
  • Devdan (dev-dahn, Indian [Hindi])--"gift of the gods". Variants include Debdan & Deodan.
  • Doron (doh-ROHN, Hebrew")
  • Ekrem (ek-REM, Turkish)--"most generous"
  • Gebbert (GEB-bert, German)--"brave gift"
  • Gennady (gen-AH-dee, Russian)--from Greek, "generous"
  • Isidore (IZ-a-dor or ees-ah-DOHR, Greek)--"gift from Isis"
  • Jesse (JES-see, Hebrew)
  • Mattan (mah-tahn, Hebrew)
  • Matthew (MATH-yoo, English)--from Hebrew, "gift of Yahweh". Variants include Matthias (Greek), Matteo (Italian), & Makaio (Hawaiian).
  • Shai (SHY, Hebrew)
  • Theodore (THEE-oh-dohr, Greek)--"gift of god"

Girls:
  • Atiya (AH-tee-yah, Arabic)
  • Dara (DAH-rah, Slavic)
  • Dîyar (DEE-yar, Kurdish)
  • Dorothea (doh-roh-THEH-ah, Greek)--"gift of god"
  • Eudora (yoo-DOHR-ah, Greek)--"good gift"
  • Gennadiya (gen-AH-dee-yah, Russian)--from Greek, "generous"
  • Godiva (god-EYE-vah or goh-DEE-van, Anglo-Saxon)--"gift of god"
  • Heba (HEB-ah, Arabic)
  • Isidora (is-ih-DOHR-ah, ee-see-DOHR-ah, Greek)--"gift from Isis"
  • Karima (kah-ree-mah, Arabic)--"generous"
  • Lahja (LAH-hya, Finnish)
  • Pandora (pan-DOH-rah, Greek)--"all gifts"
  • Sunniva (soon-NEE-vah, Norwegian)--from Old English, "gift of the sun". Another form is Synnove (sin-NOH-veh).
  • Theodora (theh-oh-DOHR-ah, Greek)--"gift of God"

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Usual Nickname, Unexpected Name--Callie

Callie is another example of a nickname that's become reasonably popular on its own. Originally a nickname for Caroline, I suspect it's another example of the R to L shift. This also helped distance it from Caroline, as it's not the most intuitive nickname in modern American English.

  • Apikalia (ah-pih-KAL-ee-ah, Hawaiian)--form of Abigail
  • Calanthia (kal-AN-thee-ah, English)--from Greek, "beautiful flower"
  • Calista (kal-IS-tah, English)--from Greek, "most beautiful"
  • Calliope (kal-EYE-oh-pee or kal-ee-OH-pay, Greek)--"beautiful voice"
  • Calogera (kah-loh-JEHR-ah, Italian)
  • Calypso (kal-IP-soh, Greek)
  • Catalina (cat-ah-LEE-nah, Spanish)--form of Katherine
  • Kalani (kal-AHN-ee, Hawaiian)
  • Kalina (kal-EEN-ah, Bulgarian)
  • Kalyani (kal-YAH-nee, Indian [Hindi])
  • Michalina (mee-kal-EE-nah, Polish)--feminine form of Michael