Names and Gender

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Rokje
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Re: Names and Gender

Post by Rokje »

I was named after my grandfather and father. For this thread only I will put that old male name here: Marco Johannes Hendricus.

When I finally could change my name and sex, and got my official female name and passport, I did choose to lose my second and third name, so it is just Marica. My parents didn't like what I did there, but hey, it is my life, and they understand my reasons.

My younger brother got 2 names, Peter Alexander. No older family name, just two names.

My parents did have a female name for me back in 64, that was Brigitte.
In the Netherlands it is quite common to name your child after an older family member, female or male. It is possible to name a boy after his grandma. Example: Aron Maria Bert van der XXX
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I'm Marica, I'm a 59 year old girl.
Learning Norwegian: Jeg er Marica.

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KiltedintheValley
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Re: Names and Gender

Post by KiltedintheValley »

I share my first and middle names with my father and grandfather. Some days, I wish it were different, but mostly I am proud of it. To my knowledge, all males in my family had/have "masculine" names, and all females had/have "female" names. There is one exception, my sister-in-law is named Kelly. I graduated High School with a boy named Kelly. We also had a male and female Angel, and a male and female Noel. The Vice President of our company is name Tracy, and he lives up to the title "Country Boy" quite well. We also have an employee with a daughter named Taylor and another employee with a son named Taylor (both about the same age).

There are a large number of names that are "feminine" that are given to males and vice-versa. Ultimately, the name does not make the man/woman.
"Be weird. Be random. Be who you are, because you never know who would love the person you hide." - Alan Watts

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Fred in Skirts
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Re: Names and Gender

Post by Fred in Skirts »

My first name came from my fathers first name. My middle name was some close friend that died just as I was being born and they decided to give me his name, otherwise I would have been a Jr.

I have a problem with people spelling my name wrong. My name and my fathers first name are spelt Frederick, but people try to spell it Fredrick leaving out the E. My fathers middle name was Schaunter while mine is Arthur.

When I was in the business of entertaining (radio) I went by Arthur Fredericks when on the air.

So what is a name???
"It is better to be hated for what you are than be loved for what you are not" Andre Gide: 1869 - 1951
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Uncle Al
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Re: Names and Gender

Post by Uncle Al »

Slightly different in my case. My parents didn't want a "Jr." but wanted to use the
same initials. (My dad really disliked his middle name.) Aubrey Berwyn = Alan Bruce.
My mother wanted a spelling for my first name to be one that couldn't be shortened.
Well, I fooled her as I shortened it to 'Al'. Since I have 1 nephew and 2 nieces, I go
by Uncle Al at the Cafe', and many other places.

The 'name' I really love hearing is "Grand Pa" ;)

For the record, and only publicly published here, my full name is Alan Bruce Cavitt.

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Sinned
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Re: Names and Gender

Post by Sinned »

Over here Robin could be either a boy's or a girl's name. There are a few names where the gender of the person is not immediately obvious. I thought that Marion was a girl's until I found a certain prominent American politician with that name. In the end it's just societal convention the dictates which gender the name is applicable to. I was named by my biological father and was registered after birth without my mother's knowledge - she was told after the fact. Over here either the father or mother can register the name so completely legal My mother divorced him soon after for different reasons. When I was adopted by my mother and step-father I had the option to change my name and I dropped one of my middle names ( I had two ) and kept the Dennis - at one stage I hated it but after a year or two I got used to it then gained an amount of pride for it as my first name wasn't really common. Interesting fact: the nearest person with my first and last names lives about 30 miles away. The nearest person with all three of my names is about 66 miles away.
I believe in offering every assistance short of actual help but then mainly just want to be left to be myself in all my difference and uniqueness.
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moonshadow
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Re: Names and Gender

Post by moonshadow »

Rokje wrote: Sun Feb 07, 2021 4:09 pm My parents did have a female name for me back in 64, that was Brigitte.
Ah yes, makes me think of "Bridget", which is a name I almost forgot about until today...

Turns out, back when I was a small child (<10 yrs) I would occasionally "play mom", and for some reason I always chose "Bridget" as my girl name. I don't remember why.

Whew! Lotta dust on those old memories! :)
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6ft3Aussie
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Re: Names and Gender

Post by 6ft3Aussie »

Names in my experience don't always match our pre-conceived ideas as other have said.

I personally have know a cop whose name was Stacey, and he'd be the last person I'd want to give grief to about his name, I've known another bloke by the name of Kelly (Kel) and another by the name of Kerry.
Then there's Adrian (male) and Adrienne (female), I think someone else mentioned Robin/Robyn, I was at school with a Toni (born on the same day as me and I'm still in contact with her).

There's many more.
FranTastic444
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Re: Names and Gender

Post by FranTastic444 »

I went to school with a guy called Toni. He had two different stories to explain his name. The first was that his parents liked the name Tony but not Anthony. The registrar would not allow a name that was an abbreviated form of another name so his dad went for Toni instead (a recognized name for a girl) as there was nothing in the rulebook that prevented a boy from being given a name that was traditionally associated with a girl. There is very little in current UK law that limits names for a newborn - but I'm not sure whether this was the case ~50 years ago. The second explanation he offered was that his dad had been for a session to "wet that babies head" before going to see the Registrar and made a spelling mistake on the paperwork in his befuddled state.

There are many cases of clebs having names that may be associated with the opposite sex. Examples -

Marion Robert Morrison
Shirley Crabtree (one for the Brits)
Stacy Keach (also has a Brit connection - one he might want to forget about!)
Daryl Hannah
Glenn Close
Stu
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Re: Names and Gender

Post by Stu »

For the vast majority of us, we have a name which is unmistakably applied as a member of the sex we were born, but there is a tiny bit of leeway. I noticed in Sweden that the names Kim and Jan were mostly given to males while in the UK, Hillary can be a male name (like the MP Hillary Benn). At my own school, we had both a male and a female "Nasim" (Asian heritage). There was also a boy at my daughter's school whose last name was "Jenner" and he was known by everyone as "Jenny" - and he even introduced himself in that way and with a wry smile but no embarrassment.

Titles can be ambiguous. I recall many years ago hearing a senior male nurse being interviewed and he insisted he was the "ward sister". The interviewer suggested he meant "charge nurse" and he was quite indignant as he had studied and worked hard for the "sister" title, which was a hospital position in that context and not a female sibling. That has since changed and they are not usually called "sister" any more in the UK for that reason, which is a shame.

In work circumstances, where most of my colleagues are female, I have a gender neutral title and sometimes people would be unsure of my sex, so I always include my first name to avoid confusion.
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