Why Do Names Change Gender?

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SOURCES AND FURTHER READING

[NameExplain]

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

[andreujuanc]

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

[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.

[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.

[SuperiorX]

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'

[ericaohmg]

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.

[Random]

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.

[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

[Mimiheart]

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.

[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.

[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.

[mariawesley]

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".

[HalfEye]

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.

[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...

[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.

[TomJohnson]

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.

[compareandcontrast]

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

[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.

[fermintenava]

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".

[adrianblake]

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...)