Interesting...

[requiem-morrow.livejournal.com]

I was messing around with the SSA stats for the decade I was born (1970s) and came across some interesting names for girls in the top 1000 - 

John
Joey
James
Jeri/Jerri
Christopher
Robert
David
Jason
Ryan
Brian
William
Daniel
Joseph
Anthony
Eric 

the 60s added
Mark
Richard

And for boys-

Stephanie
Maria
Angela
Kimberly
Trinity
Torey
Brandy
Michelle
Melissa
Antonia
Amy
Jade
Jennifer 

And the 60s added

Flipping through the 60's Mary was ranked 713, tied with Errol and others on the boys list

and Lisa was 783 for boys

and Linda made the list for boys, too.

Elizabeth and Susan made the boys list too, with Clair and Patricia

Tammy made the boys list, too. I'm sad that my favorite "girl on boy" name, Jane, didn't make it. PS, yes I know some of the names started as boys names.

I left off the names I have come across before, although I have come across Maria, Kimberly, and Michelle (spelled differently) on boys and I love James on a girl. I've heard the "female" versions of some - Roberta, Johnnie/Johnna, Christine/a, etc but I must admit I've never met a woman named David or William:)

Thoughts?

Comments

[freezemyazaleas.livejournal.com]

Jeri/Jerri, Ryan, Joey, Trinity, Torey, and Jade make sense to me. The other ones seem like mistakes to me.

[hotchpot.livejournal.com]

The model/actress Jamie King used to be James King. I liked her better that way!

I hate to burst your bubble but in college I did a sociology report based on these weird batches of women being named Robert and men being named Susan and almost 100% of the this was due to error (ie: people marked the wrong box for sex on the birth records).

[requiem-morrow.livejournal.com]

I don't know what is more disturbing - that Americans can screw up the gender of their baby enough for it to make the top 1000 names in a decade or that the song "A Boy Named Sue" was really about a typo...

:)

[hotchpot.livejournal.com]

No way! Sue's dad named him Sue so he "have to get tough or die" :)

There were several instances of boys being named after their mothers who had died in childbirth or fathers who had died and then there were some just random Elizabeths who were men and Patricks who were girls. So its not all typos.

[shortbutfast.livejournal.com]

i like James, William, Anthony but especially Anthony.

Stephanie is a classic and always comes across strong as a girl's name.
Jade could grow on me.

[tryyingtoevolve.livejournal.com]

I really hate boys names on girls. Like, more than I can possibly describe. I don't know what this trend is all the sudden - I know this is for the 70s, but it seems to be quite popular to do it today - it's like people want their daughter to be 'unique' and are instead wanting to name her James or Ryan and are having her blend in with all the boys instead. Especially those ones! I can understand Riley, Logan, Jordan, etc. because they're 'newer' in terms of being popular and they aren't as masculine sounding, but William? John? JAMES? These are the most masculine names I can think of without using like...Butch or Bruce or something.

Jeri/Jerri is actually a common feminine spelling of the name, so that one isn't that weird. The only one I even sort of like on a girl is Joey, and only as a nickname for Josephine or Jocelyn; I hate it on its own.

I don't really like any of the girls-names-on-boys.

[requiem-morrow.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I can explain it in a way that makes since, but some names can go either way for me and some can't. If I don't like the name enough to use it on a girl I won't use it on a boy and vice versa. Elizabeth is a good example - nothing wrong with the name, but I wouldn't use it. I like Joshua on a boy or girl; James on a boy or girl; Jane/Jain/Jayne on a boy or girl, etc...BUT I don't like Stacey, Whitney, Leslie, Beverly, Cory, etc...at all so I wouldn't use them on either even though they have historically been used on both sexes. For me its about the name, not about the stereotypical gender associated with the name.

[traezer.livejournal.com]

I've met a guy named Darcy. I know, it used to be a boys name, but he was under 30, so its weird. Ive also met a male Ashley.