gender benders

[tunknut.livejournal.com]

So, masculine names for girls are really trendy now, but I can remember a few growing up.  Anyone else associate a name with the "wrong" gender growing up due to childhood acquaintances?

When I was little, I thought Corey, Jordan, and Kyle were girls' names because I knew girls with those names.  I also remember being shocked when I found out Ashley was originally a male name because I knew so many female Ashleys...

I also thought Alexis was a boy's name because I knew a boy named Alexis and I guess that was before it got popular on girls.

And I thought Daniel and Danielle were the same unisex name with different pronunciations... It took me awhile to figure out the Daniel pronunciation was used on boys and Danielle on girls.

On a related note, a relative of mine has a daughter named Owen.  Anyone else know a female Owen?  She's the only one I've heard of. 

Comments

[adamantplatypus.livejournal.com]

I think Alexis is a Russian name, for boys.

[lustdumpster.livejournal.com]

i knew an equal amount of boy and girl jordans growing up. my name is ashley and i'm a girl and i've never met a male ashley, so even though i know now that it was originally a boys name, i doubt i'll ever see it that way and i'm always taken aback when people say they prefer it on boys because it strikes me as being SO feminine.

i also thought drew was a perfectly unisex name when i was younger because i knew a girl named dru and of course the actress. but now i'm like no, only boys.

[daydream11.livejournal.com]

A girl named Owen? I'm having mixed feelings, but I don't think it's horrible. If anything, I think it would sound better on a girl than a guy, because I always think of a dunce when I hear the name on a guy... it doesn't ring the same bell for a girl.

Alexis is a guys' name, traditionally. I hate the name on girls, but for guys I adore it.

Oh! The name Monet is technically a unisex one, but I can only picture it on girls because they are what everybody in my area uses it on.

[freezemyazaleas.livejournal.com]

Oh god, I hate the name Monet so much!

[daydream11.livejournal.com]

Me too, and it's my own sister's name. I can tolerate it on boys (in theory), but on girls it's awful. Sadly, it's still an all-girl name for me, for the reasons I already gave. And with a Southern accent (I'm in the DC area), it sounds quite unrefined.

[moldycelery.livejournal.com]

Alexis is a boy's name. On a girl it just looks tacky.

[satunian.livejournal.com]

Alexis is a girls name. I believe it's a boys' name in Russia, but it's a girls' name in the US

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

So it's a boy's name that is used as a girl's name in the U.S. Trust me, it's a boy's name pretty much everywhere outside North America.

[tryyingtoevolve.livejournal.com]

I always thought Brett and Brady were girls' names because of two friends named this. (Brett was actually named Elizabeth, but she always went by Brett)

I actually really like Brett as a nn for Elizabeth, but I don't like Brady really at all. I prefer it on girls, I think, but I don't really like it that much, either.

[elemmennope.livejournal.com]

When I was in school I knew males named:
Ashley
Holly
Shannon
Kim (He was named after the Kipling book)
Stacy

And girls named:
Tyler (before it ever was a trendy boys name)
Shiloh
Riley
Haley (way before it became a super trendy girl name)

I think Owen is awful on a girl. Many of the unisex names I can understand, but Owen isn't feminine at all imo.

[solagirl.livejournal.com]

I knew female Kyle and Drew growing up, but someone told me these were unusual for girls so I still thought of them as fairly masculine names.

I like Drew better on a girl, or as a nn for boy's named Andrew.

[blue-suspenders.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I didn't know Ashley was a boy's name originally for a long time.

[freezemyazaleas.livejournal.com]

Growing up I only knew male Jordans, and I thought it was really weird when I met a female Jordan.

[seksimaggie.livejournal.com]

I did at first to, when I met the first girl Jordan I knew in maybe middle school, it seemed as weird to me as the James on a girl trend does now. But now I've known so many female Jordans that that one doesn't seem weird to me anymore.

[seksimaggie.livejournal.com]

I've never heard of Owen as a girl's name, and I don't like it, or any of the boys names on girls trend thing that's going on.

I definitely never knew that Ashley was originally a male name when I was little, because it was sooo popular on girls in the late 80s and that's when I was born.

I went to kindergarten with a girl named Ashton and a boy named Taryn, and I didn't know those names were normally used on the opposite genders until middle school when a substitute teacher happened to comment on it when all three of us were in a class again.

I also have an aunt named Leslie and an aunt named Terri, and my mom has a close friend named Randy who's female, and I had a good female friend named Jamie as a little girl, and so all of those names (any spelling of them) seem like they only work on girls to me.

Those are the only ones I can think of, but there might even be more. Incidentally, all the names that are generally considered to be unisex, I have strong opinions on almost all of them on whether they work for boys only or girls only, and also I hate them all, haha.

[jordle.livejournal.com]

I grew up in a town of about 20,000 (if you includ surrounding areas) and when my mum named me Jordan there were no boys or girls with that name where I lived. Because of me there are a lot of girl Jordan's in my home town and not too many boys!!

I've never understood the name on a boy, but I guess that's because I'm a girl and most of the other Jordans I know are also girls.

[laminy.livejournal.com]

Jordan is like one of two names that I consider truly unisex.

Michelle Branch has a daughter named Owen.

[aimeewins.livejournal.com]

I'm used to Evan as a girl's name because of Evan Rachel Wood, and because I don't know any male Evans.
and growing up, my friend's mom was Shawn, so I associate that spelling with females.

[daydream11.livejournal.com]

Oh! I found this quite interesting: Meredith is a boys' name in England. I read about it in my Baby Names for Dummies book I just checked out. Meredith is growing on me as a feminine name, and now it's sparking my own interest as a masculine one, too.

[requiem-morrow.livejournal.com]

"Mama Cass" Elliot's daughter is named Owen...she has to be in her 30s-40s now.

I'm one of the evil gender bender lovers...but I swing both ways.

I love Ashely and Jayne on a boy. I think Jenny and Connie are adorable nick names for Jensen and Constantine. I also love Joshua and James on girls.

[memorymaze.livejournal.com]

I don't believe in gender.