Debate this question

[pythianlegume7.livejournal.com]

Do you think spelling a name differently can make it more feminine or masculine?

Comments

[lilacmermaid.livejournal.com]

Only in a couple rare examples. Like to me, Francis is a boy and Frances is a girl, and there's no real debate there, they're both legitimate names in my mind.

But other than that, I mostly just think that spelling a name differently to try to make it look more feminine/masculine just makes it look silly. Changing a vowel to an I or a Y (like Jordin or Ashtyn) make look more feminine, but it doesn't look GOOD. And then it doesn't even always work ... I have a male cousin named Kamryn! :S

[lustdumpster.livejournal.com]

not really, unless they're both legit names. the francis/frances mentioned in the other comment is a good example but i can't think of any on my own.

that post from what was it, yesterday? was so ridiculous. ashtyn and ryleigh, omg. idk why people think y's are so feminine. and i've always seen riley as a unisex name anyway.

it also seems like a lot of people think spelling the really popular rhyming names with y makes them girls names, too. like bradyn, jadyn, ect. or even addisyn and maddisyn, which tbh i've always seen as girls names in the first place. i hate misspelled names so much.

[lustdumpster.livejournal.com]

lmao that sounds like it would be the most ridiculous, ignorant statement except for the fact that it's usually true.

[lustdumpster.livejournal.com]

triple.

[lustdumpster.livejournal.com]

good idea, but have you considered removing the d? the j alone will make the same sound and the point is to make the world as unrecognizable as possible, right?

[lustdumpster.livejournal.com]

or word*, rather.

[ev1lkitkat.livejournal.com]

Actually, in the book "Freakonomics", the author discusses that certain names imply that the mother had more education.

[ev1lkitkat.livejournal.com]

Ha, I didn't see your comment at the bottom

[laminy.livejournal.com]

I think that it can, but at the same time, it usually makes it look a lot more stupid as well.

[mamakimi.livejournal.com]

Sometimes.

For example in the case of

Boy - Aaron
Girl - Erin

Boy - Jesse
Girl - Jessie

Then there are names like Noel which can be two different names.

[mamakimi.livejournal.com]

Erin & Aaron are the same name to me.

I am not looking at meanings just how the name sounds.

[mamakimi.livejournal.com]

They are both "air-in" to me.

I live in MN and have a midwestern accent. If you have ever seen Fargo, people say I sound almost like those people. lol

[freezemyazaleas.livejournal.com]

I'm in California, which is known for having no regional accent, and everyone I know pronounces them the same.

[thejoysofjess.livejournal.com]

Everyone has a regional accent. Californians have a Californian accent. It's not as pronounced as, say, a Kentucky one, but it's there.

[pythianlegume7.livejournal.com]

I pronounce them the same, but at the same time I know that they are obviously two completely distinct names

[chocklit-frog.livejournal.com]

Toronto, Canada, and I would say them both air-in.

[laminy.livejournal.com]

I totally have to agree with you, I don't know how people are saying them differently. They're both air-in to me too :) I can't get my mouth to say them any other way, and certainly not to say them differently than each other.

[lilacmermaid.livejournal.com]

I say them the same way too, but here's a way to see the difference ... try to imagine Donald Trump or Regis Philbin or someone like them saying those names.

Erin should sound close to how you say it, but not exactly (at least compared to how I say it). To me Erin begins like "air", whereas with certain accents the vowel is more like that in "let". And then Aaron will begin with a really different vowel sound, like the vowel in "hat".

[politicking.livejournal.com]

I say them both Air-in, too... the way that others are talking about is: Aaron = AH-run and Erin = AIR-in

[krosp.livejournal.com]

And that is why I have removed Aaron from my boys' names list :p

I say them so incredibly differently and I really like Aaron in my own accent but hate it in everyone else's lol. Even though most other Australians say Aaron like I do, some say it more like air-on and that's enough to put me off the name. Like another of my favourite names, Anna, could be more like Eeeynna but I haven't been put off that one yet.

How do you say "apple" in your accent? Is it kind of like air-ple? (without the R, I mean). Although it's one of those things that I suppose you can't necessarily tell because the way I phoneticise something might be different to you etc and then impossible to compare our accents by text.

[rubytitania.livejournal.com]

Yeah, in the UK they would sound totally different.

[murderprotocol.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on this one. Here in Australia, they're two very different pronunciations and therefore, two different names.

I can see how people consider them to be the same, though.

[politicking.livejournal.com]

I don't say them differently, but I can if I try. But normally, I don't.

I grew up in Central PA and NJ... in PA where I grew up there was no real distinction between the sound of Erin and Aaron.

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

Francis/Frances is one thing, but in my opinion, you can't take a male name, add a 'y', and make it look more feminine, unless the 'y' is on the end of the name, but even then sometimes it doesn't work. So Ashtyn, Robyn, Devyn etc. all just look like misspelled boys' names to me. I never really understood why throwing a random 'y' in there is supposed to make a name suddenly look feminine.

[lilacmermaid.livejournal.com]

Oooh, Robin is another one that is legitimately a boy OR girl name in my mind. But yeah, spelling them with a Y doesn't do anything but make them look silly.

[adamantplatypus.livejournal.com]

Erica = feminine

Erika = masculine

Although you wouldn't use it on a boy, of course.

[http://users.livejournal.com/__recidivist/]

Dang I wish I were a sociologist. I am, even as I type, coming up with a research project rating the gender of names, along with assigning values for "intelligent", "well-spoken", "poor", "rude", et cetera. If you are a sociologist, thank me in your paper!

[http://users.livejournal.com/__recidivist/]

Ooh! I even found a reference for you: Smith, Faye I., Tabak, Filiz, Showail, Sammy, Parks, Judi McLean, and Kleist, Janean S. 2005. "The Name Game: Employability Evaluations of Prototypical Applicants with Stereotypical Feminine and Masculine First Names (http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=2005-02615-006&site=ehost-live&scope=site)." Sex Roles 52: 63-82.

[freezemyazaleas.livejournal.com]

If it's a legit spelling and not a made-up one (e.g. Kevynne).
The Frances/Francis thing I agree with.
Also, I see Cary as male, Carrie as female, and Carey as unisex.
Leslie is unisex and Lesley is female.
Umm... I can't really think of any more.

[freezemyazaleas.livejournal.com]

Thought of some more. Lyndon = masculine, Linden = feminine. Devin = masculine, Devon = feminine. Danny = masculine, Dani = feminine.

[politicking.livejournal.com]

I agree about Carey/Cary/Carrie

same with Leslie/Lesley

[thejoysofjess.livejournal.com]

I expect that a y in a name would be on a girl, but it doesn't make a boy's name more feminine. You can't make Austyn a girl's name, you know?

There are a lot of legit names that are spelled differently on girls and boys. The only one I can think of that hasn't been mentioned is Adrian/Adrienne, but some people honestly pronounce those differently anyway.

[duckduckcaboose.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Lee and Leigh.

But for the most part, taking a LEGITIMATE name and MAKING UP a name by changing the letters does not make it acceptable for the opposite gender, in my opinion.

[daydream11.livejournal.com]

I've always been honestly confuzzled about the Lee/Leigh thing. Because the '-eigh' suffix reminds me of the word 'eight', no matter how hard I try, the name Leigh forever rhymes with 'lay' in my book. So when I see Ashleigh and Ashlee, those are two different names.

Am I the only one here who thinks that, too? And even more, am I phonetically (is that a word?) wrong?

[ghetto-lonetto.livejournal.com]

You're definitely not alone on that one. I think it's because Leigh, to me, looks like it should rhyme with weigh. I mean, I know consciously that it's pronounced 'Lee,' but I still mispronounce it every time I see it in print.

[duckduckcaboose.livejournal.com]

Phonetically speaking, I feel that you're correct about that, but there are so many words that are not pronounced how they're spelled. That's why English is so tricky. For example, Christine! Ch should make a "chuh" sound, and Stine should be kind of... "sty-n", so if you really analyze Christine, it might be "cha-rist-ihne" really.

My own name is relevant here...

[shyspy.livejournal.com]

My mom knew men named Cheyenne, and knew it was an ambiguous gender name, so she made it "Cheyanna", with the intent being that "-anna" was a more feminine ending.

[murderprotocol.livejournal.com]

Not really. If a name has a set gender attached, no change of spelling will convince me it's a name for the opposite sex. James is still a boys name, even if it's spelt Jaimes to try and make it 'girly'.

Certain name are different, like someone mentioned Frances/Francis and Lee/Leigh, et cetera. The same applies for Robin (boy) and Robyn (girl).

[krosp.livejournal.com]

Yes and no.

I think it's ridiculous to change a legitimate spelling into a new variant just to make it look more masculine or feminine. Changing the spelling doesn't change the sound anyway, and creating a new spelling is pointless.

But when someone is trying to choose between two existing spellings they may think one looks more feminine or masculine than the other and choose based on that. I can't think of any good example though.

[tryyingtoevolve.livejournal.com]

Yes and no.

There are some names that have more than one spelling and that are, for the most part, unisex. For example, I can see Ashley on a boy, but Ashlee seems more feminine to me. Same goes for Robin (m) and Robyn (f) as well as Kasey (f) and Casey (m). I have my own preferences for those names (Ashley, Robin, Casey, and all on boys), but I can see them on either and I prefer those spellings on those sexes.

As for other names, I don't think that at all. For example, you can add as many y's as you want, but whether you call your daughter James, Jaymes, or Jaymez, James is still a boy's name.