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The Most Gender-Switched Names in the U.S.

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Re: The Most Gender-Switched Names in the U.S.

#91

Post by mr_tristan »

andrewem wrote: post #81
mr_tristan wrote: post #73

What's weird is that we don't get any sense of popularity, and a lot of the names here are not very popular spellings. I suspect popularity would yield pretty different insights, especially if you could see more "sounds like" patterns. For example, my name: Tristan, isn't on the list, but Tristyn is. Tristan is _much_ more common. I found this site that also provides some insight that I think is the same SSA data, th…

I think that in your examples "Austyn" and "Tristyn", the POINT of the "y" replacing "i" is to signal that the name is feminine. Namely, you're having a girl but want to name her Austin, but not have her be assumed to be male. Therefore, roughly 40% of the time you choose Austyn with a "y" (if my calculations from your ratio are right; 85 girls Austyn, 129 girls Austin).

Could be, but I don't think it holds that consistently in the U.S., which is where this data is from. I'd still guess the less common the spelling, the more likely it's gender neutral, regardless of "gender flags":

More popular, strongly feminine: http://www.ourbabynamer.com/Sydney-name-popularity.html

Less popular, and used to be very popular male name, now mostly female: http://www.ourbabynamer.com/Sidney-name-popularity.html

Re: The Most Gender-Switched Names in the U.S.

#92

Post by belltaco »

_emacsomancer_ wrote: post #30
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #4

I find the Krishna name interesting. Krishna is a male Hindu deity. However, it seems a lot of people were naming their girls Krishna. Now, it is a boy's name again. My speculation for the cause of this is that Hare Krishna became popular among certain US groups in the 1970's and a lot of them named their daughters Krishna. Then, in more recent times, there has been a lot more immigration from India into the US, and…

Though Krishnā is also a name, and the feminine version of Krishna (Krishnā is one of Draupadi's other names; where both Krishna and Draupadi are characters in the _Mahabharata_).

The point is, in India, Krishna is overwhelmingly a male name, with a few exceptions.

Re: The Most Gender-Switched Names in the U.S.

#93

Post by zwayhowder »

ikeyany wrote: post #31
sampleinajar wrote: post #3

I wonder if you ignored spelling what the results would be? ex: kodi, codi, cody, etc. all grouped together.

Not sure how helpful that data would be, considering you'd get groupings like Aaron/Erin, which are very gender-aligned names.

I know more males called Erin than females. It's a common Irish first name that has nothing to do with the name Aaron, it literally means Ireland.

Re: The Most Gender-Switched Names in the U.S.

#94

Post by maxerickson »

crazygringo wrote: post #41

First, this is a great and original (AFAIK) post. Kudos to the author! Second, I actually find the most interesting fact to be completely unmentioned by the author: that in the first chart (greatest absolute changes), of the 30 biggest swaps, only two were female->male, while the other 28 (over 90%!) were male->female. It's a remarkable fact -- makes me think of how it's historically been much more acceptable for wom…

Lots of them have pretty likely explanations.

For instance, Angel got quite a lot more popular when Buffy the Vampire Slayer had a character of that name.

Or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley_(name)

Re: The Most Gender-Switched Names in the U.S.

#95

Post by nevster »

DonHopkins wrote: post #83

"My name is Sue! How do you do? Now you're gonna die!" I wonder if there was any fluctuation in "Sue" after Johnny Cash's recording of Shel Silverstein "A Boy Named Sue" spent three weeks at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1969 (second only to the Stone's "Honky Tonk Woman"). He even performed it in the East Room of the White House by request of Richard Nixon on April 17, 1970! Johnny Cash - A Boy Named Sue (fro…

"The hero of Canton, the man they call Jayne!"

Re: The Most Gender-Switched Names in the U.S.

#96

Post by andrewksl »

Zarath wrote: post #79
whack wrote: post #45

At the risk of turning an innocent topic into a political discussion, I wonder how much of this trend can be explained by societal privilege. Ie, parents (consciously or subconsciously) want their daughters to benefit from appearing male (at least on paper) and so give them ambiguous or masculine names. And of course, the same parents would do the exact opposite for their sons, by not selecting any name that might be…

I disagree, I just think it's far easier for femininity to coop masculine concepts than the reverse. Just in my personal view, it can be seen as "cute" for a girl to have a masculine name which sort of juxtaposes their femininity against a previously masculine name. Also in my experience, there is a lot more at stake for a young boy with a "girl's" name than for a young girl with a "boy's" name. Feel free to contradi…

I think you and the parent post are looking at two angles of the same object. The societal pressures that would incentivize masculine names are the same ones that would encourage teasing of a boy with a "girl's name."

Re: The Most Gender-Switched Names in the U.S.

#97

Post by Zarath »

andrewksl wrote: post #96
Zarath wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree, I just think it's far easier for femininity to coop masculine concepts than the reverse. Just in my personal view, it can be seen as "cute" for a girl to have a masculine name which sort of juxtaposes their femininity against a previously masculine name. Also in my experience, there is a lot more at stake for a young boy with a "girl's" name than for a young girl with a "boy's" name. Feel free to contradi…

I think you and the parent post are looking at two angles of the same object. The societal pressures that would incentivize masculine names are the same ones that would encourage teasing of a boy with a "girl's name."

True, they could both be factors. Gender bias in both cases.

Re: The Most Gender-Switched Names in the U.S.

#98

Post by robin_reala »

jfk13 wrote: post #32
paulddraper wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ubuntu Linux, I see the same on Chrome and Firefox. The heights are wonky. Specifically for d, r, and u, and w. Seems to work fine on other platforms.

The site is using a webfont "protection" technique that was mentioned in a comment here a couple months ago, see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20708371 . It's a terrible idea.

Huh. I helped implement something similar on the site I work on, but for entirely user focused needs, without realising that it would be potentially problematic in certain renderers. Will have to check today, thanks for the heads up.

Re: The Most Gender-Switched Names in the U.S.

#99

Post by LyndsySimon »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #64
LyndsySimon wrote: post #55

As a man named “Lyndsy”, this is interesting :) I know much of the story of my name. I’m named after my great-grandfather, with first and middle names reversed. His middle name was “Lindsey”, after his grandmother’s maiden name. (... and back and back and back ...) I named my eldest daughter Lynzy, to continue the tradition. I’ve apologized for her having to go through life with a “boy’s name” :)

Back and back and back... to a clan in Scotland? (One branch of my wife's family is goes back to Clan Lindsay.)

Yes. I can trace it back to David, Bishop of Ross Lindsay.

Re: The Most Gender-Switched Names in the U.S.

#100

Post by LyndsySimon »

JshWright wrote: post #62
LyndsySimon wrote: post #55

As a man named “Lyndsy”, this is interesting :) I know much of the story of my name. I’m named after my great-grandfather, with first and middle names reversed. His middle name was “Lindsey”, after his grandmother’s maiden name. (... and back and back and back ...) I named my eldest daughter Lynzy, to continue the tradition. I’ve apologized for her having to go through life with a “boy’s name” :)

> I named my eldest daughter Lynzy, to continue the tradition. And that's why I always ask patients how to spell their name, no matter how common it sounds...

Yep. I wouldn’t have done that, but my own name varies from the historical spelling as well.
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