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Help[Opinions] Re: Girls names IMO - depends on where you're from?
in reply to a message by overtheclouds
I know the origin but in France the names are Augustin and Constantin are used, you would never say "St. Augustine" and even though I'm from the States I guess I've lived over there enough that the names are now male to me as well Augustine and Constantine are only used for girls and in fact I had this discussion with a French friend recently who actually finds the "e" ending offensive for the Saint and my dh thinks it's strange so it really does depend on where you're from!
However your explanation of the name and why the "E" was tacked on makes a lot of sense and I think you're right. Plus there are more male names that end with "ine" though I can't think of any. I would also add that other societies tend to use a masculine ending but English is different so it's OK to assign whatever gender you want to a name? Not sure but that's my only other guess.
Thanks for your info!
However your explanation of the name and why the "E" was tacked on makes a lot of sense and I think you're right. Plus there are more male names that end with "ine" though I can't think of any. I would also add that other societies tend to use a masculine ending but English is different so it's OK to assign whatever gender you want to a name? Not sure but that's my only other guess.
Thanks for your info!
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Plus there are more male names that end with "ine" though I can't think of any.
A well-known example would be Valentine. I think perhaps the -ine ending in English was originally masculine (when the name was derived from Latin), but some now might consider it feminine because of French imports like Christine, Justine, Jacqueline, etc. But feminine Latin names imported to English from Latin were generally left unchanged e.g. Claudia, Victoria, Martina, with the exception of maybe Mary, so Augustine wasn't originally a feminine name (in English), that would be Augustina. But French is of course different. The -us of the Latin Augustinus was removed and changed to Augustin, and the for the feminine form Augustina, the -a was changed to an -e. You'll see that with many French names that derive from Latin, e.g Germain and Germaine.
As for names being considered masculine or feminine, it really does depend on where you're from. For example, in Italy Andrea is a masculine name, their form of Andrew. I'm from the UK, so I've only ever seen the saints' names spelt Valentine, Augustine, etc. The former King of Greece, Konstantinos, was always referred to as Constantine in English. Sorry if my original reply seemed a little rambling and incoherent because I was writing it at one o'clock last night.
A well-known example would be Valentine. I think perhaps the -ine ending in English was originally masculine (when the name was derived from Latin), but some now might consider it feminine because of French imports like Christine, Justine, Jacqueline, etc. But feminine Latin names imported to English from Latin were generally left unchanged e.g. Claudia, Victoria, Martina, with the exception of maybe Mary, so Augustine wasn't originally a feminine name (in English), that would be Augustina. But French is of course different. The -us of the Latin Augustinus was removed and changed to Augustin, and the for the feminine form Augustina, the -a was changed to an -e. You'll see that with many French names that derive from Latin, e.g Germain and Germaine.
As for names being considered masculine or feminine, it really does depend on where you're from. For example, in Italy Andrea is a masculine name, their form of Andrew. I'm from the UK, so I've only ever seen the saints' names spelt Valentine, Augustine, etc. The former King of Greece, Konstantinos, was always referred to as Constantine in English. Sorry if my original reply seemed a little rambling and incoherent because I was writing it at one o'clock last night.
This message was edited 7/22/2012, 5:38 AM
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