View Message

This is a reply within a larger thread: view the whole thread

No!!! (m)
Luca pronounced 'LOO-kah' is a boy's name to me. The Hungarian form mentioned here is pronounced 'LOO-tzah' and is also used in Croatia as a nn for Lucija.I'm really not a big fan of English speakers thinking that every name ending in -a for another language is female (and then they get outraged if someone names a girl Noah or Jeremiah).
Archived Thread - replies disabled
vote up1

Replies

I'm not sure - particularly on this site - that it can be assumed that all English speakers assume that if a name ends in 'a' it's feminine. Luka and Luca (pronounced Loo-ka) are/have been used as diminutives of a number of girl's names over time - including Lucretia, Lukina, Lukiia and Lukardis. I would imagine the names could also work for Lucrece, Ludovica and Ludwika. I'm not sure when diminutives become 'legitimately' considered usable in their own right - but both Luka and Luca have been used as stand-alone girl's names (outside of Hungary, and (interestingly) most often in Europe) for some time - even if they have never reached 'top ten' or 'top 100' status. In addition, they are also stand-alone names in their own right, without having developed as diminutives (one of the Period Russian Name links on this site lists Luka as most likely being a feminine version of Luk; Luka is the Hawaiian version of Ruth etc)I appreciate that must come across as odd in Croatia - where Luka has been the most popular boy's name for so long - but to dismiss the use of Luca and Luka on girls as somehow representing 'English ignorance' isn't quite right. (and had to add - Noah is a girl's name as well :)
vote up1