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HelpCourtney and Kennedy
I'll link my poll here before jumping into the discussion as that'll give you a better idea of what I'm thinking about (especially if you tl;dr this, mostly I want to hear more discussion based on this poll):
http://www.behindthename.com/polls/235876
I love the names Courtney and Kennedy, specifically Courtney for a male and Kennedy for anyone. Courtney just sounds like a very masculine name to me (despite being primarily used as a name for baby girls in the US). The trouble is, much like Alexis, which is my number one favorite boy name, I know a majority of the population sees it as a feminine name. Likewise, Kennedy, while apparently being very much a toss up here on behind the name (I have another poll specifically devoted to Kennedy) everyone I know thinks of it as a girl's name. I haven't decided who I want to give that name to but I am leaning more towards a male character as well.
Ultimately yes, this is my story to tell, however my goal is to reach as many people as possible. I don't want to potentially alienate people because they think I'm trying to overly (or subversively) feminize the male leads. The two males I want to give these names to are more masculine-typical characters. I do have a couple of male characters that break the gender binary a bit more, but not these two. No, I'm not trying to make a statement with their names. When I was thinking over their characters they just told me that they would like to be named Courtney and Kennedy. That's how I work with characters. I let them pick their names. It might sound odd but I develop the person first and then over time figure out what their name is. (I can write a story for months without having the characters named - they'll be marked in as some vague label that their character grew from).
So my question for you is if you saw a show or a movie or a story or a whatever with two masculine males with names that are considered to be female names, would that bother you? Plus any other commentary you have based on what I said here or the questions in the poll.
http://www.behindthename.com/polls/235876
I love the names Courtney and Kennedy, specifically Courtney for a male and Kennedy for anyone. Courtney just sounds like a very masculine name to me (despite being primarily used as a name for baby girls in the US). The trouble is, much like Alexis, which is my number one favorite boy name, I know a majority of the population sees it as a feminine name. Likewise, Kennedy, while apparently being very much a toss up here on behind the name (I have another poll specifically devoted to Kennedy) everyone I know thinks of it as a girl's name. I haven't decided who I want to give that name to but I am leaning more towards a male character as well.
Ultimately yes, this is my story to tell, however my goal is to reach as many people as possible. I don't want to potentially alienate people because they think I'm trying to overly (or subversively) feminize the male leads. The two males I want to give these names to are more masculine-typical characters. I do have a couple of male characters that break the gender binary a bit more, but not these two. No, I'm not trying to make a statement with their names. When I was thinking over their characters they just told me that they would like to be named Courtney and Kennedy. That's how I work with characters. I let them pick their names. It might sound odd but I develop the person first and then over time figure out what their name is. (I can write a story for months without having the characters named - they'll be marked in as some vague label that their character grew from).
So my question for you is if you saw a show or a movie or a story or a whatever with two masculine males with names that are considered to be female names, would that bother you? Plus any other commentary you have based on what I said here or the questions in the poll.
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