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HelpDoes gender by definition bother you?
Casually going to copy and paste.
I know for a lot of people the meaning of a name really doesn’t matter, however, I’ve been looking into a lot of names that have the gender literally in the meaning of the name.
For example, the names Emerson, Addison, and Madison all share one thing in common: And that is its suffix, -son. Emerson means “son of Emery”. Addison, “son of Adam”, and Madison, “son of Maud”. All of these names are all popular on girls. Mackenzie, McKenna, and McKinley also have “son of” in its definition, yet pretty popular on girls.
It’s also kind of like how Beau literally means “handsome (for male)”, but considered unisex and Benjamin means “son of the south/right hand” and considered unisex on Nameberry.
This can also be applied vice versa as well, with names that are fem by meaning like Talitha (“little girl”), Nina (“little girl”), Kaur (“princess”), or Isis (“woman of the throne”). But I think we all know good and well nobody would even consider these names for a son.
With that being said, the question basically speaks for itself. Does stuff like this bother you? Or would you still use it as a name either way?
"People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing all day."
Rate my personal name list please :) https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/217493
I know for a lot of people the meaning of a name really doesn’t matter, however, I’ve been looking into a lot of names that have the gender literally in the meaning of the name.
For example, the names Emerson, Addison, and Madison all share one thing in common: And that is its suffix, -son. Emerson means “son of Emery”. Addison, “son of Adam”, and Madison, “son of Maud”. All of these names are all popular on girls. Mackenzie, McKenna, and McKinley also have “son of” in its definition, yet pretty popular on girls.
It’s also kind of like how Beau literally means “handsome (for male)”, but considered unisex and Benjamin means “son of the south/right hand” and considered unisex on Nameberry.
This can also be applied vice versa as well, with names that are fem by meaning like Talitha (“little girl”), Nina (“little girl”), Kaur (“princess”), or Isis (“woman of the throne”). But I think we all know good and well nobody would even consider these names for a son.
With that being said, the question basically speaks for itself. Does stuff like this bother you? Or would you still use it as a name either way?
"People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing all day."
Rate my personal name list please :) https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/217493
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Replies
Are you asking if having gender in a name meaning at all bothers me, or of it bothers me if such a name is gender flipped?
The answer to the first is no, I don't care in the slightest.
The answer to the second is that I do think it is particularly dumb to gender flip such a name.
The answer to the first is no, I don't care in the slightest.
The answer to the second is that I do think it is particularly dumb to gender flip such a name.
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No, but common usage does. I can't use William for a feminine name and I can't use Jessica for a masculine name. If these names were so rare, most people may never have heard of them before outside of perhaps a pop culture character, then that's okay I think. Like, I once read a fanfic with Trans!Sirius and the name Sirius is now genderless to me.
the meaning does not matter to me because my name is Charlotte. It is a feminine form of Charles and it means "man". So... I am man? Addison and Madison etc are perfectly fine as feminine names.
the meaning does not matter to me because my name is Charlotte. It is a feminine form of Charles and it means "man". So... I am man? Addison and Madison etc are perfectly fine as feminine names.
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I wouldn't; I appreciate accuracy across the board, not just when considering names. But others think differently and live happily ever after.
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It does annoy me.
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I think it's kinda boring but usually harmless, I was really into Nina for a while because I was watching Fullmetal Alchemist a few years ago, the meaning just being little girl is just kinda dull, plus once you get older it's a little infantile past childhood, but I didn't focus on that I thought about the feelings it gave me and the impression I had of it in a name in general. I think for most people the etymology of their name isn't really a thought that comes up, I've known people who were middle aged and even elderly without even a passing interest in their names meaning tbh, so it really depends on the individual. I guess what this really boils down to is how much does a names meaning mean to you in general and for me personally it's a nice factor but I don't put all my stock into it, particularly because often a names true etymology is just lost to time and we don't even truly know to begin with so it really "doesn't matter" to a degree. For me personally a nice meaning is a little added bonus but it isn't the full selling point of a name. Like one of my top choices for a name is Elodie which allegedly means foreign riches. At it's core this meaning seems uninteresting at best but imperialist at worst and has some negative implications if you chew on it long enough. But honestly in the grand scheme of things how many people would know that meaning if I picked it for a daughter? Probably none her entire life besides perhaps another mother of an Elodie. What she would have is a cute story of how I picked it from a character in a book I admired as a kid that came with her own song "her name is like a melody she's our little Elodie.." and to me, it's those cute little stories on WHY that hold more value than the meaning of the names in it of themselves. In most cases there are of course exceptions to the rule with wildly inappropriate meanings occasionally but for the most part I stand by my feelings on the matter.
This message was edited 6/23/2021, 5:33 PM
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It does not bother me. And if it did, I'd just go with a name that is not so definitively gender specific in meaning. Something with a meaning that has a broader scope. But I would not use a very gender specific name on a different gender. I'd simply find a name with a vaguer meaning.
This message was edited 6/23/2021, 5:23 PM
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