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I've never posted on this board before but I think this is the right board for my question.
I was flipping through a baby book (you know one of the Satran books that everyone has these days) and when I came to the name Christina, it mentions that the original form Christian was a female name in medieval times. So I go to look up the name Christian in the male section of the book and this is what it says,
"In the Middle Ages, Christian was a female name, but turned male with the introduction of the hero of John Bunyan's The Pilgram's Progress."
BtN lists the name as only male.
My guess was the book is wrong but I honestly don't really know all that much about name origins and history so I could be mistaken. Anyone know if there is any truth or no?
If anyone has any information, I'm really curious.
Thanks,
Jamie (And I hope this wasn't a really stupid question I should know the answer to or anything but it would figure if it was)
I was flipping through a baby book (you know one of the Satran books that everyone has these days) and when I came to the name Christina, it mentions that the original form Christian was a female name in medieval times. So I go to look up the name Christian in the male section of the book and this is what it says,
"In the Middle Ages, Christian was a female name, but turned male with the introduction of the hero of John Bunyan's The Pilgram's Progress."
BtN lists the name as only male.
My guess was the book is wrong but I honestly don't really know all that much about name origins and history so I could be mistaken. Anyone know if there is any truth or no?
If anyone has any information, I'm really curious.
Thanks,
Jamie (And I hope this wasn't a really stupid question I should know the answer to or anything but it would figure if it was)
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Replies
Thanks Everyone!
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The Middle Ages were pretty darn sexist when it came to names! Not always, but often, they'd give a girl a male name. Then the priest, usually the only literate member of the local community, would show off his Latin skills and reason that if they wanted to name a child Philip, that would be Philippus in Latin but this child was female; so he'd enter it in the records as Philippa and use it when christening the baby, but that would be the last she'd hear of it. She'd just be known as Philip. Same with other names, obviously; Philippa works well as an example because the female form is in use nowadays.
Similarly, my guess would be that there'd be little medieval Christianas running around, never dreaming that their name wasn't Christian.
In Pilgrim's Progress, the pilgrim's name is Christian and his wife is Christiana. Heavy symbolic stuff! And Pilgrim's Progress was the Number One Sunday-school prize book in the 19th century ... which is probably why the two great-grandmothers that I know about in my family, both from the north of England, were named Christiana. Each one was known as Chrissie.
I hope that's helped.
All the best
Similarly, my guess would be that there'd be little medieval Christianas running around, never dreaming that their name wasn't Christian.
In Pilgrim's Progress, the pilgrim's name is Christian and his wife is Christiana. Heavy symbolic stuff! And Pilgrim's Progress was the Number One Sunday-school prize book in the 19th century ... which is probably why the two great-grandmothers that I know about in my family, both from the north of England, were named Christiana. Each one was known as Chrissie.
I hope that's helped.
All the best
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