09 April 2009

It's Pat!

There are lots of cross-gender names these days. That is, names that can work for a boy or a girl. When you hear the following names, what gender do you generally think of?

  • Taylor
  • Reagan
  • Leslie
  • Jamie
  • Tye
  • Kennedy
  • Renee
  • Payton
  • Riley
  • Alexis
  • Sydney
  • Ashley
  • Kelly
  • Leslie
  • Pat
I have some very specific gender assignments for some of these, and I'm almost always surprised when things don't match up like I expect. At the same time, there are some names that I know can go either way, but I still associate those names with one gender in particular. Comment away. I'll post my opinions shortly.

4 comments:

Janet said...

I have a definite feeling that names should be gender specific and am frustrated by the changes norms on this subject. I have a brother named "Lynn" and he was always receiving mail to "Miss Lynn" I like names for which the gender can't be mistaken.

Priscilla said...

So at work, I call people alot. And I get kinda annoyed when people have names that are not gender specific. I get even more annoyed when people have made up names. But I get the most annoyed when people have real names but with an stupid, made up spelling. That is all.

Angela said...

Boys:
Taylor, Reagan, Tye, Kennedy,

Girls:
Leslie, Renee, Alexis, Sydney, Kelly, Pat

Either:
Jamie, Riley, Ashley

I know they can go either, but when I hear them, that's what I think. With those final three, I do think, "Now that could be either..."

"Kelly" caught me off-guard when it was a dudey rudey.

G said...

My first reaction is always approximately the following.

Boys: Taylor, Tye, Payton, Riley

Girls: Leslie, Jamie, Renee, Alexis, Sydney, Ashley, Kelly, Pat

Names I Can Only Think of as Last Names and Therefore Never Know: Reagan, Kennedy

I think there is a serious trend toward turning names into girl names. As if it weren't already hard enough to find a boy name, the few that are left all getting "tainted" by girly associations.