Happy Friday! I’m up far too late on what started on Thursday night, but had to share this with you before I go to bed. I was reading this article on gender-neutral baby names, and was distracted by this statement: “spellings have long signaled gender in names that sound the same: Yves vs. Eve” — of course I had to make a list of such names! These are some I’ve seen/heard:
Adrian and Adrienne
Elliott and Eliette
Francis and Frances
Gene and Jean
Jesse and Jessie
Julian and Julienne
Marian and Marion
Micah and Meike
Michael and Michal
Noah and Noa
Noel and Noelle
Rhys and Reese/Reece
Ryan and Ryann(e)
I know they’re not all strictly traditional (Ryan and Ryann(e)); and I’ve seen women with the masculine spelling (Gene), and men with the feminine spelling (except it’s not always feminine, like Jean and Reese/Reece); and the pronunciations aren’t always that simple (knoll or no-EL for Noel?), but still — pretty fun! What can you add to this list?
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Michel and Michelle
Dominic and Dominique
I guess there could be more French examples.
As for Micah, there’s also a Polish name Majka (a diminutive of Maja) that’s pronounced just the same.
I’ve also seen Eliotte as a feminisation of Elliott.
Recently I’ve read somewhere about Cullyn as a feminine formm of Cullen and I’d think there must be more such modern feminisations that are created via -lyn at the end.
And there seems to be that tendency that -ie ending names are feminine, while -y ending are masculine, though of course there are lots of exceptions so I’m not sure if that counts here.
That’s all I can think of right now but now that I actually think of it I guess there could be many more such names, also such that are used for different genders in different cultures/languages.
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You’re so right about the modern feminizations created via -lyn, or adding in y’s or changing an ending y to an i or ie. I think the French really do it well — there’s a a similar-sounding feminine name for so many masculine names!
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Erin and Aaron
Also, I would disagree about Reece/Reese. That to me is a male name that has been co-opted for girls. Before the 1990’s it was pretty much exclusively a male name with that spelling (Rhys has always been the least common way to spell it for boys – until recently). I think Reese Witherspoon made it popular for girls. Never heard it for a girl before her. Reese Witherspoon’s first movie was in 1991. First time Reese makes the SS list for girls is 1992 (9 babies). Previous years it is <5 – which could mean zero (except for 6 in 1924???) and has been climbing ever since. Reese is a middle name anyway (from her mother's maiden name) which she took for acting. Boy name becomes girl name.
So I think of it more like Ashley, Shannon, Leslie, etc. and more recently the whole James, Micah, girl thing.
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Actually, Erin and Aaron are not the same name. There’s no etymological relationship. They’re also not pronounced the same (pronunciation may depend on where you live though, but fwiw I usually hear a difference, and do not like my name pronounced like Aaron -the way I’m used to saying them, anyway).
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Right, anglicized version of an Irish word vs. Ireland vs. Old Testament Hebrew name, totally different! And yes, that’s so true about pronunciation — I say Erin and Aaron the same, but my friend from Long Island says them markedly differently. So sorry about that! My downstate friends think upstaters say things so badly! Another I can think of that has that problem is Anna. And Mary/merry/marry. I’m endlessly fascinated by all that!
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Yes I know – but we are talking about names that sound the same – and you can’t tell unless you see the spelling.
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At least I can’t -geographically here people pronounce it the same.
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The majority of people do, according to this article! https://www.businessinsider.com/merry-marry-mary-pronunciation-dialect-2018-12
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Lol Kate, I’m from Long Island too. I wonder if I say them the same as your friend.
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I suspected as much! I bet you do! This article discusses it: https://www.businessinsider.com/merry-marry-mary-pronunciation-dialect-2018-12
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Interesting. I say both Erin and Aaron with short vowel sounds. E.g. the er in Erin is like in error, Aaron begins like apple.
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Yes, this is how my downstate friends say it! I say both like air/chair.
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Oh yes, absolutely, I agree with you about Reece/Reese being a male name used by girls — I only include it here because I think Rhys is still exclusively male, where a girl would only have the Reece/Reese spelling. But then, I just looked it up, and there were actually 31 girls named Rhys in 2018 (compared to 621 boys), so that’s not even watertight!
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Yes, a totally co-opted name now.
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Cary, Carrie
Gerry/Jerry, Jeri
Terry, Teri
Basically take any boy name and add an I that you can dot with a heart.
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“add an I that you can dot with a heart” –> that made me laugh! Yes!
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That’s what all the girls with an I in their name did in the 80s. I have no I so there were no hearts in my name ::sniff::
Also I thought of Kelly, Kelli after I posted.
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Haha yes! I remember girls in my class doing so!
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Reese in all its spellings is traditionally masculine, as is Elliott. I don’t think there is any one feminine spelling of either. Jean and Jeanne are said the same way in France, with Jean masculine and Jeanne feminine. Also Gabriel and Gabrielle, Rene and Renee, Denis and Denise, etc.
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One of our readers’ grandmother was named Eliette! Behindthename has it as a feminine form of Elijah, like Elliott. I think it’s so lovely, and that was the first time I’d heard it! Reese is definitely traditionally masculine, yes; I’d assumed that Rhys was the only spelling of it that was still exclusively male, but I just looked it up and there were actually 31 girls named Rhys in 2013, bah! Rene and Renee is a good one, and Gabriel and Gabrielle are said the same in French, aren’t they? I never think of that, since they’re said differently in English. Are Denis and Denise said the same though? In French?
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Denis and Denise are not pronounced the same in French. Denis is Duh nee and Denise is Duh neez. For the most part, French is an unaccented language, with all syllables receiving equal emphasis.
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Lee is traditionally masculine and Leigh is traditionally feminine.
Also, Francis and Frances.
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I think you’re probably right that Lee is traditionally masculine, since it started as a surname, which usually goes to boys as a first name before girls, though I know loads of girls with the name Lee (usually the middle name). I would definitely think Leigh has predominantly feminine usage these days (though its etymology is the same as Lee and it was used as a boy name before it was used as a girl name) — especially with its usage on the end of names like Charleigh, Paisleigh, Harleigh, Finleigh, etc. in an attempt to further feminize them. I just looked it up and there were 46 girls named Leigh born in 2018 and 8 boys
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Jesse & Jessie
Billy & Billie
Tony & Toni
Bobby & Bobbi, Bobbie
Carroll & Carol
I find French names follow this pattern quite often:
André & Andrée
Corin & Corinne
Esmé & Esmée
Émilien & Émilienne
Emmanuel & Emmanuelle
Fabien & Fabienne
Germain & Germaine
Lucien & Lucienne
Marcel & Marcelle
Maximilien & Maximilienne
Pascal & Pascale
Raphaël & Raphaëlle
René & Renée
Sébastien & Sébastienne
Sylvain & Sylvaine
Vivien & Vivienne
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I do love those French names, gorgeous! And so funny that the feminine counterparts seem *so very feminine*, even while sounding the same as the male.
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In some of the examples, like the French ones ending in -ette or -enne, the feminine form with that ending is pronounced differently, though, so the difference is clear to a listener, not just a reader. E.g. Gabriel and Gabrielle, Julian and Julienne, sound different. While Francis and Frances, Lee and Leigh typically are said the same (though some people do pronounce Francis and -ces a little differently I think).
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Oh interesting, I also say Julien and Julienne the same! I definitely say Gabriel and Gabrielle differently, but I thought they were said the same in French? (I also say Francis and Frances the same. I think I would drive you crazy! )
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Loren & Lauren
I would also argue that more females are being named Elliott now than previously, so I think that one may not work for the current crop of babies.
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It’s popular now to give girls surnames or masculine names. I don’t think the name ceases to be masculine, though.
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I was just reading about all this over the last few days, it’s so interesting! I do think there are some names that continue to feel masculine to some people, even as more girls use them, and some that truly start to feel unisex. And of course there are the names that used to be exclusively male that are used so much for girls more recently that they’re mostly considered girl names, like Ashley, Leslie, Shirley, etc., so many of which were surnames to start.
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Ooh good one! And yes, I agree about Elliott — I was influenced here by a reader’s grandmother named Eliette, I think that’s so lovely and feminine!
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My maiden name is Elliott and I’ve always wanted to name my daughter that. Since I was little! And now I’m finally pregnant with a girl and Elliott has become so popular for a girl lately! So frustrating haha I was hoping to be original 😂 I love the Elliette version. So beautiful. But I don’t think I could pull it off when my maiden name is spelled Elliott.
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I’m 1000% on board with a mom’s maiden name being used for a daughter! If my maiden name was Elliott, I’d want to do that too! I hope you do!
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St. Rowan is male, but my grand daughter is Rowen, pronounced the same way.
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I love the name Rowan/Rowen! They’re both definitely being used for girls now! I hadn’t thought there was a spelling difference though, so I looked them up — indeed, both spellings are used more for boys than girls (186 girls named Rowen in 2018 vs 585 boys; 1447 girls named Rowan vs 3020 boys), though good usage for both.
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Huh, a whole bunch of those pairs in the list I wouldn’t pronounce the same! I suppose this varies by region/dialect.
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I had a professor in college who could accurately guess where each of his American students were from in the US just from listening to them talk — it was the first time I realized how different dialects within the same country can be, never mind different countries!
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In French, Denis is pronounced “deh NEE” and Denise is “deh NEES”
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These are not from the same roots, but Llewelyn and Lou Ellen sound similar. I love Llewelyn but don’t think I could use it for that reason!
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Ooh that’s a good one!
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My daughter has a little girl named Alyx in her class. I know “Alex” is used for both boys and girls; but I’ve seen Alyx, and an Alixe I knew in college, for girls only. Funny enough little Alyx often goes by Alli (spelled Alli…I’m so baffled why they don’t just use “Aly” as a shortening of her given name, or even Ally if they want 2 L’s but using her given vowel. Just interesting!)
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Haha that is interesting about Alyx going by Alli — I’d love to know the thought process!
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[…] Spellings that signal gender in names that sound the same […]
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