Boy-turned-girl names

Feminine first name, masculine middle

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Let’s sidetrack for one moment and talk about the O’Hara sisters:

Katie Scarlett, called Scarlett

Susan Elinor, called Suellen

Caroline Irene, called Carreen

Oh my. Margaret Mitchell did an amazing job.

This post was inspired by Gone With the Wind’s well-named main character (I think Scarlett O’Hara is one of the best character names ever), but it’s not about her, and not even about a character created by Margaret Mitchell, but about a character created by Alexandra Ripley, who (as I understand it) had been commissioned by Margaret Mitchell’s estate to write a sequel to GWTW. Though her effort, Scarlett, wasn’t nearly as good as GWTW, I loved reading an end to Scarlett and Rhett’s story (ooh how I hated the way GWTW ended), and one of the fabulous details she imagined was another child, Scarlett and Rhett’s, a little girl, whom Scarlett named Katie Colum (after her cousin, an Irish priest named Colum, to whom she had grown close) (she was nicknamed Cat).

I just swooned over Katie Colum! I thought it was so clever, a feminine first name with a masculine middle. I was thinking about it this morning, because I know a little girl named Annie Ryan — that’s her given name, first and middle — and it totally works. It’s so charming! Ryan is a family last name for her, so she doesn’t technically have a boy’s name for a middle, even though of course Ryan is a boy’s first name.

I tried to think of other combinations that could have a similar feel as Katie Colum and Annie Ryan — names that are clearly girly even though the middle is masculine. What I came to was, the first name seems to need to be kind of *really* girly, not just feminine — not Katherine but Katie. Not Anne but Annie. And the middle name can’t be just any masculine name, I don’t think. I thought Gracie James could work. Maybe Rosie Ray. And I’ve long thought that starting with Mary makes any name do-able for a girl, but does it? Could a girl really pull off Mary Maverick? Or Mary Thomas? Actually Mary Charles sounds kind of intriguing, but even then I’d likely want to find an everyday nickname like maybe Macy, and not call her Mary Charles all the time. Certainly this brings to mind the religious names — Sr. Mary Edward or even Sr. Charles Francis — but that’s different than giving the name to a baby girl and intending to use the whole name as the everyday name. (I also know a little Elinor James, but she goes by Elinor/Ellie, so not exactly what I mean.)

I think this might be more common in the South? Where there’s a feminine first name but a masculine or lastname middle? But then I think the tradition is to go by the middle name all the time? Like Jane Prentiss who goes by Prentiss? Do any of you know any girls or women with names like this? Or can you think of other possibilities like Katie Colum and Annie Ryan?

Spotlight on: Juniper

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Taylor asked for a spotlight on Juniper, and in light of Pope Francis’ recent announcement that he’ll canonize Bl. Junipero Serra when he visits later this year, I’m delighted to do so.

Junipero is all male to me, because of Serra, but Juniper is only feminine to my ear; it’s listed as a girl name at Behind the Name, but its entry at Namipedia is a bit more gender neutral. I’m a big fan of boy names for boys, meaning unambiguously male names (except for something really obvious like Mary as a middle name), so I think I’d have a hard time with Juniper for a boy. If anything can change that though, a new saint could!

For a girl though, I’ve seen it talked about a time or two, like when Swistle discussed it and a few times on Baby Name Wizard (here, here, here, here …), and it’s really grown on me. The nicknames are just the sweetest — Junie? Come on. It could not be any cuter. Juno’s another option, and of course just June. Up until now I’ve thought of Juniper as kind of a hippie name, but from here on out I’m going to be thinking all saint, which is so great.

What do you think of Juniper? Do you know anyone named Juniper? Does he or she go by a nickname? Would you consider using Juniper for a boy?

Spotlight on: Cornelius

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Today is the feast of Pope St. Cornelius, so what better name to spotlight than his?

Cornelius. Not a common name. I’m not quite sure what to think about it. On the one hand, it’s a Pope’s name, and a pope who became a saint (he combated heresy and an anti-pope and died a martyr). It’s also an old Roman family name, and has become one of those pan-European names, with a variant in nearly every European language. Some of them are quite cool, like Cai/Kai/Caj/Kaj (Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish), and there are some interesting diminutives too, like Cees/Kees (Dutch). I knew a man whose first name was Cornelius, but he always went by Neil, which is also a possibility. And I just discovered that Connie Mack‘s given name was Cornelius McGillicuddy, Sr. That is really cool. (I cannot recommend strongly enough to always always read the comments for each entry on Behind the Name — there is so much great real-world information there.)

On the other hand, though, Corny is a pretty natural nickname. Corny just doesn’t work these days. Right? I think kids still say it: “You’re so corny,” “That’s so corny.” Which is a bad thing. Or at least not a good thing. Right? Additionally, Corny always makes me think of Cornflake S. Pecially, which shouldn’t be a bad association (Mr. Rogers!) but isn’t a good one, in my opinion, for a baby. And as cool as the Connie Mack connection is, Connie just doesn’t seem doable for a boy these days (see also: Carroll, Meredith, Courtney …). Really, for me, I can’t see being able to warm up to Cornelius.

Which is really unfortunate, because I do love its historical and religious pedigree and international flavor. It’s got all the elements I look for in a boy’s name, but sometimes … that’s just not enough. (Alexander is another name that I feel similarly about — it hits all the right notes except the one that makes me like it. A post for another day.) If you love Pope St. Cornelius, or have a Cornelius in the family you’d like to honor, I could see it being a smashing middle name. Or, consider the female variant Cornelia, with its own history (the name of a woman considered to be the “ideal Roman woman”) and many sweet nicknames (Corrie, Lia, and my favorite: Nell).

Do you know anyone named Cornelius? Does he like his name? Does he have a nickname?