"What's in a Name?" (New York Times)

lspf72
Tue, 30 Oct 2007 22:43:04 +0000

I have a boys’ middle name, and as a girl was always called by both my first and middle names. Come to think of it, my first name is a unisex name, though aside from a Steelers quarterback I’d never really considered it much of a boys name until reading it here…

My parents came very close to naming me “Martha Allen” after a late relative. Sometimes those unisex/male names are actually family names.

We know many male Riley’s, Ryan’s and Connor’s, and now know girls with those names as well. My daughter has both male and female Elvin’s in her grade, surprisingly.