The name unisex (also known as episena name , the name gender neutral or the name androgini ) is the name given that can be used by someone regardless of the gender of the person. Some countries have laws that prevent unisex names, which require parents to give their children a gender-specific name. In other countries, unisex names are sometimes avoided for social reasons.
Names can have different gender connotations from country to country or from language to language. For example, the Italian name Andrea (derived from the Greek Andreas ) is understood as a woman's name in many languages, such as English, German, Hungarian, Czech and Spanish.
Parents may name their child to respect someone of another gender, who - if done extensively - could cause the name to be unisex. For example, Christians, especially Catholics, can give children a second/middle name, such as the name of Marie or Mary's son in honor of the Virgin Mary or earlier Anne to Saint Anne; or name a daughter JosÃÆ'Â © in honor of Saint Joseph or Jean in honor of John the Baptist. This practice is rare in English-speaking countries.
Some masculine and feminine names are homophones, pronounced equally for both sexes but spelled differently. For example, Yves and Eve and (for some speakers) Artemus and Artemis. These names are not entirely unisex names.
Video Unisex name
In popular culture
Unisex names can be used as a source of humor, such as Julia Sweeney's sexually ambiguous character "Pat" on Saturday Night Live . The joke that runs on the TV show Scrubs is that almost every JD woman sleeps with a unisex name: Jordan, Alex, Danni, Elliot, Jamie, Kim, etc. Similarly, Jamie's sex in Malcolm in the Middle was deliberately ambiguous when first introduced at the end of the fourth season of the event leading to speculation that it would remain unknown. However, the character's sex was revealed at the end of the first episode of season five. In Gilmore Girls, Rory is troubled by the discovery that her co-worker Logan, Bobby, is female. Rory considers Bobby to be male and only at their first meeting, Rory finds Bobby is a woman. Interestingly, the name "Rory" itself was historically a male name until Gilmore Girls achieved popularity, by which time the name reached rough gender equality.
In Japanese dramas and manga, unisex names can be given for androgynous or gender-bending characters as part of a twist plot to assist in presenting the characters as one gender when they are completely different.
In mystery fiction, the unisex name is used to tempt the reader to try to solve the mystery of character sex. Sarah Caudwell's novels feature a narrator named Hilary Tamar, a law professor who has never been identified as male or female.
Maps Unisex name
English
Unisex names have enjoyed popularity in English-speaking countries in recent decades. The masculine names have become increasingly popular among women in the last century but the original feminine names remain very rare among men.
The masculine names that have been widely given to women and thus have become unisex include:
In the United States, most of these names are now mostly women, while in England, some (especially Charlie, Hilary, Sidney, Robin) remain mostly male. Sometimes different spellings have different gender distributions (Francis is more likely to be female than Frances), but this is rarely definitive. For example, in the US, in 2016, Skylar and Skyler are more common for women, but Skylar is strongly associated with women (the most common name for women's 42nd and 761 most common for men born in 2016) than Skyler. (359 most common names for women and 414 most common for men born in 2016)
The modern unisex name can be from:
- Nature (Lake, Rain, Willow)
- Colors (Blue, Gray, Indigo)
- Country or state (Dakota, India, Montana)
- Last name (Parker, Mackenzie, Madison, Murphy)
- Politicians (Kennedy, Reagan)
Examples of unisex names among celebrities include:
- Jamie (eg Jamie Bell, Jamie Hewlett, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Jamie Lynn Spears)
- Morgan (Morgan Freeman and Morgan Fairchild)
- Michael (Michael Keaton, Michael Learned and Michael Michele)
- Taylor (Taylor Lautner and Taylor Swift)
- Tracy (Tracy Morgan and Tracy Chapman)
- Jordan (Jordan Knight and Jordan Pruitt)
- Hayden (Hayden Christensen and Hayden Panettiere)
- Peyton (Peyton Manning List and Peyton)
- Robin (Robin Williams and Robin Tunney)
- Cameron (Cameron Crowe and Cameron Diaz)
- Devon (Devon Sawa and Devon Aoki)
According to the Social Security Administration, Jayden has been the most popular unisex name for boys since 2008 and Madison has been the most popular unisex name for girls since 2000 in the United States. Before Jayden, Logan was the most popular unisex name for boys and prior to Madison, Alexis was the most popular unisex name for girls.
Nickname
Many popular nicknames are unisex. Some nicknames, such as Alex and Pat, have become popular as names given in their own right. The following list of unisex nicknames is most commonly seen in English-speaking countries such as Canada, the United States, Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.
Finnish
Finnish law prohibits giving "girls the names of men and boys of women's names" among other restrictions. Some ambiguous names do exist, which have been given to children of both sexes. Partial list includes: Aala, Aale, Aali, Aalo, Airut, Aleksa, Alvi, Ami, Ara, Ariel, Asla, Dana, Dara, Eedi, Eelia, Eeri, Eeti, Eka, Ellis, Emili, Ensi, Ervi, Essa, Hello, Hani, Heile, Heine, Helgi, Helle, Hille, Ila, Ille, Ilo, Jessi, Jo, Juno, Kaari, Kaiho, Kara, Karli, Karo, Kullero, Lahja, Lei, Lemmi, Lumo, Mara, Margo, Marin, Marjus, Mietti, Mille, Miska, Mitja, Muisto, Nevin, Niika, Niki, Nikita, Nikola, Oma, Orla, Peeta, Rani, Reine, Reita, Rene, Sana, Sani, Sasa, Sasha, Sassa, Series, Sire, Sirius, Soini, Soma, SÃÆ'¤vel, Tiera, Toive, Vanja, Varma, Veini, Vendi, Venni, and Vilka. Many of these names are rare, foreign or neologism, the names set tend to be very gender specific. In particular, the name class derived from nature can often be used for either sex, for example: Aalto (wave), Halla (es), Lumi (snow), Paju (willow), Ruska (autumn color), and Valo (light ). Similarly, there are some adjectives (sometimes ancient) that do not contain strong gender connotations, such as Kaino (shame), Vieno (calm) or Lahja (gifts). Certain names can have small unisex, like Alex, which can be short for Aleksandra or Aleksanteri (or its variants).
French
Popular French unisex names include Camille, Claude, Dominique, StÃÆ'  © phane, and Maxime. There are also couple of masculine and feminine names that have slightly different spellings but identical pronunciations, such as Andrà © © Andrà ©  © e, Frà © à © dÃÆ'  © rique/Gabriel/Gabrielle. In France and French-speaking countries, it can happen for people to have a combination of masculine and feminine names, but most of them include "Marie", such as Jean-Marie, Marie-Jean, Marie-Pierre. Marie is a unisex name in medieval times; currently only women except for his presence in a compound name. Famous examples of people with a combination of names given by masculine and feminine are Jean-Marie Le Pen (male), Marie-Jean HÃÆ'  © rault de SÃÆ'  © chelles (man), Marie-Pierre Koenig ( man), and Marie-Pierre Leray. (woman).
The European nobility often calls Marie's name, the form of the French Mary, in their name. Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este (Amedeo Marie Joseph Carl Pierre Philippe Paola Marcus), Prince Jean of Luxembourg (Jean FÃ © l © lix Marie Guillaume); and Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (Jean BenoÃÆ'®t Guillaume Robert Antoine Louis Marie Adolphe Marc) is an example of a male nobleman who gave birth to Marie in their name.
German
In the past, German law required parents to give gender-specific names to their children. This is no longer the case, since the German Federal Constitutional Court was held in 2008 that there is no obligation for a name to be sex-specific, even if the child has only one name given. The habit of adding a second name that matches child sex is no longer necessary. However, German nicknames are very rare, most of them are nicknames and not official names (like Alex).
Examples of unisex names: Eike, Gustl (male variant is shortening August or Gustav, women for Augusta, Toni, Niko, Kai, Kim.
Hebrew
Many modern Hebrew names have become unisex. Some popular examples are Gal , Tal , Noam , Lior and Daniel (which unisex just as a modern name).
Iceland
Unisex name is generally illegal in Iceland (the name given BlÃÆ'Â|r one of the few exceptions, the first reversal by the judge (and accepted not going to appeal to the Supreme Court) of the previous refusal (as the woman's name) , and eg AuÃÆ' Â ° ur is then approved for men, while Alex is rejected for women later on in the same year). The Icelandic Naming Committee (Iceland: Mannanafnanefnd ) has registered a list of male and female names (eg: Ofur (e.g. Super or Uber), Lady , and X (as the middle name) refuse, and eg ÃÆ'žyrnirÃÆ'³s (Sleeping Beauty, while literally meaning rose with thorns ) is approved for woman).
In addition the last names of traditional patronymic (or rarely matronymic or both) Icelandic (by law) can not be unisex. The suffix of last name -dÃÆ'³ttir ("daughter") is used for the female gender; men use suffix -son (rare exception for foreign women: when using last name husband as surname; family name is generally illegal with some exceptions). The name given is also clear (for Iceland) masculine or feminine, and the linguistic gender must match the gender identity of the person.
By 2012, the law has been successfully challenged once, for the name of the man given the BlÃÆ'Â|r (transliterated Blaer) which is strongly allowed to be used for women. The 14-year-old Icelandic Naming Committee declined the registration of BlÃÆ'Â|r as the girl's name in the national census, and the girl in question was registered under the default name given stelpa ("girl") as the name was not on the list of about 1,853 approved women's name. The lower court considered the name to be legal for women and the state decided not to exercise its right to appeal.
Among the few exceptions to the gender agreement rule are the Sturla's traditional name, feminine language, of medieval history always valid for men; and Prosper ("aroma" or "smell"), masculine linguistically, should apply to women.
Indian
Many Indian names become unisex when written with Latin characters because of the limitations of transliteration. Spelling Chandra and Krishna , for example, is the transliteration of both masculine and feminine versions of the names. In Indian, the last a in each of these names is a different letter with different pronunciation, so there is no ambiguity. However, when they are seen (and usually, spoken) by someone who is unfamiliar with the Indian language, they become sexually ambiguous. Other Indian names, such as Ananda , are exclusively or almost exclusively masculine in India, but because of their ending, it is assumed to be feminine in the Anglophone community. Many unisex names in India are very clear and never laughed at. For example Nehal, Sonal, Snehal, Niral, Pranjal and Anmol are commonly used to name boys or girls in western Indian states such as Gujarat. Similarly, names like Kajal, Sujal, Viral, Harshal, Deepal, Bobby, Mrinal, Jyoti, Shakti, Kiran, Lucky, Ashwini, Shashi, Malhar, Umang, Shubham and Anupam are also very common neutral-sex names unisex names in India. Most of the first names of Punjabi Sikhs such as Sandeep Gurdeep Kuldeep Mandeep, Surjeet Gurjeet Kuljeet Harjeet Manjeet Harpreet Gurpreet Jaspreet Jasjot "and" Sukhjinder, Bhupinder, Jasbinder, Parminder, Kulvinder, Harjinder, Ranjodh, Sheeraz, Hardeep, Kirendeep, Sukhdeep, Govindpal, Encarl, Rajan "are unisex names and equally commonly assigned to gender. Also, names derived from Persian and Arabic, but not used among native speakers of those languages, are common among South Asian Muslims. Because Persia does not assign sex to nouns, some of these names are gender-neutral, for example Roshan, Parveen, and Insaaf.
Indonesian
- Dian
- Rizki, Rizqi
Italy
In Italy the name unisex is very rare.
Basically there are male names like Andrea (who is female in English, Spanish, German or French), Elijah or Mattia which can be given also for women. Names like Celeste, Amabile, Fiore or Diamante, on the contrary, are the names of women that can sometimes be given to men.
Sometimes "Mary" is used as a middle male name (like Antonio Maria).
"Rosary" (feminine: "Rosaria") is a male name in Italy whereas in Spain is female.
There is also a unisex nickname, Gius or Giusy who can stand for Giuseppe or Giuseppina, respectively "Joseph" and "Josephine"; Dani or Dany representing Daniele (male) or Daniela (female); Alex who can defend Alessandro (men) and also to Alessandra (woman); Fede (literally: "Faith") who can stand either for Federico or Federica.
Japanese
Although there are only a small number of Japanese unisex names used, the unisex name is very popular. Many famous Japanese celebrities like Hikaru Utada, Jun Matsumoto, Ryo Nishikido, Tomomi Kahala, Harumi Nemoto, Izumi Sakai, and Shizuka Arakawa have unisex names.
Nickname
Unisex names can also be used as nicknames. For example, a man named Ryounosuke and a woman named Ryouko can use Ryou's pseudonym as a nickname.
Portuguese
Brazil
Names ending in i are considered unisex in Brazil. They tend to be derived from real Brazilian Indian names, such as Araci, Jaci, Darci, Ubirani, but the names of other cultures are now being absorbed, such as Remy, Wendy, and Eddy. Names that end with ir and mar tend to be unisex as well, like Nadir, Aldenir, Dagmar and Niomar - though in this case there are some exceptions.
Russian
Common Russian boy names, such as Nikita and Misha (short for Mikhail), are assumed to be feminine in English, due to 'a' termination, which is actually common in small masculine form. However, 'a' termination applies to other Russian contexts, since the letter 'a' is added to all the last names of Russian women (Ivanov's mother, wife, and daughter all have the last name of Ivanova, but the illegitimate child for Ivanova defaults back to the last name of Ivanov), and almost all Russian feminine first names end in 'a' (or 'yes', different letters in the Cyrillic alphabet). Also, the nickname (shortened name) may be of the following genres: Sasha/Shura (Alexandr or Alexandra), Zhenya (Yevgeniy or Yevgeniya), Valya (Valentin or Valentina), Valera (Valeriy or Valeriya).
Spanish
In Spain, unisex names are very rare. MarÃÆ'a, the feminine real name used in Spanish for men as second name, is very common after JosÃÆ' © (eg, JosÃÆ' © MarÃÆ'a). JosÃÆ' © is used for women who were preceded by MarÃÆ'a (MarÃÆ'a JosÃÆ' ©). Also Guadalupe, the feminine name is sometimes used as masculine after Josà ©  © (JosÃÆ' © Guadalupe). Another name given for both sexes is InÃÆ' © s.
As in English, some common nicknames are unisex like ÃÆ' lex (Alejandro, Alejandra), Cris (Cristina, Cristian, CristÃÆ'³bal), Dani (Daniel, Daniela).
Turkish
There are many unisex Turkish names. These names are almost always pure Turkish names (ie Turkified Turkic names that have Islamic connotations) derived from Turkish words. These names may be modern names or derived from Turkish mythology. Among the common examples of many unisex names in Turkey include, AytaÃÆ'§, Ayhan, Bilge, Cemre, Derya, Deniz, Evren, Evrim, GÃÆ'¶ksel, GÃÆ'¶kÃÆ'§e, ÃÆ' â € "zgÃÆ'¼r, Turhan, Toprak, YÃÆ'¼ksel or YÃÆ'¼cel. Some Turkish names derived from Persia, such as Can and Cihan, are also unisex, as are some Arabic derived names, such as? Hsan and Nur.
Vietnamese
Among the names of modern Vietnam, the unisex name is very popular. Vietnamese tend to distinguish unisex names with middle names (eg Qu? C KhÃÆ'¡nh is male name and NgÃÆ'n ¢ n KhÃÆ'¡nh is female name). In many cases, men can have women's names and vice versa. Popular examples of unisex names in Vietnam are: Anh (beautiful or extraordinary), An (safe and healthy), HÃÆ' (river), KhÃÆ'¡nh (joy or virtue), Linh (divinity, essence, or spirit), or TÃÆ'º ( stars), etc.
Zimbabwe
Shona, the Bantu group in Zimbabwe, has a unisex name that can indicate the state of the baby or family during the time of birth. All Shona names have meaning, some also celebrate virtue or worship God. The unisex names are popular in the Shona ethnic group, Akatendeka (God is faithful), Anenyasha (God the Merciful), Anesu (God with us), Chipo (Gifts), Farai (Rejoice), Kudzai (Worship), Nyasha (Belas) , Rufaro (Happiness), Shingirayi (Perseverance), Tendai (Grateful), Tafadzwa (Joy), Tanaka (We Are Good), Tatenda (We Thankful), Vimbai (Belief)
See also
- Epicene
- Unisex
- Gender equality
References
External links
- 1990 Census Name File
- Behind a Name
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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