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by jtommy142 hours ago |
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upvoteby nkrisc2 hours ago|
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The trend of surnames as given names is stranger to me than traditional gender reversal of names.
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upvoteby triceratops2 hours ago|
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They go hand-in-hand. Surnames aren't gendered. Names that reverse gender are often surnames used as given names.

"John" or "Matthew" are probably never going to become female. Nor will "Elizabeth" or "Katherine" become male.

"Spencer" was male when Spencer Tracy was a big name. Today it could go either way. As a family name it relates to the profession of a steward.

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upvoteby TheOtherHobbes1 hours ago|
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Surnames are gendered in some languages, typically when they're defined as gendered adjectives.

In Polish '...ski' is masculine and '...ska' is feminine. The prefix stays the same, so a brother and sister have slightly different surnames. (Like 'Wolski' vs 'Wolska.')

In the US some immigrants forgot this, so you get American women with a '...ski' surname.

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upvoteby nkrisc38 minutes ago|
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I don’t think it’s only that, but in many Western European societies (and those derived thereof) it would have been unusual to have members of a family with surnames spelled differently, even if only the suffix.

So the whole family may just have taken the male head of house’s surname to avoid problems, or even been simply assigned his surname by immigration officials.

Many a name were changed at Ellis Island, for example.

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upvoteby triceratops1 hours ago|
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Good point. I think Russian surnames are the same right? (Ivanov/Ivanova etc.)

Is it common in these cultures to use surnames as given names?

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upvoteby Detrytus1 hours ago|
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They did not necessarily forget the rule, it’s just inconvenience, especially when dealing with official business, when you have to explain why (for example) your kid’s last name is slightly different than yours.
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upvoteby frankus1 hours ago|
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A surname ending in “son” could be seen as at least a little bit gendered.
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upvoteby triceratops1 hours ago|
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You'd think so, but Allison is firmly in the girls camp today, at least in the US (Liverpool FC's male goalkeeper Alisson Becker is Brazilian). Madison is also more associated with girls.
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upvoteby trelane2 hours ago|
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Surnames or occupations (Tanner, Cooper, etc)
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upvoteby kleiba21 hours ago|
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You never know, OP's son might one day work as a valet.
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upvoteby eclipticplane2 hours ago|
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s/Never trust a man with two first names/Never trust a man with two last names/.
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upvoteby UncleSlacky2 hours ago|
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He can't lose!
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upvoteby dfxm121 minutes ago|
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I don't know why but the very specific episodes of when he buys a convertible and when he gets his friend to break his video game addiction still live rent free in my head. I can't remember anything else about the series.
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upvoteby nobody99991 hours ago|
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>I've noticed more girls are being named Parker these days. My 1yo son is named Parker. He's holding the line.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was related to the character[0] portrayed by Beth Riesgraf[2] on Leverage[1]

[0] https://leverage.fandom.com/wiki/Parker

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leverage_(American_TV_series)

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beth_Riesgraf

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