Monday, September 9, 2013

It's Pat

In the past 2-3 weeks I've spoken with an inordinate amount of people with androgynous names. It's one of those things that you would never notice because so many of these particular names have woven their way into our social fabric. I think it's interesting how many given names can go both ways. I have no meaningful commentary on this subject because I'm not even sure that it says anything about our society.

Instead I've listed as many such names as I could think of and then gave a famous male and female example of each. I'm sure that I forgot a bunch.


Androgynous Names- Male example/Female example

Jamie- Jamie Moyer (former MLB pitcher)/Jamie Lee Curtis (actress)

Pat- Pat Sajak (host of Wheel of Fortune)/Pat Benatar (80s singer)

Quinn- Quinn Cook (Duke point guard)/Quinn Fabray (fictional character from Glee)

Blake- Blake Shelton (country singer)/Blake Lively (actress)

Taylor- Taylor Mays (Cincinnati Bengals safety)/Taylor Swift (singer/songwriter)

Chris- Chris Davis (Baltimore Orioles first baseman)/Chris Evert (retired tennis player)

Christine- Christine Michael (Seattle Seahawks running back)/Christine Quinn (NYC mayoral candidate)

Tori- Torii Hunter (Detroit Tigers outfielder)/Tori Spelling (actress)

Tracy- Tracy Mcgrady (former NBA guard/forward)/Tracy Chapman (singer)

Courtney- Courtney Upshaw (Baltimore Ravens linebacker)/ Courtney Cox (actress)

Leslie- Leslie Frazier (Minnesota Vikings head coach)/ Leslie Mann (actress)

Andy- Andy Warhol (artist)/Andie McDowell (actress)

Morgan- Morgan Freeman (actor)/Morgan Fairchild (actress)

Jesse- Jesse Palmer (ESPN CFB Analyst)/Jessie Spano (fictional character from Saved By the Bell)

Jordan- Jordan Cameron (Cleveland Browns tight end)/Jordin Sparks (singer/actress)

Casey- Casey Affleck (actor)/Casey Anthony (suspected murderer)

Sam- Sam Snead (one of the greatest golfers of all time)/Sam Ponder (ESPN Sideline Reporter)

Drew- Drew Bledsoe (former NFL quarterback)/Drew Barrymore (actress)

Kim- Kim Jong-il (former North Korean dictator)/Kim Carnes (80s singer)

Alex- Alex Rodriguez (New York Yankees third baseman)/Alex Morgan (US soccer player)

Whitney- Whitney Mercilus (Houston Texans linebacker)/Whitney Cummings (comedian/actress)

Shannon- Shannon Sharpe (NFL Hall of Fame tight end)/Shannon Elizabeth (actress)

Frances- Frances Scott Fitzgerald (famous author)/Frances McDormand (actress)

Kelly- Kelly Slater (pro surfer)/Kelly Clarkson (singer)

Rory- Rory McIlroy (golfer)/Rory Gilmore (fictional character from Gilmore Girls)

Shelley- Shelley Duncan (professional baseball player- currently in the minor league)/Shelley Long (actress)

Peyton- Peyton Manning (Denver Broncos quarterback)/Peyton Sawyer (fictional character from One Tree Hill)

Erin- Erin Henderson (Minnesota Vikings linebacker)/Erin Andrews (Fox Sports studio host/sideline reporter)

Brook- Brook Lopez (Brooklyn Nets center)/Brooke Burke (former model/television host)

Robin- Robin Thicke (singer)/Robin Wright (actress)
 
 
Bonus Names
 
I thought of six more surefire androgynous names, but couldn't find a famous female to use as an example. Instead I will try to explain why I'm convinced that they belong to be listed.

Logan- Logan Thomas (Virginia Tech quarterback)/I went to college with a girl named Logan. I always knew of her, but would not have been able to pick her out of a police lineup. In December a bunch of former Fairfield Stags went to Philly to see our friend's band. Sure enough this Logan girl was there. She came right up to me (and a few others who weren't entirely sure who she was) and said hello like we were old friends. She was friendly and fun.

Cory- Cory Booker (mayor of Newark)/My high school friend once dated a girl named Kori, so on that alone I'm going to count it. Cory/Corey both ranked in the top 800 female names in the 1980s.

Sidney- Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins center)/Sidney was a top 260 female name in the late 1980s and Sydney was the 78th most common female name in 2012.

Madison- Madison Bumgarner (San Francisco Giants pitcher)/Madison was the 9th most popular female name in 2012 (#2 in 2001 and 2002).

Devon- Devon White (former MLB outfielder)/My friend's sister-in-law is named Devon (not positive on the spelling). Devon was the 225th most popular female name in 1990.

Angel- Angel Cabrera (golfer)/There have to be thousands of strippers named Angel, right? As it turns out Angel has been a very popular name for boys and girls since the 1970s. In 2012 Angel was the 227th most popular name for females (#57 for boys).
 
Names that I initially did not think of, but came across while researching this post
 
Mackenzie
Addison
Bailey (more of a dog's name though, right?)
Hayden
Riley

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