Tuesday, August 26, 2014

A Strange Sounding Name

It's Tuesday, so it's time for my weekly random question...

I always thought that Alexis was a girl's name. But over the last few years, I've learned differently. Now, more often than not, when I encounter an Alexis in class, the Alexis is a he (of Latino descent). And the other day this got me to thinking.

What if you ended up in a foreign place where your name doesn't mean what you've always thought it meant (like it belongs to a different gender or it sounds silly to the others in this new place)?

12 comments:

  1. My husband is a teacher and this happens to him all the time. I long for the days of Taylor and Dakota being a job and a state. :)

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    1. And Taylor and Dakota can be either a boy's name or a girl's (I've met both male and female Taylors and Dakotas).

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  2. The latest fashion in names for kids is mythological characters like Thor and Apollo. Interesting. Wouldn't be my choice.

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    1. I actually covered a class where there was an Isis and Osiris. (They weren't related.) The teacher, in a stroke of genius, sat them next to each other. I got a good laugh out of that.

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  3. I had a male student once named Kelly. He took a lot of ribbing from the other kids for a while.

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  4. Considering my name is so different and i took alot of abuse for my amazing name, I know what it already feels like when people think it silly or different. Kids can be very cruel (well, you know that:)) My name is pronounced (Bier-Get or Git-Hard G). At my work I have been called Brigit, Brigitte, Breenit, Not starts the good stuff-Beernut, bagel, bruscetta(my fav), brewster is the latest. Butgut, Beergut, Ingrid, Gretel (german sounding), Margueritte, Deirdre(Yup..I don't get it either and I give them my card). The great thing is I love my name and always have despite students, teachers and people in general.

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  5. Yes, it could be a problem. I've come across many names which could be a make or a female.

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  6. Uh-oh! Although here in America, female names have become male names and vice versa. I don't think Stephanie would be a male name anywhere, but I could definitely see it being a weird word to people in other countries.

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    1. Yeah, I think Stephanie is probably safe from the migration to the male side of things.

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  7. I just hope it wouldn't be a bad name for something, know what I mean?

    betty

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  8. My daughter is a Peyton and she knows both male and female Peytons. That doesn't seem to phase her - but man she gets annoyed when someone spells her name "Payton" and not "Peyton"! When she was tiny, she used to think Peyton Manning was named after her. That always cracked me up!

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I appreciate your comments.

I respond to comments* via email, unless your profile email is not enabled. Then, I'll reply in the comment thread. Eventually. Probably.

*Exception: I do not respond to "what if?" comments, but I do read them all. Those questions are open to your interpretation, and I don't wish to limit your imagination by what I thought the question was supposed to be.