Discussion Main / GenderBlenderName

Where would the shipgirls of Kantai Collection and Azur Lane go? They are named after the ships they personify, which in turn are often named after important historical male figures, perhaps most prominently in the case of the Bismarck

Is this an appropriate place to include the rare case where a surname implies a gender? I'm not talking about things like the Russian "ov"/"ova" distinction, but rather cases of a Meaningful Name that carries a gender in its meaning.

The example I have in mind is Assistant Mayor Dawn Bellwether in Zootopia. She's a ewe (female), but the term "bellwether" comes from the practice of putting a bell on a lead sheep in the flock, who is typically a "wether" (a castrated male).

Where do I add examples that may be due to cultural ignorance?

Where would you include Carley? It seems to be primarily feminine as a diminutive of Carla, but I've found two male examples, one fictional and one real-life.

Also, there's a man named Hazel in the Bible. It's a Hebrew name unrelated to the English one, would be pronounced differently - though if it had made it into English, we might pronounce it the same, considering how we pronounce Michael - and its spelling varies (sometimes Hazel, sometimes Hazael).

Is there a trope where this trope is used to set up a reveal where a character is gay? Should there be?

I have two examples in mind.

In an episode of Scrubs, a male patient says he doesn't want Turk to mess up a tattoo of his fiancée's name Tracy. [Turk] "He[J.D.]'s been acting crazier than my fiancée, Although Carla has been going nuts about the dress. Dude what is up with Tracy?" [Patient] "Dude Tracy's a guy" [Turk] "That would make you gay" [Patient] "I am gay"

In an episode of Titus, Titus walks in on his niece committing suicide because Charlie broke up with her. At the end of the episode... [Sputtering Titus] "Charlie...She's a...Hey that's a trick name. [Looks to niece] Wow that would make you..." [Amy] "...A big dyke" [Titus] "I was going to say lesbian, but if that is what you kids are saying."

Do we really need the majority of this article to consist of a list of names that are Gender Neutral? Shouldn't the article be made up more of characters who were unfortunately named? Like MISTER Jane Doe from Team Fortress 2?

Maybe this is just me, but I don't see the benefit in sorting these by category. Each heading has a lot of entries and there's no apparent sorting method within a heading, so the result is a big pile of examples with no pattern.

If the reason for a person's Gender Blender Name is really that important, it should be divided into either separate pages or another layer of subheadings. If the reason isn't important, the folders should be scrapped and replaced with standard categories (movies, TV, Lit et cetera). That's my two cents.

Carroll/Carol is listed as "in accents with the marry/merry/Mary merger". Really? I'm British (so certainly lack this merger) and both names have the "marry" vowel.

So what about cases where we don't know enough of the character's Backstory to determine how they got their name? Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name may qualify for Most Triumphant Example status, being named after this trope, but I don't know when or if the reason Hanna has a girl's name will be revealed.

Should we start an "Other/Unknown" folder? It seems unlikely it's anything but "Chosen On Purpose", but I don't feel like making assumptions.