Message: "Carmen used for a male?"

Carmen used for a male?

by Siri (SiriFalk)

9/21/2006, 6:54 PM

I'm curious about this, because it's listed as female only on the board. However, there is a famous Christian named Carmen. (No, I am not a fan...he has an ego the size of Texas)

Info at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carman_(singer)

He's Italian, so I'm curious if that makes a difference.

Replies

- Charlie Blue +1

9/24/2006, 7:01 AM

Here's another male Carmen (an actor):

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0034492/

The last name suggests that he's got Italien roots.

Charlie Blue

Check Profile For PP's!

- Lumia

9/24/2006, 9:18 AM

In fact, his real name is Carmine Antimo Argenziano. In Italian, Carmine is masculine and Carmina is feminine.

Another famous Carmine was Carmine Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola's father.

Lumia
http://onomastica.mailcatala.com

- Lumia +3

9/22/2006, 1:17 AM

Perhaps this singer is Italian, but the name is not (and the linguistical structure of the name is not).
Carmen is not the Italian form of the name, only the Spanish form. However, read in both languages, Carman and Carmen sound different: KAHR-mahn vs. KAHR-mehn. I'm afraid that Carman is not a real name, just a made up name (car+man).

But regarding the use of Carmen in Spanish and the information about the gender, Carmen is usually feminine, but just as other names from devotion to Virgin Mary (Rosario, Pilar) it can be too used for boys. In fact, Josep Maria Albaigès lists Carmen as one of the unisex names in Spanish.

Nowadays, this use in masculine is very odd.

Lumia
http://onomastica.mailcatala.com

- Cleveland Kent Evans (clevelandkentevans) +2

9/22/2006, 2:59 PM

I would think the name of the singer is extremely unlikely to have been created by blending "car + man". His full given name is Carman Domenic Licciardello, and he was born in New Jersey. It seems much more likely to me that Carman is his parents' way to try to somewhat "Anglicize" Carmine.

- Lumia +1

9/22/2006, 3:36 PM

According this site, the actual name of the singer was Carmen and he changed it to Carman because in Spanish it is mainly used for women:

http://www.amiright.com/names/pseudo/c.shtml

Lumia
http://onomastica.mailcatala.com

- Cleveland Kent Evans (clevelandkentevans)

9/22/2006, 5:06 PM

Thanks for catching that -- that information wasn't on the fan site where I found the original name. I do think that his parents probably picked Carmen as an "Americanization" of Carmine, though.

- Rene

9/21/2006, 10:47 PM

Google can be your friend in such cases.

I just tried a Google search for "Mr. Carmen", both with "" and without, and of course this search will find a lot of men with Carmen as family name, but the men with Carmen as a given name are definitely there as well, like the Mr. Carmen Burns that came out right on top of the search results.
Rene www.AboutNames.ch

- Marija Luminitsa

9/21/2006, 8:46 PM

The usual Italian form is Carmine.

¡VIVA ESPAÑA!

- LMS

9/21/2006, 7:35 PM

I know a man named Carmen as well, so there is definately something to this thought of yours. I cannot give you much information because I really don't know, but I thought it might be interesting to know that the man you listed is not the only man with the name Carmen.

View Message

Replies