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ArchivesRe: Male names for Female
in reply to a message by Matthew 05
In English speaking countries (except recently New Zealand) parents have the right to give their children any name they want, as long as it is spelled in the letters of the Roman alphabet. Some parents have given "male" names to girls since medieval times.
However, on the Social Security lists a lot of the instances of girls being given "male" names, and even more so boys being given "female" names, are simple coding errors. Back when everything was just being computerized, someone had to enter the data for everyone in the Social Security system by hand, and of course they made typographical errors, including in the sex code. So you will have instances of the opposite gender from "normal" in the data just because of these simple mistakes.
Now Michael, in particular, definitely has been used on rare occasions as a female name in the USA, as exemplifed by the acress Michael Learned. (I also went to high myself back in 1969 with a woman who was always called Michael, though in her case in was technically her middle name so wouldn't have shown up in the Social Security data.) So some of those 546 girls in 1980 probably really were named Michael, but I'd guess at least half of them are mistakes for boys whose sex code was entered incorrectly.
However, on the Social Security lists a lot of the instances of girls being given "male" names, and even more so boys being given "female" names, are simple coding errors. Back when everything was just being computerized, someone had to enter the data for everyone in the Social Security system by hand, and of course they made typographical errors, including in the sex code. So you will have instances of the opposite gender from "normal" in the data just because of these simple mistakes.
Now Michael, in particular, definitely has been used on rare occasions as a female name in the USA, as exemplifed by the acress Michael Learned. (I also went to high myself back in 1969 with a woman who was always called Michael, though in her case in was technically her middle name so wouldn't have shown up in the Social Security data.) So some of those 546 girls in 1980 probably really were named Michael, but I'd guess at least half of them are mistakes for boys whose sex code was entered incorrectly.
This message was edited 5/18/2023, 7:46 AM
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Replies
If the name was one of the most popular male names (e.g. John, William, James, etc.) then it almost always showed up on the female list as well, and vice versa. Names with that much usage naturally had the most coding errors, especially in earlier years, adding up to enough to make it appear on the list.
When an uncommon male name shows up on the female list, it probably was being used for girls.
When an uncommon male name shows up on the female list, it probably was being used for girls.
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For uncommon names this has happened for centuries. Gender is often misunderstood when names cross languages, cultures and generations.
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