Message: "Re: Carmen used for a male?"

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Re: Carmen used for a male?

by Lumia

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

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- 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.

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