"Tristan" now feminine given name

[Paul Johnston]

Laurie is USUAL for Laurence/Lawrence in the UK.  Larry is, if anything, a
fairly recent American import.

Paul Johnston
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sally Donlon" <sod at LOUISIANA.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Friday, February 24, 2006 12:32 PM
Subject: Re: "Tristan" now feminine given name


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Sally Donlon <sod at LOUISIANA.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Tristan" now feminine given name
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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>
> There's a professor of education at Louisiana Tech called Laurie (for
> Laurence). Most folks think nothing odd about it, as far as I can tell.
>
> He's on the far side of 50.
>
> My colleague's son, who is mid-20s, is Robin and reports no problems.
>
> sally
>
>
> On Feb 24, 2006, at 11:24 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
> > Like the English (masculine) poet and novelist Laurie (for
> > "Laurence") Lee (1914-1997).
> >
> >   JL
> >
> > Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
> >   ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: Laurence Horn
> > Subject: Re: "Tristan" now feminine given name
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ---------
> >
> > At 3:06 PM -0800 2/23/06, FRITZ JUENGLING wrote:
> >> We have some friends whose daughters are named Robbie and Dani
> >> (sp?). Of course, the tendency to use traditionally boys' names for
> >> girls is well known. How often does it go the other way? Examples?
> >> I have two brothers-in-law whose names are Robin and Kerry. The
> >> former I know has been used as a boy's name for a long time, but
> >> even as a kid, I always felt uneasy about a boy being named Robin.
> >> Well, I still can't get used to Kerry.
> >> Fritz
> >
> > My brother is a (male, American) Robin, but named (by me) for
> > Christopher Robin, who was of course British. Most Robins in the
> > U.S. are female (no, I'm not including robins). But then I was
> > "Laurie" growing up, my name having been chosen on the basis of Teddy
> > Laurence of _Little Women_, who was known by the Marches as "Laurie".
> > To survive junior high school, I had to become Larry, but there are
> > male Lauries elsewhere in the English-speaking world, perhaps chiefly
> > in Scotland (and, by osmosis, Canada). But in general the fate of
> > these names like that of so many others reflects the Gresham's Law
> > principle found also in taboo avoidance: once a previously masculine
> > name is widely androgynized, it becomes more and more difficult to
> > apply it to boys.
> >
> > ex-Laurie
> >
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