gay men and their names

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Mar 15, 2006, at 6:57 AM, Ron Butters wrote:

> In a message dated 3/14/06 12:41:48 PM, stevekl at PANIX.COM writes:
>
>
>> On Wed, 8 Mar 2006, Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:
>>
>>> for several decades now, many gay men in their 20s and 30s have
>>> moved
>>> from (childhood) nicknames to full names -- Bob to Robert, Steve to
>>> Steven, etc.  this continues to happen, as far as i can see.
>>
>> Even though my birth certificate says Steven, I have never
>> responded to
>> that name; I don't like it. Very much a Steve. (My mom calls me by
>> the
>> Czech equivalent or one of its scores of diminutives.)
>>
> I don't know if Arnold has any empirical basis for his observation
> other than
> anecdotal evidence.

i was merely reporting that many gay men i know have done this.  it
was notable because they started correcting people.  i don't pretend
to know how general the phenomenon is.  certainly, many gay men i
know *always* used their full first name (a gregory, a steven, a
michael) and others *always* used a nickname (a greg, a steve, a
mike!).  i was merely observing that a number changed their practice,
always (in my experience, which is of course limited) in the same
direction.

arnold

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