New English (?) name: Jhan

[Charles C Doyle]

Of course, one of the most productive naming trends has been the use of family surnames as forenames--and those are often deemed appropriate to give to babies of either sex--although (for example) male Ashleys and Evelyns are currently much rarer than female ones.  Somewhat recently, Taylor seems to have settled in as a standard female name--but Tyler is (exclusively?) male.  It would be hard to argue that one of those two names "sounds" more masculine or feminine than the other (etymologically, both would be masculine common nouns).

--Charlie


________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Margaret Lee [mlee303 at YAHOO.COM]
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 6:43 AM

Jan Matzelinger was the name of the black man who invented the shoe-lasting=
 =0Amachine. According to Wiki, he was born in 1852=A0in Dutch Guyana to a =
Dutch =0Aengineer father and a Surinamese slave mother. =0A=0AAlso, there w=
as Jan Murray, a TV game show host in the '50's.=0A=A0=0A=A0=0A--Margaret L=
ee=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A________________________________=0AFrom: Victor Steinbo=
k <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>=0ATo: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU=0ASent: Mon, March 21=
, 2011 10:28:49 PM=0ASubject: Re: New English (?) name: Jhan=0A=0ANothing d=
ark about this--both Jan and Bakker are typical Dutch names.=0AJan used to =
be one of the most popular names (think, John), but it's=0Abeen in decline =
for some time. It's still popular, however, among=0AWestern Ukrainians (clo=
ser to Poles than to Russians) and Latvians=0A(although the latter often sh=
ows up with a suffix, as in Janis). I've=0Aencountered a few in the Netherl=
ands, but I would not call it common, at=0Athis point. I know one man from =
England and one from Australia named=0AJan, but one of them is ethnically P=
olish and the other Dutch and the=0Aparents chose the names, in both cases,=
 for cultural preservation=0Apurposes. One of them mentioned once that he h=
ad considered changing it=0Ato Iain or Ian, but decided to keep it as is.=
=0A=0AGiven the age of the "Jhan" in question (born "at least in the 70s), =
my=0Aoriginal comment (Saffron)--as sarcastic as it was--still stands. I=0A=
suspect counterculture rather than ethnicity is at play here. Will=0Asomeon=
e ask?=0A=0AAs for masculine/feminine versions of Jan, I was probably just =
as=0Asurprised to find Jean to be a woman as Jon was to find a male Jan.=0A=
Prior to that, I had always assumed French origin and male Jean. Of=0Acours=
e, that's wrong too, but for entirely different reasons. Still,=0AJhan, Jan=
, Jhon, Jean--it's all the same... In fact, I was already in=0Acollege when=
 I first encountered a female Jan--long after I was familiar=0Awith the mal=
e Jan. My first assumption was that my classmate's full name=0Awas Janice, =
but I was wrong about that too. It was just Jan.=0A=0A=A0 =A0 VS-)=0A=0AOn =
3/21/2011 9:53 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:=0A> On Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 9:17 PM, =
Jonathan Lighter=0A> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>=A0 wrote:=0A>> The first masc=
uline "Jan" =C2 I ever heard of in English was the once=0A>> famous/infamou=
s Jan Bakker.=0A> Stabbing in the dark, I'd guess that that name is ethnica=
lly Dutch.=0A> Once upon a time, I was acquainted with a guy of Polish ance=
stry whose=0A> first name was Jan. He was a "boyfriend-in-law": my girlfrie=
nd's=0A> roommate's boyfriend. Hence, the relationship was so tenuous that =
I've=0A> forgotten his surname.=0A>=0A> This masculine "Jan" is also unique=
 in my experience. A WAG is that=0A> perhaps Jhan was originally "Jan," and=
 was motivated to modify the=0A> spelling in order to avoid being continual=
ly mistaken for a woman,=0A> _Jan_ as a first name for a man being rare in =
the U.S. BTW, isn't=0A> there a masculine Jan [Surname] associated with the=
 magazine, Rolling=0A> Stone? He's also of apparent Dutch ancestry. And the=
re was Jan who=0A> "loved music.=A0 _He_ loved singing. _He_ could play the=
 noisy drum." A=0A> brief history of his musical endeavors was contained in=
 the the second=0A> song that I learned in the first grade, right after Jum=
p, Jim Crow.=0A> --=0A> -Wilson=0A=0A

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