A short time ago I met a young couple with a new baby girl, whom had been named "Esperanza," which is Spanish for Hope.

Faith, Hope, Charity, Chastity, Prudence, Patience, Sophia (the ancient Greek for "wisdom") and maybe Constance, though I'm not sure that really is the same deriviation as the others... human traits that only females have been named for.

I'm curious why such universal concepts were assigned by sex.

And yes, I realize I think waaaaaayyyy too much about stuff but just the same, I can't help but wonder.

My thinking would be it goes back to the days when the roles of men and women were firmly established and people went out of their way to keep themselves in that mold. Men are strong, smart, logical, analytical, etc. Women are soft, emotional, intuitive, blah, blah.

While this is true to an extent just because of how our brains are wired differently, it's not how people see the world (mostly) anymore. I think in terms of names, emotions and the gender these names are bestowed upon, it's probably a leftover product of that antiquated notion.

Or I could just be talkin' out my ass. Y'know, that makes sense too.

What about Dopey, Grumpy, Happy and Bashful? Those guys oughta count.

Of course there's the many variations of Fidel, Fidelio, Fido that are derived from "fidelity". These usually seem to be male names.

Maybe it's the exception that proves the rule?

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Originally posted by Smirk Morgan:
Of course there's the many variations of Fidel, Fidelio, Fido that are derived from "fidelity". These usually seem to be male names...

I hadn't thought of Fidel, that's a good point. Perhaps there are other exceptions too, but I can't think of any.

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What about Dopey, Grumpy, Happy and Bashful? Those guys oughta count.

Good point, xc!

I never thought of Charity as an emotion, more like something we do? Maybe I'm wrong. I've read "name" books where names actually have a certain meaning, either an emotion or a state of mind, or a trait. It's really intriguing. In fact, if I remember right, John means "pure" and so does Kate.

Appropriate that two people whose names mean the same thing end up marrying each other, although some people would call a "Betazoid" type wedding "unpure"... Woops, got off topic...

Hay I went to skool with a guy named Greg Anger..Does that count..???

Ernest...?
Will...?
Stewart, maybe? that might be pushing it...

Awesome topic Brian, and very well put Sara.

One thing we may want to keep in mind is that we are not familiar with other cultures. We may be surprised to find out that some cultures may do something similar with male names, or that names may not be gender specific at all.

Dick...?

EMOTION sister, not appendage.

Chester...

Why do some guys call their motorbikes, cars and ships "she"?

I've always thought that they see these things as there, at the ready, to serve them, just like their Mummies did.