A boy named Jennifer?

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Well, last night at work was rather interesting. For the last while I have been working on and off as night maintenance at work, and last night they asked me to train a new person for that job. When I met him, I was slightly curious to notice that his name tag said "Jennifer", even though he was not in any way feminine.

I asked him about the name, and he said his father had given it to him, and giving female names to male babies happened quite often in his country, the Philippines.

I was seriously tempted to tell him that I had been a girl named Todd but I let the opportunity go by ...

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It might have been a saint's name...

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Puddintane's picture

...although those are *usually* chosen for some desired quality or protection, but in troubled times St. Genevieve (often called St. Jennifer, depending upon one's native tongue, the patron saint of disasters) was protectress against enemies of all sorts, and succour in times of hunger. As Genevieve, she's the patron saint of the Women's Army Corps, but these things are fluid, as I understand it. One chooses a saint's name as someone one wishes to emulate, as a role model, so it's not terribly uncommon for girls to choose male patron saints and vice versa.

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Cheers,

Puddin'

A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style

Naming your saints...

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Puddintane's picture

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_a_girl_use_a_boy_saint_name_for_confirmation

http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=505775

http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-pelagia-the-penitent/

Who may be of particular interest to cross-dressers. She was a stripper who became a saint and a hermit and wore men's clothing for the rest of her life, although the linked site tries to bowdlerise her choices.

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Cheers,

Puddin'

A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style

Goes to show

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You have to own your name and vice versa. I met a woman, prior to changing it, was named Clyde.

She happened to be the partner who ultimately transitioned.

How odd...

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Puddintane's picture

I knew a guy named Leslie Singer back in the Sixties. Not once did I ever think that it was a "girl's name," but rather unisex, like Ashley, Beverly, Evelyn, Hilary, Jocelyn, Joyce, Kelly, Lee, Leigh, Lynn, Meredith, Shannon, Shirley, Sidney, Vivian, or Whitney. I reckon we've become more stereotyped over the years.

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Cheers,

Puddin'

A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style

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