What does your name say about you?

When I was doing research on gender-neutral names, I came across the following blog, written by a woman named Tyson. In the following passage, she presents her experience with her name and why she thinks a boy’s name for a girl is not always cool or a good idea.

“Oh where to begin??

I don’t recall much about my name as a younger child. My first major negative association with my name was when I moved schools in the 8th grade… 1st class… gym. I go in sit down and wait… it’s a BOYS gym class. The teacher made a big deal out of it, then I had to go to the office for them to redo my schedule. By lunch I was “the new girl that tired to get into the boys gym class”. Mortified doesn’t really begin to describe it, especially for the rather shy person that I was.

…College was the first time I really started to experience that problems that go along with having a boys name…There were so many times during the huge lecture type classes that when going to retrieve my exam results I’d be asked to show proof of identification when not one other single person did. Not sure what they thought I was going to do with someone else’s results. but it was annoying. Once again, in front of a crowd of people staring at me, my name would be an issue. I’m not a center of attention, look-at-me type person… that’s when I first started really cursing my name…There were times when I’d inwardly feel embarassed when a guy I was dating would hesitate to say my name to others or when on the phone with his parents he’d be sure that yes HER name is Tyson.

…I always try to make a point to explain to people that while they might think a boys name on a girl is cute or is going to make her strong or stand out… that’s it’s how they’re raised, the experiences they have and their personality that does that. Not their name. While I was always a shy person, I was still very hard headed and independent. The only my name ever did for me was make me stand out in the wrong way or a way I wasn’t comfortable with. Now in my 30′s I find myself still having to explain that YES I am a female.”

The part in Tyson’s blog posting, which should be highlighted, is when she says that a person’s experience makes him/her stand out, not the name. The experience of a person tells us what kind of person he/she is, including personality and gender. Name, or the label, does not tell anything about the person. So, why do we need to care if Tyson is a man or woman?

Full story: http://www.youcantcallitit.com/2010/09/07/why-boys-names-on-girls-are-not-always-a-great-idea/