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byJoanic OP t1_ishj6nm wrote

Source of the data: https://archive.ics.uci.edu/ml/datasets/Gender+by+Name

Edit: Tool: Matplotlib and python

​

-US: Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications - National Data, 1880 to 2019

-UK: Baby names in England and Wales Statistical bulletins, 2011 to 2018

-Canada: British Columbia 100 Years of Popular Baby names, 1918 to 2018

-Australia: Popular Baby Names, Attorney-General's Department, 1944 to 2019

I only considered those that satisfy that: |male_count - female_count| / (male_count + female_count) <= 0.2

&#x200B;

A longer list (sorted by total count):

Riley, Casey, Jackie, Jaime, Kerry, Frankie, Quinn, Pat, Emerson, Robbie, Emery, Justice, Blair, Amari, Carey, Elisha, Kris, Finley, Stevie, Shea, Alva, Mckinley, Ivory, Armani, Jaylin, Lavern, Devyn, Leighton, Arden, Santana

&#x200B;

English is not my first language and I am really new to data science, sry if there are mistakes.

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OrangeJuiceAlibi t1_ishkdai wrote

This strikes me as basically being the US. Must be about 70% of the total population? Half the names on your list don't/barely exist in the UK or Australia.

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byJoanic OP t1_ishmny9 wrote

Replying to OrangeJuiceAlibi (#113,748)

Most probably but I don't know. Source data is not that clear.

I would focus rather on the unisex-ness of these names (in English) rather than their popularity. Also, some of those might be really old.

However, I have found names like Mckinley which I think is quite Scotish.

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OrangeJuiceAlibi t1_ishnuq0 wrote

Replying to byJoanic (#113,833)

I think they're connected though. A lot of these names are only unisex in America, maybe in Canada, but they don't even exist in the UK, or Australia.

>names like Mckinley which I think is quite Scotish.

As a surname, might be Scottish. As a first name though, no.

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SpiderFarter t1_isho138 wrote

Can’t believe Mulva isn’t on the list

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uatme t1_ishrsph wrote

Who actually names there kid just 'Pat' or is this assuming nicknames/abbreviations?

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mx440 t1_ishsup8 wrote

There are people naming their kids Pat, still? Oof

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Zeeto17 t1_ishx6jw wrote

I feel bad for the gals named Robbie

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Redriley89 t1_isig7h1 wrote

Finally a Reddit post with my name in it!

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ThePreciseClimber t1_isiofaq wrote

Emerson is a girl name? It, quite literally, means Emer's SON.

It's not like the true meaning got lost to ages or something. :P

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kaam00s t1_isir9e6 wrote

Frankie being unisex in anglo countries is so hilarious. It's so masculine in french that it was used as an insult "you're sister's named frank"

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pato9097 t1_isit5rc wrote

Might just name my kid Cork after seeing this

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trentgibbo t1_isiup6m wrote

It's totally pointless adding in other countries data as it isn't significant enough to change the US data. As an aussie I've never even heard some of those names.

The top ones for Australia would probably be something like Morgan and Ashley.

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eric5014 t1_isix2ec wrote

It would be interesting seeing the gender breakdown varies by country. In Australia Riley is usually male, Jackie is usually female, Jaime is both but rare, Kerry is both, Pat is both (and more common), Robbie is male and some of the others I've never heard of.

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byJoanic OP t1_isj0db2 wrote

Replying to Jolly_Extension_1460 (#114,376)

Jessie,M, 113014

Jessie,F, 172923

With a (male_count - female_count) / (male_count + female_count) of -0.2095 it was set apart.

It would have been one of the most popular with a different criteria. Sorry mate :(

&#x200B;

Names like Alex are a priori unisex, however, I wanted to consider only the most "gender neutral" in practice (in the sense of that formula):

Alex,M,286229,

Alex,F,9486,

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xvertigo_ t1_isj0g3w wrote

Strange choice to group the data by gender for gender neutral names.

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goteamnick t1_isj1cnl wrote

Australian here. All these names feel very American.

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byJoanic OP t1_isj2gux wrote

Replying to xvertigo_ (#115,465)

That's right. Quite ironic indeed!

I wanted to look for those names that have escaped the dichotomial tradition and have not fallen into one normative gender in practice.

It shows the contigency of it since it proves that gender-neutral names exist and also, perhaps only as a curiosity, which names would be the hardest to assume their gender.

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brianybrian t1_isj5ooa wrote

It’s amazing how many of these are bastardisations of Irish names, particularly surnames.

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OrangeJuiceAlibi t1_isj5vry wrote

Replying to byJoanic (#113,707)

>-UK: Baby names in England and Wales Statistical bulletins, 2011 to 2018

-Canada: British Columbia 100 Years of Popular Baby names, 1918 to 2018

So not Canada, just BC, and not the UK, just England and Wales, which aren't the same thing. I mean, they'll show the same data, as England in the UK, is the US in your chart, but still it feels disingenuous to call it the UK when it isn't.

Also look at those years, 139 years for the US, 100 years for British Columbia, 75 for Australia, and 7 for England and Wales. I find it difficult to believe this doesn't somewhat skew this data.

Really this chart is just "gender neutral names in the US over a century and a half".

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Mattm519 t1_isj7uhb wrote

The ones near the bottom are kind of bad names so I can understand

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wick319end019en t1_isj9rsg wrote

Replying to byJoanic (#115,499)

Surely the women named Dick must have a transliterated non-english name, right?

Or maybe they're escorts who changed their name to be an advert e.g Mrs D Rider, Mrs D Hunter, Mrs D Spitz, Mrs D Browning, and of course, Mrs D Burns.

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kanmani456 t1_isjajee wrote

Nice. In a professional setting these women will get extra respect and attention as long they don’t reveal their face or voice.

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zoinkability t1_isjb359 wrote

Guessing most of those male Jaimes are pronounced quite a bit differently from the female ones

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xvertigo_ t1_isjdu94 wrote

Replying to Tha0bserver (#115,971)

Yeah but “both” genders is precisely why I don’t think it’s an appropriate grouping. It’s exclusive of gender non conforming people whom, I’d imagine, make up a significant portion of the sample for gender neutral names. While it may not be reported in the source data, a non negligible portion of the sample population may have legally changed their name to a gender neutral name without legally changing their gender.

  1. Its possibly not an accurate representation given that trans men may be reported as women and vice Verda.

  2. It reduces gender to a binary which is not an appropriate framing when gender neutrality is a component of the question (as is the case here)

A better grouping might be name as assigned at birth vs legally adopted name or self reported gender including non binary identities. If binary gender is the only possible grouping in the source data I’d question the usefulness of aggregating by group.

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beene282 t1_isje1ip wrote

Replying to ThePreciseClimber (#115,146)

It’s a surname originally, obviously. If a woman changes her name when she marries, many parents in North America use her original name as a first name for a first child. The fact it ends -son is irrelevant. There are no gender specific surnames in most languages.

−2

CowPropeller t1_isjg8ps wrote

Replying to byJoanic (#113,707)

Very interesting data however I'd have used a horizontal barplot instead of vertical, to allow for the only information we need to be bigger and more readable : the names (+social media pictures are rather portrait than landscape due to ghe fact that they're often browsed on mobile phones). Hope that helped!

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ThePreciseClimber t1_isjgkzp wrote

Replying to beene282 (#116,053)

>If a woman changes her name when she marries, many parents in North America use her original name as a first name for a first child.

I have NEVER heard of this before. Not a lot of Kowalski Johnsons running around. If anything, the child might use both their parents' surnames as a double surname, not a first name. :P

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MichaelEmouse t1_isjh3el wrote

Do they also tend to be very white names?

Is there a tendency for unisex names to be given less to boys?

How come some names start becoming unisex?

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cn45 t1_isjh93p wrote

THE DAY OF THE CASEY’s IS COMING!

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Zoloch t1_isjmt29 wrote

Jaime is male name in Spanish (literally James), so seeing it also as a girl’s name in English seems quite weird

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ceesaar00 t1_isk9ygd wrote

Emerson lmao. That's a boy's name, come on...

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Tax_Man_63 t1_iskyryk wrote

I’m surprised Dana’s not on the list.

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tamadeangmo t1_isli5of wrote

Most of those sure, Emerson is definitely an odd one and have never associated that with unisex.

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beene282 t1_islj1zp wrote

Replying to ThePreciseClimber (#116,179)

Not sure why I’m getting downvoted. Literally the majority of my female friends have done this, and many others I know. Just because you don’t know anyone who did it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.

I was just trying to explain why Emerson is sometimes a girl’s name, and that is definitely one of the reasons.

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AFatz t1_islmg24 wrote

Replying to OrangeJuiceAlibi (#113,876)

I mean, that's where a lot of first names came from, family last names. Most people only have one last name but 2 parents who probably didn't have the same last name.

Example: my friend is named Riley. His great grandmother's maiden name was O'Reilly. Also work with a guy named Jackson, which is his mother's maiden name.

1

trentgibbo t1_islof09 wrote

Replying to Vercintrix (#117,491)

Well sir, I also live in qld so you haven't met many people then.

To name a few -

There is a girl called Morgan on the amazing race right now.

There is an olympian called Morgan Mitchell

My cousins name is Morgan (a girl).

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Tutipups t1_ismduwu wrote

these names sure aren't canadian

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s0lesearching117 t1_isogyej wrote

The only name on this list I'd even consider for my child is Jackie... and only for a girl.

1