Gender Blender Name: Difference between revisions

[[File:gunnerkrigg-genderblendername.jpg|link=Gunnerkrigg Court|frame|Her dad was a psychic who pre-ordered her birth certificate. He only got one thing wrong.]]

 

 

Most of the time, one can guess somebody's gender by reading his/her first name. Most first names have a well-defined gender, such as Alice or Robert.

 

 

Sometimes the only name you get is an ambiguous abbreviation, such as Sam. Or a gender-neutral name, such as Dominique or Claude in French. Or worse, a name whose "default gender" changes from a country to another (or even over time in the same country!), like "Andrea" which is typically female in the U.S. but typically male in Italy and Greece (And in Greek it means "manly"). And let's not forget the names that must be written down to determine the gender, such as Tony/Toni or Francis/Frances.

If a character is fated to become a permanent [[Wholesome Crossdresser]] or the victim of a [[Gender Bender]] accident they will typically have had names like this, because [[Steven Ulysses Perhero|Fate is just funny like that]].

 

 

[[Tomboyish Name]] is a [[Sub-Trope]].

 

== Chosen on Purpose ==

 

** {{spoiler|Culminating in an ''epic'' fight when he finally tracked down his dad, which ends with reconciliation between the two (though he does make it a point to say he'd name his own son "any damn thing but Sue! I still hate that name!").}}

** A male character in the movie ''[[Swingers]]'' is named Sue. Apparently his parents were inspired by this song.

* The ''[[Wayside School]]'' series has two characters named Nancy and Mac who eventually swap names to fit their corresponding genders. Nancy was named after his aunt, and Mac's mother named her after a dog.

* On ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]'', Mandark's hippy-dippy parents gave him the name Susan.

* Holly on ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' starts out as a balding middle aged man, and only in series 3 becomes a blonde woman. Curiously in a parallel universe, Holly's female counterpart, whose likeness he later copies, is called 'Hilly'. Strictly speaking, as a computer, 'he' doesn't have a gender, and the name is partly influenced by HAL ('HAB' was used in a prototype radio play). Not that it matters as 'Holly' is a unisex name anyway, it's simply more commonly seen as a woman's name than a man's which is why it doesn't matter that Holly was originally supposed to be a girl. The writers were blown away by Normal Lovett's preformance, and cast him instead.

* The AI 'Ziggy' in ''[[Quantum Leap]]'' turned out to have a female voice after yeas of referring to it as "he."

** It's debatable whether her first name (at least) is actually a gender bender, as "Billie" was a common girl's nickname at one point. Billie Jean King and Billie Holiday are perhaps the two best-known examples.

* Ichigo Kurosaki from ''[[Bleach]]'' - the typical translation of his name is "strawberry"! His father tells him it means "the one who protects", but it was probably the mother who chose his name. Just [[Berserk Button|don't try to bring this up in front of him]]. It's spelled with the kanji for "one" and "guardian", but still sounds like "strawberry".

* The two more "masculine"-acting soldiers among the Sailor Senshi of ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' are named Makoto Kino (Sailor Jupiter) and Haruka Tenoh (Sailor Uranus); the former is a [[Huge Schoolgirl]] who loves martial arts, while the latter is a [[Butch Lesbian]]. Both names are traditionally male boys' names; however, in recent years, the name "Haruka" has become more of a unisex name.

** In Scotland, where family surnames are common as middle names (but not first names) girls often end up with middle names that sound pretty masculine. Or just plain unfortunate, such as "Duff".

** "Mariya" from [[Maria Holic]] seems to be example of this particular instance.

* There is also Ryunosuke and Nagisa from ''[[Urusei Yatsura]]''. They also both fall under [[Wholesome Crossdresser]] and are ''engaged'' to each other.

* Novelist [[Anne Rice]]'s legal given name is Howard Allen O'Brien, because her parents thought it would be cute to name a girl Howard. Apparently, she didn't agree; on her first day of kindergarten, the teacher asked her name. She answered "Anne". Remarkably quick thinking for a five-year old.

* And Fay Weldon's parents named her Franklin Birkinshaw (but started calling her Fay almost immediately). One can ''kind'' of see the -lin ending might work as a female name, were it not for the connotations.

* The poet Stevie Smith was female (originally named Florence). It's also been known as a shortening for Stephanie, as in Stevie Nicks.

** In ''Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry'', Stacey is the main character's brother.

** Stacy Keach's first name is actually Walter, but he chose to go by his middle name, Stacy, perhaps in honor of his father, Stacy Keach Sr., who was also an actor.

* Actor [[Mandy Patinkin]], whose name is a shortened form of Mandel. Usually when you hear "Mandy", it's for a woman, and short for Amanda.

* United States President [[Barack Obama]]'s mother was named Stanley Dunham, after her father, but went by her middle name, Ann.

* The wife of Irish poet [[William Butler Yeats]] was named George.

* Miyuki Tezuka, a.k.a. Kamen Rider Raia from ''[[Kamen Rider Ryuki]]'', is a guy. It only goes unnoticed because everyone [[Last-Name Basis|only uses "Tezuka" to refer to him]], but that's the character's official name.

* Rapper Tramar Dillard must not have cared that Flo was short for Florence, traditionally a female name, when taking [[Punny Name|Flo Rida]] as his stage name. And, yes, that is his home state.

** [[wikipedia:Michael Steele (musician)|Michael Steele]] is a member of the popular all-girl rock band [[The Bangles]].

** Also actress [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0635782/ Christopher Norris].

* Adrian Andrews from the second and third games of ''[[Ace Attorney]]'', which is important because {{spoiler|her name sounds masculine (and her last name literally is). This helps derail Shelly de Killer's argument that Adrian is his client, since he states that he physically met Adrian to make the deal, but refers to her as male because he hasn't actually met her.}}

* Kamille Bidan of ''[[Zeta Gundam]]''. It might be a country-dependent choice given his French-sounding last name, but Kamille's [[Berserk Button|sensitivity about his name]] causes all sorts of things to happen in this series. Indeed, there may not even have been a Zeta Gundam if he were named Bob.

** "Beverly" was originally a male name that became a mostly female name

* Dr Rodney McKay from Stargate: Atlantis. Rodney is his middle name. His first name is Meredith. He does get teased for it.

*** Exclusive outside its native country, perhaps. In its native country (it's a Welsh name properly spelled Maredudd) it's still the boy's name that it always was. On this side of the Pond, Rodney's name completely normal.

* In [[Gateway]], the main character is Robinette Broadhead, a man. He usually goes by Robin or Bob. Still, being saddled with a woman's name is one of the things he talks about during his extensive therapy sessions.

** The episode, "Uncool Customer" has the birthday girl name Michael.

* Sissel of ''[[Ghost Trick]]'' is quite male {{spoiler|even if he's not human}}, but has a female name. {{spoiler|This is because he's named after Yomiel's fiancee.}}

** As is Subject Delta, another Big Daddy and the protagonist of the sequel. He is actually addressed as simply "Delta" on at least one occasion. Not a common proper name, but a female character from ''[[Luann]]'' has it.

** One of the Little Sisters' random lines in the original was "That's a lady's name. ''Not'' a ''boy's'' name!" It's especially funny when she's traveling with a Rosie.

* Bryan Fuller likes to do this to his female characters. In ''[[Wonderfalls]]'' the main female character is named Jaye, which is a little ambiguous. ''[[Dead Like Me]]'' made this habit blatant, with the main female character George(tte) and her sister Reggie (Regina). Ned's love interest in ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'' is Charlotte... but goes by Chuck.

* The trope is used in the [[Older Than Steam|16th century]] madrigal ''"Of all the birds that I do know"'', which is ostensibly about a pet sparrow named Philip, but which is always referenced with female pronouns. There is probably some sort of [[Double Entendre]] that hasn't survived for 400 years, but the song is still beautiful. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vnr6Oxybkq4 Can be found here.]

** [[Holes|Mr. Sir's]] real name Marion Sirvino. "It ''is'' a boy's name!"

* Lucia Raregroove, the ultimate [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Rave Master]]''. Yes, he has a girl's name. Since he's the embodiment of darkness, his name also means light. His stepbrother's name [[Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?|isn't much better]].

* African-American heart surgeon [[wikipedia:Vivien Thomas|Vivien Thomas]], whose parents thought they were having a girl and really liked the name. Also has a nephew named Koco.

* Tohru from [[Fruits Basket]] explains that her father gave her a typically masculine name in order to emphasize her femininity, comparing it to adding a little salt to something sweet to enhance the flavor.

* [[Hanna Is Not a Boy's Name]]. It didn't stop Hanna's parents naming him that. He doesn't know why they named him Hanna.

* Although Edith, a male character from ''[[Ghost Dad]]'', claims his first name is a boy's name, he also explains he was named after his grandmother.

* Similar to Dr. Vivien Thomas above, the mother of NFL player [http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/9628/danieal-manning Danieal Manning] liked the name "Danielle", but had a boy instead. Perhaps she didn't like "Daniel" quite as much.

* ''[[Gunslinger Girl]]''. Rico and Claes are given male names by their handlers, who are somewhat uncomfortable working with brainwashed underaged girl killers, so the names help to disassociate them.

* Gary, the owner of the shoe store where Al Bundy works in [[Married... with Children]], is a woman.

** Mary, the maker of the Bundys' couch, is a man. He insists that his name is a male name [[Its Pronounced Tropay|and emphasized on the last syllable]] whereas the usual female version is emphasized on the first syllable.

* ''[[Community]]'' had Troy dating a person name Randi. He very quickly points out "Randi can be a girl's name" to avoid any [[Mistaken for Gay|confusion]].

* In "[[We Will Rock You]]", Britney Spears is the very male "...the biggest, baddest, meanest, nastiest, ugliest, most raging, rapping, rock'n'roll, sick, punk, heavy metal psycho bastard that ever got get-down funky." And Meat Loaf is his girlfriend, who is called Ozzy in some versions.

* The titular character in ''[[Film/The Little Devil|The Little Devil]]'' is a little devil who [[Demonic Possession|possessed]] an Italian lady named Giuditta. He liked her name, so after his exorcism, he decided to keep it as his own.

* ''[[Fire Emblem Jugdral|Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War]]'' gives us Claude, a male Bishop ; and Eve, Eva and Alva, who are male [[Same Sex Triplets]]. Alva can actually be a male name (see [[Thomas Edison]], whose middle name is Alva), but Eve and Eva are decidedly feminine.

* Kevin from ''[[Up (animation)|Up]]'' was apparantly so-called because Russell actually thought that "she" was male until Dug corrected him, telling Russell that Kevin is looking for "her" babies.

* A more common example is singer Charly McClain (short for Charlotte).

* In the NBC Television series "Sisters," the five sisters have female names but are given male nicknames by their father, who always wanted sons. Thus Alexandra, Theodora, Georgiana, Francesca, and Charlotte are called Alex, Teddy, Georgie, Frankie, and Charlie. Alex's daughter is named Reed, which is also typically a male name.

* [[Jessica Simpson]] named her daughter Maxwell.

* An episode of ''[[The Loony Toons Show]]'' has Bugs and Daffy at a spa, getting massages. Daffy sees that he's scheduled to get a massage from "Joe", while Bugs is going to get one from "Leslie". Daffy swaps the signs, so of course Joe turns out to be a beautiful woman named Josephine, while Leslie is a big, hairy man who twists Daffy into a pretzel.

* Alexis, Nikita and Sasha are actually masculine names of ''Greek'' origin. Alexis is the common French spelling of "Alexios", in Russian it is usually "Aleksej" or "[[Tetris|Alexey]]" depending on [[Spell My Name with an "S"|how you transliterate it]], "Nikita" derives from "Niketas", and Sasha is a common diminutive of "Aleksandr", and a common boy's name in both Russia and Germany (hence [[Psychonauts|Sasha Nein]]) where it can also be given to females. And to make it nice and confusing for all, we have an American and a Brit: Sasha Cohen, and Sacha Baron Cohen. Two similar names, but one is a female figure skater, and the other is a male comedian.

* As for Nikita, you have Khrushchev (Russian Prime Minister) and Koloff (Russian sounding stage name for an ''American'' pro wrestler), and Nikita from ''[[La Femme Nikita]]''.

** This puts a different light on [[Elton John]]'s mid-80s hit "Nikita" (the video featured a [[Did Not Do the Research|female East German border guard]]), but Elton John is gay... Could go either way depending on who's singing it.

** It possible that [[Alternate Character Interpretation|Nikita of the movie had knowingly adopted a masculine nickname]]; hence the ''femme'' of the title, to clarify that it is about a woman.

** Comic book artist Andrea DiVito, Italian, was once frequently mistaken for a woman. Ironically, ''female'' artist Nicola Scott is ''still'' frequently mistaken for a ''man''.

** The (female) ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' character Andrea Vanlandingham.

** Many other Italian male names may fall into this category, especially if they are the "Hebrew-descent-angel-names-finished-in-el", among them Daniele (Daniel), Michele (Michael) and Gabriele (Gabriel). What sets them apart from English is that, when such names are used for girls, they are usually spelt with LL's (and thus, treated as feminine versions of the respective names), but some languages (Brazilian Portuguese prominently) admit the use of a single L.

* The same goes for the Italian and American versions of the name Luca - some were confused about Suzanne Vega singing "My name is Luka (I live on the second floor...)".

** The song, though sung by a woman, is written to be from the perspective of a little boy named Luka.

** In ''[[Codename: Sailor V]]'', the manga that led to ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', Minako calls Artemis a "transsexual cat", teasing him for having the name of a goddess. He's at the same time upset and impressed with her knowledge of Greek mythology... until she tells him she [[Taught by Television|learned it from a video game]].

** It should be noted that the name Artemis is unisex in Greek. The female version is pronounced with stress on the first syllable and the male version with stress on the second (ART-teh-miss vs art-TEH-miss). But basically it's the same name.

* Blaise, a masculine name in most of Europe, has been used as a feminine name in the United States.

** Blaise Zabini from ''[[Harry Potter]]'' is male. Some fans had assumed that the name, mentioned in passing, belonged to a female character, until JKR clarified it.

* Deri. A Welsh male name meaning 'oaks', can now be found as a female name.

* In Spanish-speaking countries, Jaime is a male name pronounced "Hi May", however in America, Jaime is typically a female spelling of Jamie. Other than that, the trope is largely averted in this language, due to it distinguishing names and words by gender.

** Although back in the 1960s there was the singing duet of [[Jan and Dean]], who sang "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena" and "Dead Man's Curve".

** Don't forget the (male) American actor Jan Michael Vincent and the comedian Jan Murray.

* Elis, Kai and Terje are feminine names in Estonia, but masculine in most other countries.

* Vanya is a diminutive of Ivan in Russia: a male name. In Brazil it became a girl's name.

* The Irish name Conor, sometimes spelt Connor (although thats usually reserved for surnames). It's unquestionably a mans name in its native Ireland and the neighboring UK. However it's apparently found some use as a female name in the United States. Americans not knowing its origins and simply liking the name is one thing, but there are seemingly some Irish Americans who have forgotten this too.

* Kida is a masculine name in Japan, but a feminine name in [[Atlantis: The Lost Empire|Atlantis]].

* Carol/Karol vs. Carole. The former is often male in English-speaking and Slavic countries (as attested by the late Pope John Paul II, born Karol Józef Wojtyła); while the latter is feminine at least in French. Note that Carole is a recent construction, both a variant of Caroline and a modernization of the German "karl" root; this very root actually means "manly", by the way.

 

 

* The long list of names which were originally male but have morphed into female because [[Double Standard|folks give girls "boy" names, but then don't like giving boys names that have been used for girls]]: Beverley, Courtney, Shirley, Laverne, Evelyn, Dana, Gail, Jocelyn (yes, really), Lesley (note the spelling), Lindsey, Stacy, Tracy, Morgan... Ashley and Sidney seem to be headed in this direction.

** And is the reason one [[Badass]] in the ''[[Evil Dead]]'' series goes by the name "Ash."

** Ash Crimson, from ''[[King of Fighters]]'' is called Ashley, probably due to his French origin. Maybe his true name generated the whole fruity behavior he has. Fitting.

** "Ashleigh", a male variant of "Ashley," has evolved, as in the case of author [[wikipedia:Ashleigh Brilliant|Ashleigh Brilliant]].

*** The "-ley/-leigh" names - including "Leigh" itself - were originally surnames (it refers to a meadow, or clearing), so gender-neutral. It's just a [[Double Standard]].

** Actually, this is backwards. Disney picked the name because it was already an up-and-coming girl's name: in 1986, the year before production started on ''[[The Little Mermaid]]'', female Ariel's outnumbered males by a little more than 2:1 among U.S. births, a list of famous Ariel's going back to 1862 shows female Ariel's outnumbering males as far back as the late 1800's.

** The Hebrew version is pronounced R-E-L, while the female version is usually Air-E-L.

* Tyson was previously exclusively a boy's name, but has started to be used as a girl's name in the past couple decades.

* MacKenzie(son of Kenneth) was originally a Scottish surname, then a masculine first name, but now is mostly feminine.

** An example of this is found with the character Meredith in the webcomic ''[[Todd Allison and The Petunia Violet]]''

* A probably accidental occurrence in ''[[Dragon Age 2]]'': Petrice is actually a French form of Patrick. Not the sort of name you'd give to a scheming lying fanatic of a priestess.

 

== Diminutives ==

** Cameron is also an example of Country Dependant/Cultural Transformation. Originally a Celtic warrior's name, and was a masculine name when it originally transplanted to America, where it gradually became unisex.

* Charlie/Charley/Chaz/Chas - Charles, Charlotte, Charlene (this one oddly enough, means "male")

*** There's an alternative theory that it might also be derived from the german word for "mighty" or "warrior," which, while those are still rather masculine concepts, is better than outright naming your girl "man."

* C(h)ris/Kris - Kristopher, Crystal, Christine (And any one of them can be spelled a half-dozen ways, too.)

** One notorious example is Samantha Carter, from ''[[Stargate SG-1]]''.

** Another notorious example is in [[John Scalzi]]'s ''The Android's Dream'', since Sam's sex is deliberately never mentioned in the book. The author noticed he hadn't mentioned Sam's sex after a few chapters, and ran with it.

** Embarassing parents are those in NZ who proudly call their baby boys Alexandra because they are illiterate.

*** And those in [[Stroke Country|Belfast]] who write 'Alexander' on their baby girl's birth certificate, because the two names are homophones in that accent.

* Terry/Teri - Terrance, Terissa

* Tommy - Thomas, Thomasina (though admittedly not a very common girls' name often now)

* Valya - Valentin, Valentina (from Russia).

* Vic/Vicki/Vicky - Victor, Victoria

** Cayman: Mitchell (m), Ilika (f)

** Chase

*** Dakota/Koda

** Dana ([[Saturday Night Live|Carvey]])

** Jo/Joe

** Jordan (Season 16 of ''[[The Amazing Race]]'' featured both a male and a female Jordan.)

** Kay

*** Ever wondered how to pronounce Ceallach's name from Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones? Guess how the male form of Kelly is derived.

** Kelsey

** Saoirse (although mostly female. Pronounced ''Seer-sha'')

* Japanese (Note, that anime/manga/otherwise fictional characters tend to have more extravagant names than RL people so take everything on this list with a huge grain of salt. Also, the kanji usually makes the gender obvious.)

** Akito ([[Fruits Basket|Sohma]] and [[Martian Successor Nadesico|Tenkawa]])

** Asuka ([[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Langley Sohryu]], [[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX|Tenjoin]], or the one from ''[[Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger]]'')

** Chihiro ([[Kujibiki Unbalance|Enomoto]], "[[Spirited Away|Sen]]")

** Haruhi ([[Haruhi Suzumiya|Suzumiya]] (girl), [[Ouran High School Host Club|Fujioka]] (girl [[Bifauxnen|pretending to be a guy]]))

** Hayate ([[Hayate the Combat Butler|Ayasaki]] and [[Lyrical Nanoha|Yagami]])

** Hibiki ([[Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple|Kugenin]] a.k.a. Siegfried and one of [[Change 123|Motoko]]'s [[Split Personalities]])

** Hiromi

** Hitomi

** Kai

** Kaoru ([[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Nagisa]], [[The Tale of Genji|Genji]], [[Rurouni Kenshin|Kamiya]], [[Zettai Karen Children|Akashi]], [[Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash Star|Kiryuu]], [[Fresh Pretty Cure|the donut man]], {{spoiler|[[Samurai Sentai Shinkenger|Shiba]]}}, [[Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z|Matsubara]], and {{spoiler|[[Persona 2|Saga]]}})

**** It's always been a non-standard spelling. The correct spelling of "Kaoru" in the old system was "Ka'''h'''oru".

** Kazuki (usually rather masculine, neutral-leaning-on-feminine depending on the kanji)

** Makoto ([[El-Hazard: The Magnificent World|Mizuhara]], [[Sailor Moon|Kino]], [[School Days|Itou]], [[The Girl Who Leapt Through Time|Konno]])

** Megumi ([[Fruits Basket|Hanajima]], [[Megumi Hayashibara|Hayashibara]], [[The World Ends With You|Kitaniji]], and [[Megumi Nakajima|Nakajima]])

** Ouka ([[Flame of Recca|Ouka from Flame Of Recca is male]] while [[.hack|Ouka from .Hack//Legend of the Twilight is female]] - also, [[Busou Renkin|Hayasaka]])

** Sakura ([[Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan|Kusakabe]], [[Cardcaptor Sakura|Kinomoto]], [[Street Fighter|Kasugano]], [[Pretty Cure Full Color|Tsuitei]], and [[Pretty Cure Heavy Metal|Cobain]])

** Shinobu ([[Love Hina|Maehara]], [[Yu Yu Hakusho|Sensui]])

** Shion ([[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni|Sonozaki]], and the original [[Saint Seiya|Aries saint]] - as if [[The Dragon]] from ''[[The King of Fighters]] XI'' weren't gender-ambiguous enough by looks...)

** Sora ([[Digimon Adventure|Takenouchi]], or [[The Hero]] from ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'')

** Tsubaki [[Soul Eater|Nakatsukasa]] or [[One Piece|the Reporter]] and the [[Bleach|of the Shun Shun Rikka]]

** Tsubasa ({{spoiler|the real name of both protagonists, male and female,}} in [[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles]])

** Tsukasa (The ambiguity is lampshaded early in [[.hack//Sign]], as it can also be a surname. One kanji with this pronunciation can be used as both a girl's ([[Lucky Star|Hiiragi]]), AND a guy's ([[Hana Yori Dango|Domyoji]], [[Kamen Rider Decade|Kadoya]]) name.

** Yuki ([[Hello! Project|Maeda]], [[Suzumiya Haruhi|Nagato]], [[Fruits Basket|Sohma]])

* Swedish:

** Kim

** The webcomic ''[[Yang Child]]'' has an [http://yangchild.comicgenesis.com/d/20080515.html interesting] [http://yangchild.comicgenesis.com/d/20080520.html take] [http://yangchild.comicgenesis.com/d/20080522.html on this].

** Tedd from ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' averts this but given his frequent [[Gender Bending]] [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-02-03 his father wonders if he should have picked a gender-neutral name when Tedd was born].

 

== Homophones ==

* Gene and Jean/Jeanne (in English)

* Pascale and Pascal (in French)

* Karol (Polish) and Carol (English) / Carole (French)

** Of course, Karol is the Polish version of Carol/Charles, just as Karel (as in playwright Karel Čapek) is the Czech version.

* René and Renée (in both French and English)

* Emmanuel and Emmanuelle

** How is that possible that they can be homophones, really?

*** Maybe if you're a [[wikipedia:Yooper dialect|Yooper]].

* Virtually any male name (or nickname) ending with "-y" (Bobby, Andy, Teddy, Tony, Danny, Johnny, Ricky) can become feminine by spelling it "-i" or "-ie".

** And Sandy is the reverse, as it's normally short for Cassandra (see above) but can also be used as a male name on its own, or as a shortening of Alexander.

* Claire and Clare, leading to the male character in ''Baccano!'' having the feminine spelling of the name, while the female protagonists of Claymore uses the masculine spelling.

* Valer(i)y/Valerie: The former is a masculine Russian name.

* Elisha and Alicia (averted if the former is pronounced like ''Elijah'')

 

* See also [[She Is the King]].

* Ser Cauthrien is a female knight in ''[[Dragon Age]]: Origins''.

* An episode of ''[[All in The Family]]'' revolved around the following puzzle: "A young man is seriously injured in a car accident. When he's taken to the hospital, the surgeon cries, 'I can't operate on this man! He's my son!' Yet the surgeon is not the young man's father. How can this be?" It took the entire half hour for the characters to figure it out {{spoiler|(the surgeon was his ''mother'')}}, and when the answer was finally given at the end of the show the live studio audience ''gasped'' in surprise. 1840s indeed.

** Same riddle was used on The Cosby Show, you know the one with a the wife character being a powerful attorney. Sadly this puzzle still continues to work nowadays.

* In an episode of Get Smart, Max meets up with an invisible doctor. Knowing that there are KAOS agents guarding the entrance to the restaurant where they met, Max and the doctor have to sneak out another way. Max suggests sneaking out through the men's room, when finally the doctor says that that won't work... In a woman's voice.

* [[Hellsing|Sir Integra]] is a woman. A very scary woman who will kill you at a moments notice, hence the commanding name of "Sir", but a woman nonetheless.