This is a little bit of a JOURNEY of a story, but what happened was that I had the quote “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well” in my head, and I wanted to find out who wrote it; I was imagining perhaps Robert Burns. It turns out it was written by Julian of Norwich in the 1300s; I might have encountered it in a poem by T.S. Elliot, although that poem eliminates the repetition of the first phrase, which I think is one of the most gripping parts of the quote, so perhaps I encountered it elsewhere. Apparently churches sometimes quote it; it does have an Ecclesiastes sort of sound.
The part of the Wikipedia article that is relevant to this post is the part where it says historians are not sure if Julian was the writer’s given name or a pseudonym—but it goes on to say that Julian was indeed used as a name for girls in the Middle Ages, so it’s realistic to think it could have been her actual name.
Currently, in the United States, the name Julian is only a little bit used as a name for girls: according to the Social Security Administration, in 2021 it was used for 30 new baby girls. For comparison, there were also 30 new baby girls that year given each of these names: Belladonna, Erza, Liam, Mars, Nile, Rin, Sable, and Waylon. It’s not common. That same year, there were 7629 new baby boys named Julian. This is a name I would stop short of saying was used “exclusively for boys”—but I would probably say it’s used ALMOST exclusively for boys.
I am reluctant to suggest we start using it more for girls, though Julian of Norwich makes it a fun honor name. But the idea that Julian is basically Julia but with an -n, so why SHOULDN’T it be for girls, makes me think of the name Lauren, which was somewhere between the exclusively-for-girls Laura and the exclusively-for-boys Laurence. The -n takes a soft and feminine -a name and firms it up a bit. Alyssa is soft and feminine; Allison is firmed up a bit.
I wondered if we could do that to other names. This is not a task in my area of strengths (I immediately tried to make Anna into Annan and Ada into, oh, Aiden), but I know we have those among us who are great at this kind of thing.
Some names feel like they transform into something less name-like when we add -n: Alecia turns to Alecian, which sounds like someone is from the country of Alecia. Victoria turns to Victorian, which again sounds descriptive rather than name-like. Viola is now a violin.
Some transform into familiar existent names: Ella to Ellen. Mira to Mirren. Linda to Linden. Kara to Karen.
Some names just transform into names used more often for boys, the way Julia does. Stella turns to Stellan. Nola turns to Nolan. Cora turns to Corin. Myra turns to Myron.
Some transform into words: Portia turns to portion; Paula to pollen; Marcia to Martian; Patricia to patrician; Becca turns to beckon. Though actually I feel like Beccan/Beckyn is cute and usable despite the word-name aspect.
But what about Tessa to Tessan? It takes some work to adjust to it, but Laura to Lauren probably felt odd at first, too. Ava to Aven? Lila to Lilan/Lylan? Sarah to Saren? Bella to Bellyn/Bellen? Myla to Mylen? Nora/Cora/Flora should be similar to Laura: Noran, Corin, Florin. I wonder if the method would work best for updating names that feel out of style right now. Tamara to Tamaran/Tamaryn. Lisa to Lisan/Liesen. Monica to Monican/Moniken/Monnikyn. Sheila to Sheilan. Erica to Eriken. Melissa to Melissyn.
It doesn’t HAVE to be -a endings. Kathy to Kathyn/Cathen. Joyce to Joycen. Jess to Jessen. Holly to Hollyn. Tracy to Tracen.
Well, as I say, this kind of thing is not one of my strengths, but I wondered if it would be fun for others to take a crack at it.
This is not quite the same but Sylvie or Sylvia can be turned to Sylvan, which I think is an underused boy name.
This actually reminds me of my own name, Jancy. Someone recently called me Jansen and I liked it so much more than my actual name 😄
Not sure if I fully understand the assignment but I’ll try it out
Isaiah to Isaiahan
Ezra to Ezran
Aurora to Auroran or Aurorian
Miranda to Mirandan or Mirandian
Lydia to Lydian
Elise to Elisen
I feel the same about Lucia/Lucian.
Why aren’t we using Lucian more for girls?
Mary/Maren
Rosa/Rosen
Toby/Toben
Allie/Allan
I’m curious which came first, historically – the -n name or the abbreviated version? Lauren to Laura might be an easier transition than Laura to Lauren (and I’m thinking this because all of the non-preexisting names that have -n added to them sound clunky to my ear). I feel like it’s much easier to shorten a name than lengthen it, and perhaps that’s always been the case?
According to Behind the Name, Laurence comes from the city of Laurentum, which “probably” comes from the word laurus (meaning laurel). Lauren comes from Laurence, while Laura comes directly from laurus – it doesn’t link Laura and Lauren to each other at all! Lauren apparently started as a male name, and then became used as a female name in the 1940s or so – probably aided by its similarity to the already established Laura.
That history makes me wonder if the more relevant task would be shortening male names, or maybe more specifically male names ending in double consonants? male names that already have a familiar female variant? There aren’t a ton of names that meet both those criteria, but the ones that do give okay results:
Clement -> Clemen
Alexander -> Alexand/Alexan (I could genuinely see Alexan or Lexan going somewhere…)
Clarence -> Claren
Olivian sounds like it could be a boys’ name, similar to Olivier.
Arya to Aryan, which is unfortunate (I did go to school with a boy named Arian, decades ago).
Grace to Gracen.
Clare to Claren? Sounds like a reference to McLaren.
I’m not good at this either!
I know a Maclaren who goes by Clare.
I know what you mean but Aryan is a very popular boys name in India/SEA.
Zara to Zaran
Bobbie to Bobbin
Dora to Doran or Dorian
Tara to Taran
Oh, this is fun. I’ve loved Julian for a girl ever since I heard of Julian of Norwich. I’d never thought of Lucian for a girl but it’s charming, too. A few more ideas, some more successful than others:
Maura > Mauren
Angela > Angelan
Celia > Celian
Georgia > Georgian
Sylvia > Sylvian
Sienna > Siennan
Jenna > Jennan
Alma > Alma or Almon
Aurelia > Aurelian
Tilda > Tilden
Willa > Willan
Kira > Kiran
Adele > Adelen (rhymes with Helen)
Layla/Leila > Laylan or Leilan
Magnolia > Magnolian
Nora > Noren
Carla > Carlen
Claudia > Claudian
Belinda > Belinden
Melinda > Melinden
Regina > Reginan
Debra > Debren
Rhonda > Rhonden
Rhoda > Rhoden
Dana > Danan. Or maybe Danaan for a classical Greek reference?
Cynthia > Cynthian
Susanna > Susannon
Viola actually does change, but into Violet. The genus Viola is what all violets are in.
Brenna—Brennan
Stephanie to Stephanian
Mallory into Mallorian
Valery to Valerian
Liddy into Lidian
Willa into Willan
Delphine into Delphinian
Tricky but interesting!
This makes me think of a girl I taught years ago named Georgian… at the time it seemed VERY odd (why not name her Georgia!), but it grew on me enough for me to think of it as A Name, as opposed to just a word for someone from Georgia.
My daughter’s name is Gloria, and when she was a baby I read Samantha Shannon’s fantasy novel, “The Priory of the Orange Tree,” which has a (female) character named Glorian. I love that variation.
I’ve had fun trying to think of these! Here are some I like:
Holly—Hollyn
Jessica/Jess—Jessen
Maisie—Maisen/Mazen
Farrah—Faren
Lily—Lillyn
Emily—Emilyn
Becca/Becky—Becken
Kimberly—Kimberlyn