Male Name for a Female Character. Good or Bad?

Scoody · Mar 9, 2010

I have a female MC and she has a male name. She eschews her more girly formal name of Jaquelyn for the name "Jack." In my life I have known four women that used the male version of their name instead of their obviously female Christian names. I knew a Mike (Mikayla), a Johnny (Jo Anne), a Chuck (Charlene) and a Jack. Mike and Johnny were nothing special really, just had names that were uncommon. Chuck and Jack (Oh and don't you dare call her Jackie) were huge tomboys. Chuck in fact turned out to be a lesbian which really surprised no one that knew her. Jack on the other hand was an enigma. Loved the "girly" things, but was tough and unafraid to get dirty and loved a good scrap.

Would a male name for my MC be a positive or a negative and would I have to have her live up to such a name if I use it.

suki · Mar 9, 2010

I don't think it's a big deal, and I actually think it's something we see a fair amount in YA (often in the form of Sam for Samantha, but other "male" nicknames have also been prevalent). if it fits your character and doesn't cause confusion or seem silly, go for it. I'm not sure why it happens so much in YA, but it does happen fairly often.

~suki

Cyia · Mar 9, 2010

I have a girl Johnnie.

If it fits the character, go for it. If it's just for effect, then don't.

shaldna · Mar 9, 2010

Its not a big deal.

More and more I see my friends naming thier daughters boys names, and I have to admit that I wanted to call my daughter either Logan or Quinn (but I'm a science fiction nerd, so that was ok.)

TheIT · Mar 9, 2010

Works for me. Just establish the character's gender from the beginning to avoid confusion later on.

Hedgetrimmer · Mar 9, 2010

I can't say whether it would be positive or negative, but I'll admit I've always found women with male names (or variations thereof) very sexy. Some of my favorites are Toni, Billie, Stevie, Frankie. Don't know why, but I likessssss.

alleycat · Mar 9, 2010

As suki mentioned, it's a trendy thing to do. I might guess in 50% of the YA novels in the past few years.

Chris P · Mar 9, 2010

Knowing a woman with a guy's name/man with a woman's name in real life is different from reading a character in a book. I think it will work once the reader gets past the first few pages.

Scoody · Mar 9, 2010

I also knew a girl named Pistol and that was her real name. The story behind how she got it was great. Her mother was deaf but could speak but was often misunderstood since she could not hear her own pronounciation. When she was born and they asked her what she wanted the baby to be named she said, "Crystal." Because the nurse did not know the mother was deaf she did not ask any questions when she heard, "Pistol." That was what was put on the birth certificate.

Bing Z · Mar 9, 2010

No. But if her birth name is something like Jack Daniel, then you probably have some explanations to do.

Actually, in my WIP I have a bit-role character called Jacqueline "Jackie." This has caused a little misunderstanding with the MC when she was introduced, but no biggie afterward.

Lydia Sharp · Mar 9, 2010

TheIT said:
Works for me. Just establish the character's gender from the beginning to avoid confusion later on.

Ditto.

And girls/women who have boyish names don't necessarily have to be less feminine. A minor character in my current WIP goes by Bobbi, but her given name is Barbara. She is also a lesbian and uber-girly. Character is character.

Names can enhance character, but not all character names have to have some underlying significance. A friend of mine goes by Bird. It has nothing to do with birds; her brother just called her that one day and it stuck.

Danthia · Mar 9, 2010

JA Konrath has a whole series with Lt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels, so anything goes. I go by Jay myself, so girls use guys names all the time.

I think as long as you make it clear that the name is a woman so you don't confuse readers, you're fine.

jruby · Mar 9, 2010

I use a lot of gender-neutral or male variations of names for my female characters. I've never come across anyone whose had a problem with it. Like others have said though, you have to be extra careful about letting the reader know the character's gender so no one gets confused.

Claudia Gray · Mar 9, 2010

The only downside I see is that it's done a lot, so it's not as fresh and new as it was about a decade ago.

Hapax Legomenon · Mar 10, 2010

"Jack" I think is a rather common shortened version for Jaquelyn these days, so i wouldn't be too worried.

I hope my male lead, "Rae," is okay though.

ishtar'sgate · Mar 10, 2010

Scoody said:
Would a male name for my MC be a positive or a negative and would I have to have her live up to such a name if I use it.

My father-in-law's sisters were all known by male sounding names. Johanna was Jo, Martha was Mike, Edna was Ed and so on. Ed was extremely feminine and girly. We didn't give her male name a second thought so I don't think it would be a problem at all.

JayG · Mar 10, 2010

A name is a label we use to call up the image of the character, so once that's established the name is translated into the emotional mind-picture of the character as we read, which means the name is only a place-holder or pointer.

As long as the reader's on board when we meet her, what's the problem? I've sold a work where the protagonist was named Samantha, but everyone called her Sam, so I guess it works.

Jamesaritchie · Mar 10, 2010

Just don't use the name as a "surprise" for the reader. You wouldn't believe how many slush pile stories have a female character with a male name, but it isn't revealed that the character is female until very late in the story, usually after she's done all sorts of very "male" fighting.

Lady Ice · Mar 10, 2010

Danthia said:
JA Konrath has a whole series with Lt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels, so anything goes.

I think as long as you make it clear that the name is a woman so you don't confuse readers, you're fine.

Is this Konrath guy an alcoholic, lol?

Jacqueline is often abrieviated, though lots of them spell it 'Jaq'. Non-gender specific names seem to be very popular in America.

52greg · Mar 10, 2010

Scoody said:
I also knew a girl named Pistol and that was her real name. The story behind how she got it was great. Her mother was deaf but could speak but was often misunderstood since she could not hear her own pronounciation. When she was born and they asked her what she wanted the baby to be named she said, "Crystal." Because the nurse did not know the mother was deaf she did not ask any questions when she heard, "Pistol." That was what was put on the birth certificate.

I wonder what the girl's nickname was.

Cella · Mar 10, 2010

I have a Llewellyn called Louie.

AdamH · Mar 10, 2010

It's fine to do.

Be careful to establish she as a she at the beginning...but other than that, it's fine.

friendlyhobo · Mar 10, 2010

I guess I'm the only person who finds it annoying, if only because I see it happening a lot lately in books, movies etc, but I have rarely encountered IRL (maybe it's just where I'm from?). One more female Alex and I'll loose it, though. It's not something that would make me stop reading a book, just roll my eyes and move on. I did know a girl named Remington Sloan though. If your going to go for the traditionally male name for a girl, make it a sweet one, I say.

Calliopenjo · Mar 10, 2010

I have to tell that, there are some that feel that if it's a girl use a girl's name. Using a male name for a female is over done, and getting annoying.

If you insist on it, or the character, a compromise would be to use unisex names. Names like Chris, Pat, Sam, etc. are not gender specific. Check baby name websites for a complete list.

Linda Adams · Mar 10, 2010

Do establish gender fairly quickly. I've run into books with unisex names and have guessed the gender wrong. Some of that is reader perception. Any time I've seen the name Leslie, it's been a man's name. But growing up, I knew a Leslie who was a girl, so the first thing I always think is that it refers to a girl. Likewise, I wrote a story on how I saw a woman's name on a Vietnam wall and later discovered it might have actually been a Southern man's name (Beverly).

By the way, my grandmother hated her first name of Della and went by Dick her entire life.

Male Name for a Female Character. Good or Bad?

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