I like having a name that could be either male or female. I was named after my two grandmothers. My mother's mom was named Mildred Josephine, and my father's mother was named Anna (Ah-na) Marie. So, I got a combination of the two:

Josephine Anna (Ah-na).

I do not go by Josephine however. I go by "Joey." (I know I know.... It is SO Dawson's Creek. But trust me-- I am way older than that show.)

The neat part is that I am a twin. She did not get her name from my grandmothers entirely. My parents named her Jenna Marie. But, when my older brother of 14 months was little, he could not manage to get both of our names right. So Jenna was either Jenna or Jennie, and I ended up being Joey or Joe-Uh. He could never remember which sound went with the end of each name; so needless to say, our names were always wrong.

He got his fair share of getting his name wrong though because when Jenna and I began talking, we could never say Justin. So he was always Jussie. Similarly, our oldest brother Jeff was logically called Jeffie, simply to fit in with the rest of us.

Anyway, I like having a name that no one knows whether you are a boy or a girl. For a majority of my classes, the roster said Joseph. (I know, I know, this is just like the show too. BUT THIS IS MY LIFE!!!) Or, when I was really little, and teachers made little signs for you, with the girls being yellow and the boys being green, they always forgot that "Joey" was a girl, and I would end up with a green sign. I guess that is why I have grown to love blue and green.

I feel like having a name that is a boy/girl name is quite an advantage. If I go in for a job, as I did last week, and I write Joey, the employer always has a surprised expression on his face. I feel like although they were expecting a boy, it gives me more time to prove myself. Other times, people realize that Joey could be a boy or a girl. Therefore, they go into our meeting with an open mind, expecting anything. These are the people I like best. I feel like I am at ease to be myself, show them who I am, name and all, with no inhibitions.

And what is the most popular question people ask me nowadays? Where is your Dawson? The answer to this depends on who I am with. If I with another guy that is not my guy best friend, I will say whoever I am with just to be nice. But, on all other occassions, I will say Paul, my guy best friend.

Well, heres my story. I love getting to know you nodes.

My name is Kelly. Now, i happen to know about 5-10 male kelly's, however, the world is dominated by female kelly's, and thus, it is a feminine name.

So, when they divided us up for early sex ed, like 5th, 6th grade, they counted my name into the girls, and thus, they were always confused when there was an extra guy in the boys rooms. Much Fun.

Now, Items i have gotten is altogether a different story.
Living in the deep bible belt south, my favorite were this one set of christians. I don't know where they got my name, but they came to my door none the less, wanting to talk to Kelly. Did you know that tampons are a sin against god?

Eraser_'s thought for the day


RE: Android, well simply put, long hard blunt object up a vagina.
Remember, menarche implies that the girl has had her first lustful thought and sin, or something like that. Adding a tampong to that would be a very bad thing. Girls got very bad looks by older freaky christian people when they would set a box of tampons on the counter at some store. :-) (Note: i do see a distinct difference between freaky christian people, good little christian people, and christians. Only one of those is good. :)

And thankyou, you reminded me of the beauty pagent things i still get! I'm 17, got one probably 3 or 4 months ago.
My name is Kristopher, but only my mother, my girlfriend, and a select few female friends are allowed to call me by my full name; to everyone else, I am Kris. For some reason, people equate the KRIS spelling with females, and the CHRIS spelling with males. Go figure.

Like Eraser_, teachers and other authority figures got really confused when they saw my shortened name on a roster for, say, an athletic team, or other segregated activities. I sure as hell didn't look like a girl, but some adults insisted on questioning my gender. I didn't like that very much.

Upon hitting puberty, I began to receive all sorts of stuff in the mail. Magazines aimed at girls, maxipads, tampons, other feminine products. I even got an invitation for a beauty pageant once. This sort of thing really pissed me off until I began to see the humor in it. The only thing that I didn't get was, why do teenage girls get all the free shit, and the boys get the shaft? Not that I really need or want tampons, but I digress.

I like my name the way it is. It's unique, and it can be ambiguous when I want it to be. Not that I'm trying to gender-bend or anything; it's just fun to confuse people.

Eraser_: Tampons are a sin against God? Could you explain this? I'm curious about those wacky fundamentalists. :-)

My name is Sharon, and I'm male. In israel, where I come from, it is a name for both girls and boys. Since I came to study in the USA, this has been the source of frequent confusion. Everybody that I correspond with that hasn't met me, is of course convinced that I am a girl. I even get a taste of Chauvinism once in a while in online chatrooms or discussion lists.

When I had to get a social security card, I asked the guy to enter my name as Charon, so as to avoid the problem. This has only made matters worse. Now the DMV (god bless them!) won't give me a plastic ID because my social security info does not match the name in my Israeli passport, which is spelled Sharon.

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