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I find the Krishna name interesting. Krishna is a male Hindu deity. However, it seems a lot of people were naming their girls Krishna. Now, it is a boy's name a
by RcouF1uZ4gsC 7y ago
I find the Krishna name interesting. Krishna is a male Hindu deity. However, it seems a lot of people were naming their girls Krishna. Now, it is a boy's name again.
My speculation for the cause of this is that Hare Krishna became popular among certain US groups in the 1970's and a lot of them named their daughters Krishna. Then, in more recent times, there has been a lot more immigration from India into the US, and these families name their boys Krishna.
- Mountain_Skies 7y agoPerhaps in the 70s people also stuck to the general trend of female names ending with a vowel while make names typically ended with a consonant. Immigration from cultures such as India where this isn't the trend might indeed be responsible for it waning.
- foogoloo 7y agoIn latin countries male names end in o, and girls names end in a.
- keerthiko 7y agoThis has absolutely been the trend in India. Majority of male names from my generation and my parents' generation end in consonants, and ending with a vowel was indicative of a feminine name. So I doubt Indian immigration at least impacted this trend in the direction suggested.
- _emacsomancer_ 7y agoThough Krishnā is also a name, and the feminine version of Krishna (Krishnā is one of Draupadi's other names; where both Krishna and Draupadi are characters in the _Mahabharata_).
- belltaco 7y agoThe point is, in India, Krishna is overwhelmingly a male name, with a few exceptions.
- raincom 7y agoFinal long a is a feminine noun in Sanskrit. Short a is usually a masculine in Sanskrit. There are some exceptions to this.
- wces 7y agoKrishna is a river in India. It's very common to name daughters after rivers in India. Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Kaveri are more common feminine river names than Krishna, though.
- DonHopkins 7y agoJesus is a regionally popular name in states along the Mexican border including Arizona, Texas, California and New Mexico. https://flowingdata.com/2013/11/18/regional-names/ https://flowingdata.com/2013/11/18/regional-names/ I wonder why more people don't name their children God? Maybe because it becomes problematic during the teenaged years.
- harryxps 7y agoMy mother's name is Krishna, born in the early 1940s in Jhang ("West Punjab" then immigrated eastwards with partition). Just a random data point for you.
- mcv 7y agoCross cultural names are a source of misunderstandings. Many male Russian names, like Nikita or Ilya, are interpreted as female in English-speaking countries because of the -a ending. Same with male Italian names like Andrea.