3 ms·

I think that in your examples "Austyn" and "Tristyn", the POINT of the "y" replacing "i" is to signal that the name is feminine. Namely, you're having a girl bu

I think that in your examples "Austyn" and "Tristyn", the POINT of the "y" replacing "i" is to signal that the name is feminine. Namely, you're having a girl but want to name her Austin, but not have her be assumed to be male. Therefore, roughly 40% of the time you choose Austyn with a "y" (if my calculations from your ratio are right; 85 girls Austyn, 129 girls Austin).

mr_tristan 7y ago
Could be, but I don't think it holds that consistently in the U.S., which is where this data is from. I'd still guess the less common the spelling, the more likely it's gender neutral, regardless of "gender flags": More popular, strongly feminine: http://www.ourbabynamer.com/Sydney-name-popularity.html http://www.ourbabynamer.com/Sydney-name-popularity.html Less popular, and used to be very popular male name, now mostly female: http://www.ourbabynamer.com/Sidney-name-popularity.html http://www.ourbabynamer.com/Sidney-name-popularity.html