Sunday, April 15, 2012

Same Name?!--Christian

Christian is an interesting case. Originally used for both males and females, in the last 100 years or so, it's become almost completely masculine--probably due in part to several Danish King Christians. Consequently, there are several more female variants than male.

Original Latin form: Christianus (kris-tee-ahn-oos)
English form: Christian (KRIST-yen, KRIS-chen)

Modern masculine forms:
  • Carsten (KAHR-sten)--German. Also spelled Karsten
  • Christer (KRIS-tehr)--Danish, Swedish. Also spelled Krister.
  • Cristian (kris-TYAHN)--Romanian, Spanish
  • Kristen (KRIS-ten)--Danish, Norwegian. Also spelled Christen.

Modern feminine forms:
  • Cairistìona (kah-ris-TEEN-ah)--Scottish
  • Christiane (kris-tee-AHN)--French
  • Christine (kris-TEEN)--French
  • Cristiana (krees-TYAHN-ah)--Italian, Portuguese
  • Kerstin (KER-sten)--German
  • Kilikina (kee-lee-kee-nah)--Hawaiian
  • Kirsten (KEER-sten)--Scandinavian
  • Kistiñe (kees-tee-nyeh)--Basque
  • Kristin (KRIS-ten)--German, Scandinavian
  • Krysia (KRISH-yah)--Polish

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