How would you honor Kathleen?

Boy Names
1

How would you honor a Kathleen (or any other traditionally feminine name with no direct masculine variants) if you had a son?

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2

[name_m]Kenneth[/name_m]
[name_u]Kit[/name_u]
[name_m]Ethan[/name_m] (very much a stretch but it does contain the letters)
Something like [name_u]Kay[/name_u] or Kade(n)
Kathan

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3

How about [name_u]Lee[/name_u]? Such a versatile name.

A bit more off the beaten pathā€¦ but [name_m]Cathal[/name_m] could work ā€“ although the pronunciation is quite different to [name_f]Kathleen[/name_f].

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4

Iā€™d look for something with similar sounds and ideally the same first initial ā€“ for [name_f]Kathleen[/name_f] Iā€™d probably use [name_m]Keith[/name_m] or [name_m]Kenneth[/name_m], both of which I like despite being a little dated.

[name_m]Kash[/name_m], [name_u]Kallen[/name_u], or [name_u]Killian[/name_u] also share some key sounds. [name_u]Or[/name_u] [name_m]Colin[/name_m] maybe?

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5

[name_u]Kai[/name_u] or [name_u]Lee[/name_u]

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6

[name_u]Kit[/name_u] or [name_u]Leon[/name_u]

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7

[name_f]Lin[/name_f]! It is a very nice name that I would use for any gender, but for boys I prefer as a first rather than a middle. Short, international and unexpected, timeless, with a nice meaning.

Also [name_u]Lee[/name_u], [name_u]Kit[/name_u], [name_m]Colin[/name_m]

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8

For [name_f]Kathleen[/name_f], Iā€™d consider:

[name_u]Karter[/name_u]
[name_f]Cather[/name_f]
[name_u]Lennie[/name_u]
[name_u]Killian[/name_u]
[name_u]Neel[/name_u]
[name_u]Keaton[/name_u]
[name_m]Kenneth[/name_m]

In general, Iā€™d probably go by sound to honour a feminine name for a son :slight_smile:

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9

Iā€™d usually go with something that means the same, but since [name_f]Kathleen[/name_f] means ā€˜pureā€™ unsurprisingly there arenā€™t many options for boys with that meaning :upside_down_face:

Iā€™d go with [name_m]Kenneth[/name_m], or another way I like to approach honours is using their surname/birthplace/birth month/etc.

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10

I would go with [name_u]Kit[/name_u] :fox_face:

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11

I like the idea of using as many letters as possible, e.g. [name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m] shares 6/8 letters with [name_f]Kathleen[/name_f].

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12

[name_u]Kick[/name_u]? As used by the Kennedyā€™s. Otherwise [name_u]Kit[/name_u] or [name_m]Ken[/name_m].

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13

Itā€™s a bit of a stretch, but maybe [name_u]Sterling[/name_u]? [name_f]Kathleen[/name_f] means ā€œpureā€ and [name_u]Sterling[/name_u] means ā€œof great qualityā€.

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15

I personally would lean towards giving my son a name that shares the same meaning. In this way my child would still have a unique name that feels his own, while also being able to honor a loved one.

Options for honoring Kathleen (pure):

Carys

  • a pure love (this is simply beautiful)

Farmand

  • pure, intelligent, wise (In arabic this name means ā€œpure/intelligent/wiseā€. In Norse itā€™s meaning changes to ā€œtradesmanā€. I love that it sounds a bit like farmer with a twist. Itā€™s vintage/clunky/cute and Iā€™m here for it.)

Kato

  • pure (When derived from the greek name KatharĆ³s it mean ā€œpureā€; however, in Japanese it means ā€œall-knowingā€ or ā€œ2nd of twinsā€. Itā€™s a bonus that it shares the 1st 2 letters)

Zakai

  • pure (possible nickname Kai)
16

[name_u]Lee[/name_u], [name_u]Kay[/name_u], or [name_u]Kit[/name_u]!

17

[name_m]Kellen[/name_m] or [name_u]Callan[/name_u], probably.

18

[name_m]Kal[/name_m] was my first thought

[name_m]Len[/name_m]
[name_m]Ken[/name_m]
[name_m]Kale[/name_m]
[name_m]Kaleb[/name_m]
[name_u]Kalen[/name_u]
[name_m]Nathan[/name_m]

19

Two middle names with a masculine middle followed by [name_f]Kathleen[/name_f].

Versions of [name_f]Kathleen[/name_f] that I think would work on a boy:

[name_u]Kadri[/name_u]
[name_u]Cato[/name_u]
[name_u]Kai[/name_u]
Keti

Names that mean ā€œpureā€:

[name_m]Affan[/name_m]
Archibald/Archie
[name_m]Jun[/name_m]
Naqi
[name_u]Zaki[/name_u]
[name_m]Tahir[/name_m]
Kiyo
Zaccai/Zakkai/Zaccheus

20

Cathrinus is a masculine form of Katherine which may work, but is more unusual.

Kallen / Callen
Leif
Leen / Leendert / Leonard / Leon
Anthony / Anthone
Neel / Neil / Neal

One of these could work with the middle name Lee or a hyphen name using Lee:
Casius / Cassius
Catius
Keith / Keeth
Kasey / Casey

I would look at if there are other family names which you would like to honour which can be combined with a part of Kathleen to make a more masculine name too.

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21

[name_u]Lee[/name_u] or [name_u]Kayce[/name_u] would be my picks!
Good luckā€¦ I love gender switched honor names!!!