Talk:Max (given name)

Max is a gender-neutral name[edit]

Max can be short for masculine given names (Maxime, Maximus, Maximilian etc) or for feminine given names (Maxine, Maxima). Therefore Max in and of itself is gender-neutral, not masculine. I am a bit confused why this is even something that needs to be discussed or leads to an edit war. The article itself lists at least 2 female Max (Max Caulfield and Max Mayfield), and already mentions the feminine given name Maxine. It is true that the masculine version is more common, and thus the amount of male examples is bigger, but that doesn't negate the existence of the female name Max. See also https://www.babynamespedia.com/meaning/Max/f and http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/0/Max.

Max Chan Zuckerberg also exists, but I wasn't sure what the criteria are for adding a person. I just wanted to fix a simple mistake in the leading sentence of the Wikipedia article about my own name (I am non-binary btw), and now I got dragged into an unneccessary and exhausting edit war with a random internet stranger who thinks I don't exist.

Also: Reverting my improvement of the article with comments like this: "just because a few women may take the name, just to stand out" doesn't sound to me like the revert is done in good faith. 88.130.159.141 (talk) 05:38, 18 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Clarityfiend: Can you please confirm above statement and allow my edits, OR add your reasoning for why you still disagree? In that case we might have to get a third opinion. Note that I am all new to this, I didn't even know what an "edit war" is until you threatened me with a sanction. I read about how to resolve disputes and thus started this discussion. I am really trying my best to act in good faith here, I can only ask the same of you. 88.130.159.117 (talk) 16:04, 19 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Max Caulfield is a fictional character, and Max Mayfield is a man. Every single real person on this list is a man; I checked. I didn't bother to check fictional characters. I will start a more general discussion on what qualifies a given name to be called unisex at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Anthroponymy#When is a given name deemed unisex?. Clarityfiend (talk) 23:31, 19 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Different Max Mayfield. While also a fictional character, I still think they are relevant. I know several women called Max in real life (and a quick search on social media will find many others), but they are not "notable" enough to be listed on Wikipedia. But just because individual women with the name Max aren't notable enough to be listed, doesn't mean that their name is suddenly masculine. (And there might even be notale women named Max, we just aren't aware of them, which is a whole other can of worms.) Thanks for creating the more general discussion. Note that during the first half of the 20th century more newborns assigned female had the name Max than newborns assigned male. This only changed in the 1980s. Both sources I linked above have popularity charts. 88.130.159.6 (talk) 00:24, 20 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Adding a bit more data: Here are 4 websites listing "Max" as gender neutral baby name:

And another 4 websites that list "Maxwell" as gender neutral baby name:

I really think this should be enough sources to count for Wikipedia. We have two sources (linked above) that show popularity of feminine Max was higher in the first half of the 20th century than masculine Max, and 8 sources that list Max (or a variation of Max) as gender neutral name. Can we please edit the article now? We can use the sources listed here as citations in the article. 88.130.159.240 (talk) 22:44, 21 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]