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Comment by aanet | Hacker News Reader

Kris Kristofferson was one of my fav song-writers. For the longest time, I thought _Me and Bobby McGee_ was Janis Joplin's original song, until I learnt it was Kris' writing. He actually wrote it for a woman named Bobby... the rest is history. [1]

A Golden Globe-winning actor, Golden Gloves boxer, Rhodes scholar, author, U.S. Army veteran, pilot, and onetime record-label janitor. A full fledged Renaissance man. They sure don't make 'em like that anymore.

Whattay guy! RIP Kris. Thanks for all the enduring songs!!

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNblxfWTWU4

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I once heard or read an interview with him on NPR, saying that he wrote the song at a time when he was working flying helicopters to oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. This had the odd effect of reminding me of the distance between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, and calling into question size of the truck driver's repertory of songs.

> He actually wrote it for a woman named Bobby...

Bobby being short for... Roberta? But then again, after I recently saw female pop singer Taylor Swift watching male tennis player Taylor Fritz at the US Open, I realized that some American first names are just... flexible.

There's many English names that aren't gendered ex. Morgan, Casey, Charlie, Jayme (plus Taylor and Bobby as mentioned previously)

Charlie is a nickname for Charles and Charlene.

I would think Charlotte more than Charlene

There are men and women who, at least professionally, just go by Charlie. So it's kind of moot if it's on their birth certificate, you can't tell their gender by name.

It's pretty common in the US for a name that is traditionally associated with boys become unisex (Taylor) or even prominently female (Lauren). Typically it is an uncommon male name (so not, e.g. John or Brian) that sees a sudden increase in popularity and becomes unisex. Some other examples include Leslie, Casey, Jordan, Morgan, Addison, and Riley. I can't think of any examples of the reverse off the top of my head.

A chart of this phenomenon for Taylor:

https://engaging-data.com/baby-name-visualizer/?n=taylor&sex...

"Jordan" goes some ways back--there is a woman named Jordan in The Great Gatsby.

And it isn't entirely an American phenomenon: the critic Clive James was named Vivian James at birth, but the actress Vivian Leigh more or less claimed the name for the female sex when Gone With the Wind came out. James or his family fell back on his middle name to spare him teasing.

more or less claimed the name for the female sex when

Not entirely so however. Vivian Campbell[1] is still rocking the "Vivian" name for the male sex[2]!

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivian_Campbell

[2]: Not that any of this really matters of course. Vivian's name just popped to mind for me as I'm a huge fan of his work with Whitesnake and Def Leppard.

> "Jordan" goes some ways back [...] The Great Gatsby

Jordan is a river in the Middle East (also in the Bible) and more recently a country near such river. Like Brooklyn or Paris, it is a topological name that was co-opted into a first name. As such, it could always be used for either sex.

(Yes, Paris is also a male name found in the Iliad, but that doesn't share the etymology with the city of Paris, which is what most people refer to nowadays.)

And Evelyn (as in, e.g., Waugh, who pronounced it EEV-lin).

Even the ones that aren't are flexible.

Bobby short for Barbara, a secretary who worked at his managers office. He also didn't write it exactly _for_ her, his manager guy had the idea for the name and theme during a conversation with the guy who's secretary was bobby mckee.

All this can be seen at the link in gp comment

He played "Me and Bobby McGee" at the Isle of White festival (1970). For some reason, the audience was not enjoying and he decided to left the stage before the end of the song.

Fantastic moment [1] I enjoy watching semi-frequently.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmk94uooJCU

One of my all time favorites - Jody and the kid! Such a joy whenever I listen to it.

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