Neutral names starting with P: Difference between revisions

'''Pat'''. English. Short for names such as the masculine Patrick and feminine Patricia, both of which come from "Patrician, nobleman" in Latin. <ref>https://www.behindthename.com/name/pat</ref><ref name="20knames4" /> Patrick is usually given in honor of the saint of the same name, the patron saint of Ireland.<ref>https://www.behindthename.com/name/patrick</ref> The name spiked in popularity for neutral use during the first half of the 20th century. US SSA data shows about 222,623 people have had this name, used as a feminine name 63% of the time.<ref>https://www.mynamestats.com/First-Names/P/PA/PAT/index.html</ref> Keywords: Christian, nobility, one syllable. Pat is such a well-known gender neutral name that, during the 1990s, the American show ''Saturday Night Live'' ran comedy sketches called "It's Pat," featuring an [[androgynous]] character, Pat O'Neill Riley. The sketches were about  people trying to obliquely determine Pat's gender, such as by asking what "Pat" was short for. Pat evaded all these attempts, such as by answering, "Pat is short for Paaaaaat." This spun off into the box-office flop feature film ''It's Pat'' (1994), a romantic comedy about Pat falling in love with another gender-ambiguous person, Chris. Meanwhile, a neighbor develops such an unhealthy obssession with trying to find out Pat's gender that he loses his mind. Then Pat and Chris marry and live happily ever after. The actor Julia Sweeney, who portrays Pat, says the character was inspired by how her efforts to perform male [[drag]] came off as androgynous instead.<ref name= "MW">{{cite web |url= http://splitsider.com/2012/06/saturday-nights-children-julia-sweeney-1990-1994/ |author= Wright, Megh |date= June 27, 2012 |title= Saturday Night's Children: Julia Sweeney (1990-1994) |publisher= [[The Awl|Splitsider]] |access-date= December 8, 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171230230015/http://splitsider.com/2012/06/saturday-nights-children-julia-sweeney-1990-1994/ |archive-date= December 30, 2017 |url-status= dead }}</ref> Sweeney has never confirmed Pat's sex, and denies that Pat is transgender.<ref>Sweeney, Julia. [[https://archive.is/20141208155959/http://juliasweeney.com/its-pat-sketch-george-wendt/|"It's Pat sketch - George Wendt"]]. Julia Sweeney. Archived from the [[http://juliasweeney.com/its-pat-sketch-george-wendt/|original]] on December 8, 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2014.</ref> As such, SNL's Pat cannot be said to be an example of a nonbinary character in fiction, just a character whose gender is never disclosed. [[Notable nonbinary people]] with this name include American novelist [[Pat Schmatz]].<ref name="GirlsofSummer">{{Cite web |title=Pat Schmatz |author= |work=Girls of Summer: 18 Books for Strong Girls |date=2016 |access-date=25 May 2020 |url= https://girlsofsummerlist.com/author-interviews-2/2016-archives/pat-schmatz/}}</ref>