/u/tea_and_biology's posts in /r/askhistorians

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"John" is a boy's name. "Mary" is a girl's. Have sex-specific first names always been the standard for most peoples? If so, why?

154 upvotes

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Could a Roman read a modern Latin textbook? I've only ever seen Roman text written in capital letters ("A"); did they have lowercase ("a"), and, if not, when and why did we invent the distinction?

55 upvotes

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Why didn't China/Japan discover or colonise the New World by travelling East? Or even Australia?

5 upvotes

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Title	Upvotes	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
"John" is a boy's name. "Mary" is a girl's. Have sex-specific first names always been the standard for most peoples? If so, why?	154
Could a Roman read a modern Latin textbook? I've only ever seen Roman text written in capital letters ("A"); did they have lowercase ("a"), and, if not, when and why did we invent the distinction?	55
Why didn't China/Japan discover or colonise the New World by travelling East? Or even Australia?	5