Looks like words literally meaning ‘frightening’ can't keep that meaning for long if they're used too often. Too bad there's no way to tell a priori whether the new meaning will be ‘very good’ or ‘very bad’. (Italian too has a few words which etymologically look like they mean ‘frightening’ but actually mean ‘very good’ or ‘very bad’.)
So, my current username often reads as female. This is not intentional, and I am not female. Some on IRC have pointed out that this username could be considered misleading or deceptive. I have no real attachment to it, but I do have a few articles that I've been discussing and planning on posting here, and I think it would be confusing for others if I changed usernames, making it difficult for people to follow the genesis of certain ideas. However, I also don't want to mislead anybody.
Therefore, I pose the question to the community: is my current username deceptive or otherwise misleading, and should I change it?