# gender ambigous asian names **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 20, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-ambigous-asian-names/564873 "2010-12-20T20:40:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-ambigous-asian-names/564873/41 "2010-12-22T21:09:59Z")
Here’s a related question. The original _Hawaii Five-O_ TV show had a male character named Kono. The current incarnation has recast the role as a female, but she’s still named Kono. I’m sure Hawaiian is a whole 'nother kettle of fish, but does anybody know if the gender switch makes sense here? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-ambigous-asian-names/564873/42 "2010-12-22T21:57:31Z")
According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_names), Hawaiian names are not gender indicative. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-ambigous-asian-names/564873/43 "2010-12-23T04:32:38Z")
No idea what percentage, but a lot of Chinese names are clearly masculine or feminine. For example, my three daughters all share Jade aka 玉 aka yu as their middle name, and it is clearly a woman’s name. For example, Peak aka 峰 aka feng is clearly a man’s name (or so says my wife when I raised it up as a candidate for china bambina). The cultural revolution names are a whole 'nother kettle of fish. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-ambigous-asian-names/564873/44 "2010-12-23T13:40:46Z")
A slight hijack, but: as a European, I’m surprised by the mass of gender ambiguous names in the US. It seems almost any name outside a handful of traditional ‘Jacks’ and ‘Annes’ can be either a man’s or a woman’s name. In contrast, many European countries have laws stating that a male cannot have a female name and vice versa. Not saying this is necessary or desirable, just making an observation. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-ambigous-asian-names/564873/45 "2010-12-23T14:53:49Z")
I also get easily confused by American names, **Toxylon** , but often the ambiguity doesn’t come from someone getting a “wrong-gender name”: it stems from abreviations (is Pat a Patrick or a Patricia? Is Chris a Christian or a Christina?) or from using lastnames as middle names and eventually as firstnames (is Cameron a boy or a girl?). ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-ambigous-asian-names/564873/46 "2010-12-23T15:42:18Z")
American names also migrate from one gender to the other (IIRC always from male to female, never the other way around), e.g., Leslie. When there’s a name that could be used for either gender that isn’t a nickname like Pat or Chris, it’s usually also spelled differently, e.g., Tony for a man and Toni for a woman. Outside of surnames converted to given names, I can’t think of any off the top of my head that would be spelled the same way for a male or female child. ---
**Author:** ![lshaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e36b37/32.png) [@lshaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lshaw)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-ambigous-asian-names/564873/47 "2010-12-23T21:05:33Z")
With Chinese names, it is usually fairly obvious whether it is feminine or masculine. When I attended Chinese school as a kid, I could probably predict with a near 100% accuracy the sex of the other students by going down the roster. The ones that mess you up are the gender neutral names (which aren’t uncommon) and people who have decidedly feminine/masculine names that don’t match their sex; most people assume my mom is a dude when they see her name. Hilariously enough, most people thought my dad was female when they saw his name. Anyway, like with English names, you can also tell which ones are more low class sounding and which ones are more refined. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-ambigous-asian-names/564873/48 "2010-12-23T21:36:17Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > When reading a European-origin name, is there a clue to the person’s gender? (If you didn’t already know it?) > > I don’t think anyone who knows nothing about the culture in question can be given any kind of “code” to work it out. But there is a more general issue of gender exclusivity of names. > > I believe that most Japanese names for example are gender specific, but Chinese names are not. I don’t know about other East Asian cultures. > > Most (all?) South Asian names are gender indicating, but there’s no “code” to crack. Many feminine names end with “i” or “a,” (but not all) but plenty of masculine names end with “a” as well (pronounced differently). Names in Hawaiian tend to be non sex specific. However whenever some famous gets that name, there is a tendency for that name to become associated with that sex. I have two Japanese great grandparents of opposite sexes. They both have the same name. We didn’t realize it until we had our genealogy drawn up. My parents didn’t realize this either since they were just Grandmasan and Grandpasan to them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-ambigous-asian-names/564873.md?page=2)