# What's in a name ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 22, 2005, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/291324 "2005-02-22T09:33:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/291324/1 "2005-02-22T09:33:41Z")
For you, what gives a name its gender ? Some names seem intrinsically male or female - why ? [This story](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4284777.stm) deals with David Beckham’s latest child ‘Cruz’ - it seems we Brits can’t decide if its a girl’s name or not. Obvioulsy common names from our own culture become imprinted as male or female from an early age but at some stage we encounter names unfamiliar to us and (if we see or hear the name before we encounter the person) we make assumptions as to their gender. Now, some linguistic groups have ‘rules’ which helps - male or female vowel endings for example (there is said to be only one Russian girl’s name which doesn’t end in ‘a’ - I’m unsure of the spelling but I think it is Lubov) but if you don’t know the conventions you’re lost (Turkish or Japanese names flumox me). Are you aware of anything apart from familiarity (‘sound’ ? ‘look’?) which would leads you to assign a gender to the following example Geraint Myfanwy Alp Burcu ( I think there was a smiliar thread back in the summer but if IIRC it was more a list of names and guess the gender rather than ‘ **why** ’.) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/291324/2 "2005-02-22T11:15:25Z")
whimper - just realised I might be in the wrong forum ☹ Where should I be mods ? IMHO ? MPSIMS ? ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/291324/3 "2005-02-22T16:39:09Z")
Well, I suppose that’s their Cruz to bear. The only first-name Cruzes I can think of are both male. One is Baldo Bermudez’s pal in the comic strip _Baldo._ The other is a famous drag racer, Cruz Pendragon. In the US, some parents give girl babies male-sounding names. The hope is that it will help the girl to get past sexism in hiring and such. I don’t know if it helps. ---
**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:** [February 22, 2005, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/291324/4 "2005-02-22T17:00:58Z")
Not only are the connections between particular names and genders entirely arbitrary, but they change very fast, sometimes more than once in a lifetime. Consider these names – Adrian, Vivian, Leslie, Lynn, Valery, Tracy, Stacy, Christy, Terry, Jamie, Alexis, Jody, Francis, Lee, Ginger, Kim, Patsy, Nicky, Marion, Beverly, Robin, Sandy, Shirley, Sal, Hilary, … I bet you that in 1930, these names would have had strong masculine associations, but by 1980, they had all become strongly feminine, or were well on their way towards feminine by way of ambiguous. And consider that names like Ananda and Chandra – they have very strong masculine connections in India, but in America, they are assumed to be feminine. ---
**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:** [February 22, 2005, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/291324/5 "2005-02-22T17:06:09Z")
“Kelly” belongs in that list too. ---
**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:** [February 22, 2005, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/291324/6 "2005-02-22T17:07:23Z")
And “Jessie” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/291324/7 "2005-02-22T17:10:36Z")
> [@](#): > > For you, what gives a name its gender ? Some names seem intrinsically male or female - why ? Mostly because of which sex you’re used to seeing them attached to, I suspect. Some names _are_ instrinsically male or female if such a thing is possible- a number of them mean things like “son of.” But that hasn’t stopped names like MacKenzie from becoming popular girls’ names in the States. That usually happens with last names that transition into first names. It happened with a couple of other “Mc” names, too. There are more unisex names than ever- is it just me, though, or is it more common for male names to become unisex or female than the other way 'round? > [@](#): > > This story deals with David Beckham’s latest child ‘Cruz’ - it seems we Brits can’t decide if its a girl’s name or not. Probably because, if Brits are used to seeing that name at all, they’ve mostly seen it as a surname. And a Spanish one at that. I think you’ve answered your own question pretty well. We get used to associating certain sounds (is phonemes the word I want?) with certain genders. That’s hard to do outside of your native language(s) because you don’t have the same frame of reference. In English, I think names ending in vowels are generally considered feminine, but that definitely doesn’t help if you’re looking at Japanese names. > [@acsenray](#): > > And consider that names like Ananda and Chandra – they have very strong masculine connections in India, but in America, they are assumed to be feminine. I’m not sure about ‘assumed’- I know one Ananda, he’s a guy, and I never thought of it as a girl’s name. But you’ve got a point all the same. In Russian, Sasha is a male name. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/291324/8 "2005-02-22T21:40:52Z")
> [@](#): > > In the US, some parents give girl babies male-sounding names. The hope is that it will help the girl to get past sexism in hiring and such. I don’t know if it helps. You’re kidding ? That’s the reason ??? I thought they were just confused 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/291324/9 "2005-02-23T00:05:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, I suppose that’s their Cruz to bear. The only first-name Cruzes I can think of are both male. One is Baldo Bermudez’s pal in the comic strip Baldo. The other is a famous drag racer, Cruz Pendragon. Oh, the irony. 😃 ---
**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:** [February 23, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/291324/10 "2005-02-23T16:20:41Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > Well, I suppose that’s their Cruz to bear. The only first-name Cruzes I can think of are both male. One is Baldo Bermudez’s pal in the comic strip _Baldo._ The other is a famous drag racer, Cruz Pendragon. > > In the US, some parents give girl babies male-sounding names. The hope is that it will help the girl to get past sexism in hiring and such. I don’t know if it helps. Indeed, there are career counseling professionals who _instruct_ women to “ambiguize” their given names – ([http://www.writejobs.com/articles/whatsinaname.htm](http://www.writejobs.com/articles/whatsinaname.htm)) > [@](#): > > Beating sex discrimination in the first cut: If you’re a female heading into a male-dominated arena, you might consider using the initials of your first and middle names. That way, a Sally Jo Brown can become S.J. Brown, who might get called before the other similarly qualified Sallies. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/291324/11 "2005-02-23T17:01:17Z")
One of my recent stories had a long list of friends of the groom meeting a long list of the bride’s friends at their wedding. The joke was that every one of them was a unisex name. I was hoping that the reader would look at all the groom’s friends as male and the bride’s friends as female and then be forced to go back and question those assumptions. Dunno if this ever happened, but it was fun to put together and just a one-line intrusion so it didn’t matter if nobody got it. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/291324/12 "2005-02-23T18:27:51Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Indeed, there are career counseling professionals who _instruct_ women to “ambiguize” their given names – ([http://www.writejobs.com/articles/whatsinaname.htm](http://www.writejobs.com/articles/whatsinaname.htm)) 😕 This just gets weirder for me poor litttle Brit that I am. Mind you, there was a suggestion in France not too long back that CVs (résumés) be submitted without the candidates name appearing at all, to prevent racial rather than sexual bias IIRC. So far in my life my name has been assumed to be male three times, each time it was a North American male … now I’m thinking were they playing safe and trying to ‘promote’ me to manhood ?