When language first came about and humans invented ways to refer to objects, we also needed a way to refer to each other. Hence, we were given names, a personal identifier for an individual that oftentimes carries historical, cultural, or sentimental meaning. Beyond that, most names often time carry another distinguishing mark: they are divided and assigned by sex. Sure, there exist unisex names in some cultures, but even those started out assigned to one side. But why? Who determined what proper noun would be associated with which sex? Spoiler: there’s no clear cut answer, but there are a variety of factors that contribute to us assigning a gender to a name across many cultures.
The first reason has to do with sounds. Specifically, the sounds and letters each culture or language will associate with a sex. The differentiating markers all depend on the language. In many romance languages, for example, feminine names tend to be longer and “softer” sounding than masculine names. This is because feminine names that are derived from masculine names are usually given a vowel sound at the end, like “-e,” “-a,” “-ie,” “-ine,” “-ina,” and so on. These suffixes change the syllabic stress, which ends up making the name sound “smoother” or “rounder”. Contrastly, masculine names tend to be short and end with a consonant, making it “abrupt” or “spiky” sounding. These names tend to place the stressed syllable at the front (names like “Rick, “Jamal,” or “Evan” spring to mind), while feminine names tend to have the stressed syllable in the middle or last (think “Josephina,” “Ramona,” or “Evelyn”). In other non-romance or syllabic languages, names might end or include certain sex-associated markers. In Japanese, names that end with “-o” or “-shi” tend to be male, while feminine names tend to end with “-e,” “-ka,” or “-ko” (to name a few). In Chinese, feminine names will include radicals that make reference to beauty, appearance, or flowers, or include the female radical, “女” in some way. That’s why we can say a name sounds feminine or masculine, even if we have no idea what it means.
Meaning also ends up determining the gender of a name. A lot of names are derived from descriptors, praises, or traits we tend to associate with the sexes. Male names often include meanings like strength, war, protection, numerical birth order, authority, or even just “manly.” Feminine names tend to relate to positive attributes or characteristics, like kindness, fertility, flowers and nature, purity, places, or seasons. There exists some overlap with both sexes when it comes to meaning derived from appearance, historical figures, or deities, although feminine names are more likely to make reference to appearance than male.
Meaning and phonemes also often influence the creation of unisex names, too. For instance, in English-speaking parts of the world, names like “Leslie,” “Evelyn,” and “Ashley” started off as boy’s names, and within the span of the 20th century, were either popularized as girl’s names, or accepted as unisex. This is because our ears have been trained to detect the masculine and feminine patterns and components of a name- the stressed syllables and length- which is why it’s easier to accept names that have these features as belonging to the opposite sex. While not every masculine name utilizes voiced phonemes, and not every feminine name utilizes unvoiced, the pattern is common enough that our brains have picked up on it. With a few rare exceptions, most of these switches were popularized in the 20th century. In fact, one individual compiled a table that showed the progression of this opposite name adoption from 1900 to 2016 using data compiled from the US Social Security Administration. In less than a century, names that were previously male skyrocketed in popularity for women, most commonly in the 40s, 50s, and 60s! Religion can sometimes play a part in the blurring of these gender lines, too, when it comes to meaning. A common practice in some Catholic countries or cultures is to have the name of a saint given as the middle name for a child, even if it does not match their sex. For example, a child might be named Maria José or José Maria, depending on their sex, in reference to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Joseph, his legal father, even though these names are typically assigned to one sex or the other. Many Hindu names for both male and female are derived from Indian gods and goddesses.
Interestingly, while there are some male names that were originally female (“Douglas,” in fact, was a girl’s name in 16th and 17th century England), the switch often seems to happen male-to-female instead of female-to-male. This has to deal with the societal attitudes behind what makes an individual masculine or feminine, and the attitude towards the sex as a whole. This idea of one-way name-switching carries some traces of sexism; while a woman can be granted attributes of “strength,” it is deemed as “emasculating” or insulting to refer to a man as “beautiful,” “graceful,” or “compassionate,” even though these are widely regarded as positive traits on their own. This is rooted in the still-present demonization of femininity, that it is inherently “lesser” or unfavorable to display feminine traits, especially in males. Similarly, names can even change gender association across cultures; names like “Kim,” “Andrea,” and “Yuri” can be majority one sex or the other depending on what part of the world you’re in.
Your location also determines what your name can be. Many countries have name laws that dictate what you can and cannot name your child. Countries like New Zealand and Lithuania, to name a few, require parents to choose the name of their child from a list; any other name must be approved by the government. These lists are often divided by sex, but unisex names are still permissible. Four countries- Portugal, Denmark, Iceland, and Germany- have outright banned the use of unisex names. In cases of countries with syllabic languages, like Japan, China, or Korea, these regulations are put in place so the child’s name can be read without issue. In the case of Iceland, this is done to meet certain rules of grammar, though the primary reason is to avoid future embarrassment for the child, as is with most other countries. It is the held belief that a child with a name that mismatches their sex will be prone to teasing or bullying. In some cultures, like with the Sikh, there exist genderless given names; if gender is wished to be indicated, it is usually through using the middle or last name. Though, in recent years, names have started favoring one sex or the other.
Socialization affecting the meaning of a name also swings the other way: your name can affect your socialization. A study found that individuals that had names less strongly associated with one gender reportedly engaged in less gender-typical social behavior, and had a weaker expression of gender-associated personality traits. So men that boasted “masculine-masculine” names were more likely to engage in stereotypically masculine activities and behaviors, and the same on the feminine side. Beyond your sex, your name influences your gender socialization, identification, and contributes to your expression of gender and gender roles within the society you’re a part of. Your name can even go on to influence your personality, self-esteem, and even your face, but that’s a topic for another time.
Names have so many linguistic influences that go into their creation. While these gender associations may vary by culture and tongue, there seem to be a shared list of components ranging from meaning to auditory pattern to spelling that determine the reason a name may become associated with a certain gender. While we’re aware of what names are associated with what sex in our respective cultures, names, like language, are an ever-evolving mode of communication that constantly grow, shift, and change; who knows, one day you may be walking past a girl named “John” or a boy named “Grace!”
References
Alexander, Gerianne M. et. al. “Living Up to a Name: Gender Role Behavior Varies With Forename Gender Typicality.” Front Psychol, Jan. 22, 2021, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7862123/.
Seguin, Charles, Chris Julien, Yongjun Zhang. “The stability of androgynous names: Dynamics of gendered naming practices in the United States 1880-2016.” Poetics 85 (2021), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2020.101501.
Sidhu, David M., Penny M. Pexman. “What’s in a Name? Sound Symbolism and Gender in First Names.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, May 27, 2015. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?d=10.1371/journal.pone.0126809
Kaufman, Jeff. “Name Gender Over Time.” Feb. 23, 2016. https://www.jefftk.com/p/name-gender-over-time.