What makes a name sound naturally masculine or feminine? What about unisex names, like Max for example?
In: Culture
Culture! Names aren’t maculine or feminine because of anything inherent about the name; they’re masculine or feminine because the culture has decided they are. Except maybe in instances where a name has a direct, known meaning. Like Belle meaning ‘beautiful woman’.
What’s more, gendered names can change over time. In the US, Lindsay, Ashley, and Dana are almost exclusively girl names, but they used to be boy names. But it mostly just works in that direction. A boy name becomes a unisex name and then becomes a girl name. At least in the West, its very uncommon for a girl’s name to become a boy’s name over time.
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