[Facts] Re: Section/search category for gender neutral names
by তন্ময় ভট্টাচার্য্য (guest)
8/31/2013, 9:36 PM
The indian names on the list (I checked a few, not exhaustively) are not unisex: in the cases I checked the male and female names are distinct in Indian scripts and are pronounced differently in most of India, but are often transliterated into the same spelling in Roman letters. Sanskrit is strongly gendered and it would be odd to have Indian names of Sanskrit origin that are truly unisex in most parts of India. One exception to the general rule is Punjabi names, often of Sanskrit origin, that are truly unisex.
I would prefer in the usual case the database have two entries (e.g. Bala m and Bala f rather than Bala m & f), even though the names are obviously related (the female name is the male name + a feminine suffix). That way the truly unisex names like Ravinder stand out. I have no idea what do with names like Kirti that are the exact same word that are used as male and female in different parts of India (or unisex in some parts and only one sex in other parts). This last problem arises from treating India as a single cultural tradition for onomastic purposes, which is far less true than similar assumptions we make in most of the rest of the world.