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Maybe, people who name girls with boy names but not vice-versa really are motivated by sexism.

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But I think there could be another explanation for why names only seem to cross gender in one direction. Tell me what you think about this...

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If I invert the gender values, like if it's a sexist matriarchy - the logic of name gender directionality *could* stay the same.

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I can imagine it going something like: 'Girls are too cool to seem damaged by masculine attributes; boys are not good enough to bear feminine attributes. A "girl" is always enough of whatever she is, by definition. Bearing a conventionally masculine name doesn't limit a girl, or make her less of a girl. Girlness can encompass all the possibilities of boyness, including bearing a masculine name, being a George - and still be genuinely feminine. But a "boy" can never be enough, he doesn't have what it takes to be a Linda. It would only point up how boyness is limited. Masculinity is too weak, it self-destructs and becomes pathetic if it pretends at any girlness, like when a boy bears a conventionally feminine name.'

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I don't think that is radically different from the apparent patriarchal-sexist logic, of girls seeming cool and strong with boynames, and boys seeming ridiculous and weak with girlnames ... it's just framed with different evaluation of boys and girls.

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So I wonder if it's just the nature of gender as a principle of existence, and has less to do with human gender or sex or hierarchy. The principle of gender is necessary, and exists even without any relationship to humans and their differences and roles. We associate feminine and masculine, with girls and boys, and gendered things like names - but at least some of that is arbitrary and unnecessary.

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Think of the nature of light and dark: you can turn on a light in the dark. You can make it dark by shutting out light. But you can't turn on a darkness in the light, or make it light by shutting out darkness.
The masculine and feminine principles have that kind of difference. I think people know this intuitively, even though it doesn't map absolutely onto any difference between human genders. I think this could be part of why names seem to only go one way across genders easily, and even people who are critically conscious of gender role stereotyping still feel less comfy with boy names on girls, than vice-versa.

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Any thoughts on this?

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- mirfak