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HelpWhat makes a name gender neutral?
I've often wondered what makes a name gender-neutral. Is it just arbitrary or based on statistics? I clipped this information from www.thebump.com.
"According to the team at Names.org, if US Census Bureau and Social Security Administration data shows a name is assigned to a particular gender 95 percent of the time or more, it is not considered gender neutral. But if, like the name Leslie, that percentage dips below 95 percent (in 2016, 94.7 percent of babies named Leslie were female), Names.org considers it gender neutral. With that in mind, you might expect a lot of names to be gender-neutral. But only 6 percent of them are."
Do you think this percentage is reasonable, too high, too low?
"According to the team at Names.org, if US Census Bureau and Social Security Administration data shows a name is assigned to a particular gender 95 percent of the time or more, it is not considered gender neutral. But if, like the name Leslie, that percentage dips below 95 percent (in 2016, 94.7 percent of babies named Leslie were female), Names.org considers it gender neutral. With that in mind, you might expect a lot of names to be gender-neutral. But only 6 percent of them are."
Do you think this percentage is reasonable, too high, too low?
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I don't believe it's just a numbers game, though it still seems high. I take it on faith if a name has a clearly masculine history and meaning, for instance, it's masculine. If people use it on a girl its just a bnog. If, however, a name is not inherently masculine or feminine - the meaning isn't 'pretty girl', say or 'first born son' but something like a place name 'clearing' or 'river' or in the case of Leslie, 'holly garden' then it's appropriately neutral.
Interesting! That's such a high threshhold, I would have expected something like 60-70%.
I think that makes sense. I've seen a lot of people say "I've met a girl named (insert almost exclusively male name here) so it's definitely gender neutral" or the other way around. If the vast majority of people with this name and who have ever had this name are one gender, it is not a name for both.
I do think it depends on the history of the name as well, though. If the name only recently became used as a name and doesn't have a long history as a name for either gender, I think that name could more easily become gender neutral.
I do think it depends on the history of the name as well, though. If the name only recently became used as a name and doesn't have a long history as a name for either gender, I think that name could more easily become gender neutral.
For me a truly gender neutral name is one where, if associated with a person you know nothing about, you have no idea whether it’s a man or a woman.
Hunter? I thought that name was 100% boy!
I also expect Sage to be a girl but I've met some boy Sages too.
I'd expect Alexis to be a girl.
Elliott and Ashton seem more boyish to me but I wouldn't make a confident guess.
The "I can't guess" names I can think of are Taylor, Morgan, Jordan, Robin, Ash, Casey, Dakota, Oakley, and maybe Riley (still all boy in my head but I know it's popular for girls)
I also expect Sage to be a girl but I've met some boy Sages too.
I'd expect Alexis to be a girl.
Elliott and Ashton seem more boyish to me but I wouldn't make a confident guess.
The "I can't guess" names I can think of are Taylor, Morgan, Jordan, Robin, Ash, Casey, Dakota, Oakley, and maybe Riley (still all boy in my head but I know it's popular for girls)
That’s fascinating to me because I expect Sage to be a girl.