How do you assign gender to a name?

Question

I think my husband and I have narrowed down our very, very long list of names to two sets.

Landon Michael & Lola Simone

Norah Rose & Nolen Tyler

After much debating and arguing over this, it's got me wondering how do we go about assigning gender to a name? If you were to look at babynames.com there are names that I couldn't even begin to tell you if I'd give it to a boy or girl. I understand that there are some names that are considered unisex like Bailey, Joel, etc. but why wouldn't we consider all names unisex? hmmm...very curious.

Answer 1

i dont think there is a right or a wrong

people are just afraid of change

Answer 2

Just trust in Johnny Cash "Don't name a boy Sue!"  I think that the important things in naming a child is what that names says for you and your child... You should also though think of how will my child be made fun of by the other kids at school... As my husband calls this site Yahoo Arguments people are mean and they teach their children this judgmental behavior that gets the girl named Tom or the boy named Sheri picked on.

Answer 3

Many names are " unisex " as they are names of objects, or concepts.

Answer 4

JohnMc: True, but names of objects and concepts aren't always unisex, for example, have you ever heard of a man called Destiny or Hope?

I assign gender to a name according to societal practices of giving those names to a certain gender, because Lisa is considered to be a female name, i wouldn't give it to my son, simply because society would see it as odd, and i wouldn't want to put any kind of hardship on him like that.

Answer 5

Some people do consider names unisex. What's in a name anyway, to borrow from Shakespeare?

Answer 6

in India you will find names like Radhakrishnan.  Named after the Godly couple Radha and Krishnan.  This is a guy name.  You can find lots of "Radha"s (female) and "Krishnan"s  (male) too

Answer 7

The same way I named my iPod.

Answer 8

Go to the Philippines, masculine and feminine names don't really have a meaning there.

Met some ladies named Joseph and Michael

Met some men named Stephanie and Ellen.

Answer 9

My favourite name for a guy is 'Blaise'

it rocks

Congrats on the twins and the best of luck with the birth.