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From: jcf@world.std.com (Joseph C Fineman)
Subject: Query: Given names & sex
Message-ID: <DuwBCq.n2w@world.std.com>
Summary: Query about given names of ambiguous sex
Keywords: personal names, gender, sex
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 13:41:14 GMT
Lines: 14

Comment has arisen in another place about the fact that in English a
given name (even a nickname) usually fixes the sex of the bearer, but
there are a few (e.g. Abby, Claude, Shirley, Sandy) that can go either
way & sometimes trip people up.  What is the situation in other
languages?  In Russian, it would seem that a regular given name must
always be sexually specific, but many masculine diminutives end in the
usually feminine -a & might also refer to feminine names were a mere
change of grammatical gender; does this actually happen?  Are there
any languages in which most or all names can be given indiscriminately
to a boy or a girl?
-- 
        Joe Fineman             jcf@world.std.com
        495 Pleasant St., #1    (617) 324-6899
        Malden, MA 02148
