Practical International Data Management - Personal name gender


Gender may be defined as a social construct about how people choose to present themselves to the world. In other definitions it is synonymous with sex


In some countries laws require that given names clearly identify gender. In other societies a surname or patronymic will hold indications of a gender. However, in most cultures names may be given which are not uniquely male or female. Furthermore, a name which is one gender in one culture may be the other gender in another culture. As the global population is mobile, one can no longer state that a name found in one place is that gender - it may be an immigrant with the other gender.

The gender to which names are given may change over time (more usually from male to female):

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These graphics comes from How to name a baby and refer to the USA

Even when names do identify a gender, a typo can alter that name and therefore the assigned gender.

Examples


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