Post by bickern on Dec 21, 2008 3:32:58 GMT 2
Todays Zaman Article
www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=159259&bolum=100
517 unisex names in Turkey, more than any other nation
It's nothing unusual to be surprised at the gender of a person the first time you speak with them on the phone in Turkey, even if you already knew their full name -- because the nation has more unisex names than any other country in the world.
At 517, Turkey leads the world in names that are commonly used for both boys and girls, with roughly the same frequency, making it nearly impossible to be able to tell without knowing for sure the gender of the Ada, Ayhan, Ümit, Iþýk, Muzaffer, Ýlhan or Deniz you're communicating with.
Marmara University facutly of letters and sciences Professor Emine Gürsoy Naskali has conducted a research project on unisex names, and the results surprised even the researchers, she said. "In particular, the new names that emerged after the 1970s have this feature of being unisex. The reason is that after these years, families stopped giving their children traditional names as often, searching instead for new and different names. Because these names were just entering into usage, they weren't associated with a specific gender and could be given to both girls and boys."
The conferral of unisex names is largely an urban and modern trend that isn't seen in rural areas, Naskali also noted. "Nonetheless, the existence of names like Satý and Dursun demonstrate clearly that unisex names aren't just rooted in the city and modernity," she explained.
Names make up a person's basic and primary identity, Naskali said, noting also that the structure of the Turkish language does not introduce a separation of words into male and female categories. "The morphology of words in Turkish does not indicate femininity or masculinity. Because the language's structure doesn't distinguish between female and male, only with their meanings can words signal femininity or masculinity. For example, as the meaning of the word lion has been found to coincide with masculinity, the word flower has been seen as coinciding with femininity. But there are no definite lines with this sort of identification. An example of this is that some words whose meanings are generally associated with femininity are also used as names for males, and vice versa."
Out of the most commonly given unisex names, some are used more often for males and some for females. Yaþar, Ayhan, Dursun, Ýsmet, Muzaffer, Umut, Özgür, Ýlhan, Hikmet, Özcan, Fikret, Cihan, Þerif, Servet, Yücel, Sefa, Hidayet, Olcay, Saffet, Ömür, Zülfü and Muhterem are used more often for males, while Yüksel, Deniz, Güngör, Durdu, Günay, Ýlkay, Kamuran, Kudret, Satý, Þenel, Elvan, Seyhan and Güner are usually given to females.
www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=159259&bolum=100
517 unisex names in Turkey, more than any other nation
It's nothing unusual to be surprised at the gender of a person the first time you speak with them on the phone in Turkey, even if you already knew their full name -- because the nation has more unisex names than any other country in the world.
At 517, Turkey leads the world in names that are commonly used for both boys and girls, with roughly the same frequency, making it nearly impossible to be able to tell without knowing for sure the gender of the Ada, Ayhan, Ümit, Iþýk, Muzaffer, Ýlhan or Deniz you're communicating with.
Marmara University facutly of letters and sciences Professor Emine Gürsoy Naskali has conducted a research project on unisex names, and the results surprised even the researchers, she said. "In particular, the new names that emerged after the 1970s have this feature of being unisex. The reason is that after these years, families stopped giving their children traditional names as often, searching instead for new and different names. Because these names were just entering into usage, they weren't associated with a specific gender and could be given to both girls and boys."
The conferral of unisex names is largely an urban and modern trend that isn't seen in rural areas, Naskali also noted. "Nonetheless, the existence of names like Satý and Dursun demonstrate clearly that unisex names aren't just rooted in the city and modernity," she explained.
Names make up a person's basic and primary identity, Naskali said, noting also that the structure of the Turkish language does not introduce a separation of words into male and female categories. "The morphology of words in Turkish does not indicate femininity or masculinity. Because the language's structure doesn't distinguish between female and male, only with their meanings can words signal femininity or masculinity. For example, as the meaning of the word lion has been found to coincide with masculinity, the word flower has been seen as coinciding with femininity. But there are no definite lines with this sort of identification. An example of this is that some words whose meanings are generally associated with femininity are also used as names for males, and vice versa."
Out of the most commonly given unisex names, some are used more often for males and some for females. Yaþar, Ayhan, Dursun, Ýsmet, Muzaffer, Umut, Özgür, Ýlhan, Hikmet, Özcan, Fikret, Cihan, Þerif, Servet, Yücel, Sefa, Hidayet, Olcay, Saffet, Ömür, Zülfü and Muhterem are used more often for males, while Yüksel, Deniz, Güngör, Durdu, Günay, Ýlkay, Kamuran, Kudret, Satý, Þenel, Elvan, Seyhan and Güner are usually given to females.