female lengths

metal56 · Post by **metal56** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:53 am

Apparently, English female names tend to be longer than English male names.

Why should that be so, if so?

Stephen Jones · Post by **Stephen Jones** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 3:57 pm

Link to the evidence suggesting this is true please.

metal56 · Post by **metal56** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 4:28 pm

Stephen Jones wrote:Link to the evidence suggesting this is true please.

Ermm, let me remember. It's been so long. Ah, yes...Cutler, Ann. Journal of Linguistics circa 1990.

So, you never come across such a suggestion before, right?

metal56 · Post by **metal56** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 4:37 pm

What's in a name?

Apparently, also, in a US survey, a sample American men decided that Christine was the sexiest name for a woman.

Stephen Jones · Post by **Stephen Jones** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 5:57 pm

Ermm, let me remember. It's been so long. Ah, yes...Cutler, Ann. Journal of Linguistics circa 1990.

So you issue some random thought that is based on something you read around fifteen years ago, the exact details of which you don't know, and we are supposed to comment on it like a tribal priestly class analysing random droppings from the big Bird God up in the sky?

Are you suggesting that there is a tendency amongst English speaking parents to choose longer names for girls than boys from lists of names of equal length or that the list of girls names inherited from Latin/Greek and elsewhere has longer names for girls than boys?

JuanTwoThree · Post by **JuanTwoThree** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 6:26 pm

As so many female names are the male plus something I'd have thought that it was obvious that they'd end up as longer on average. Georgina is longer than George and Freda is longer than Fred.

100 typical girls' names are going to have more syllables in total than 100 boys' do.

metal56 · Post by **metal56** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 7:12 pm

<So you issue some random thought that is based on something you read around fifteen years ago, the exact details of which you don't know, and we are supposed to comment on it like a tribal priestly class analysing random droppings from the big Bird God up in the sky? >

Hmm. You can answer how you choose, Stevie dear. One way could be "Yes, I've noticed that phenomenon". Another, "I'm not sure" And so on. Still, if you choose to be a party-pooper, ...

Stephen Jones · Post by **Stephen Jones** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 8:41 pm

I'll answer when you give us something to answer. Give us the link with the detailed article and then we can look at it. We can't explain the phenomenum until we know what it is.

metal56 · Post by **metal56** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 10:07 pm

Stephen Jones wrote:. Give us the link with the detailed article and then we can look at it.

Can one find a link to the Journal of Linguistics circa 1990?

Stevie, stop trolling and find another thread to play in.

And stop speaking for everyone:

We can't explain the phenomenum until we know what it is.