honcho > honchas

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>>While it's true that modern Japanese names ending in "-ko" are almost
>>exclusively given to females, the character itself simply means "child"
>>(genderless). I don't have any exact dates off hand, but I've been told
>>many times by native speakers that "-ko" names actually used to be given
>>to boys instead.
>>
>>There is no gender marking on common nouns whatsoever in Japanese (as
>>there is in Spanish, German, Latin, etc.). Think of names ending in
>>"-ko" as similar to English names ending in "-a", e.g. "Amanda",
>>"Felicia", or "Brenda". They are a trend but not quite a rule: names
>>like "Jonah" are acceptable male names.
>
>Isn't it the case that -hiko names (e.g. Yasuhiko) are predictably
>male names?

Pretty much so, I think.

>Is this true of other -ko names?

No.

Here's something from Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_name

In the second paragraph under "Characters" one can see the kanji for the
girls' "ko" and the different one for the boys' "hiko".

Japan (like some other countries, e.g., Germany, Sweden, Argentina, IIRC)
has rules about what names can be given to children. I don't know whether
the rules would permit a presumptively female name (e.g., "Youko",
"Kazuko", "Kumiko") to be given to a boy: probably he would be expected to
have to fight at school, like the boy named Sue in the song.

-- Doug Wilson


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