given names

[Ulrike Zeshan]

Hi, most "sign names" in most sign languages are of this type, i.e. the name itself gives no clue as to whether the person is male or female. This is because sign names are based on the perceived salient characteristics of a person, mostly what they look like (e.g. "the one with a mole on the cheek", "the one wearing glasses"), or sometimes a behaviour or other characteristic, sometimes in combination with a letter from fingerspelling (e.g. "the R-named person who is very clever").  Of course you can sometimes deduce that the person is male or female depending on the local culture, e.g. "the one with the long braided hair" in many cultures will with some certainty be a female.
The only systematic exception is in the Japanese Sign Language family, e.g. in South Korean Sign Language, sign names with male reference have an extended thumb, and sign names with female reference have an extended little finger (this corresponds to the wider gender marking system). However, this is a rare and unusual type of system for sign languages to have.

Ulrike


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