NameAPI is a web API
to handle people's names
in your software.

News

15.08.2023

Bulgarian Names: Stories of Tradition and Identity

Did you know that within the Bulgarian culture, name days often hold greater significance and are...


27.07.2023

Extended Credit Validity Period

We are excited to announce a significant update to our credit system at NameAPI!


07.07.2023

Kazakh Names: Reflections of Identity and Belonging

Did you know that certain regions in Kazakhstan have unique naming traditions and preferences?


22.06.2023

Ethiopian Names Imported: Unveiling Rich Heritage

Did you know that Ethiopia boasts a diverse linguistic landscape with over 80 languages spoken...


08.06.2023

Cultural Fusion of Cameroonian Names

Cameroon is a multilingual country in Central Africa, with over 200 different languages spoken.


Name Genderizer

Name genderizing is the process of identifying the gender based on a person's name.

  Examples by culture:
Examples:

  Examples by culture:
Examples:


  Examples by culture:
Examples:

 

Developer: see the technical specification of the REST service.

 

Process

Understanding the person's name is key to identifying the gender. Then it becomes obvious which name parts to look at. It's not always the first name!

Challenges

There are three reasons why a writing form of a given name can't be clearly assigned to one gender:

1. True unisex names, for example "Casey". 

This is also the case for many short forms or pet names, which can derive from given names with different gender:

Alex  => Alexandra, Alexander

Charlie  =>  Charlotte, Charles

2. Names that exist in multiple cultures, for example "Andrea".

In this case, identifying the culture is the key:

Andrea Bocelli => Italian => likely male

Andrea Berg => German => likely female

3. Detail is lost through transcription (or asciification), rendering distinctive names the same.

 

In all these cases statistics help: name statistics (census, birth lists etc) are used to calculate the chance for each gender.

 

Use Cases

1. Addressing a person

You don't know the person's gender, but you have to address him or her more personally. It just sounds better with a correct salutation than "Hi there!". However, if in doubt, we recommend to use a neutral salutation.

2. Customer segmentation

The gender can be a key criterion in selecting the right target group.

3. Person matching

Two name pairs may look similar. If the gender is contradicting, it's unlikely the same person.

 

Find out more

Read our white paper about name genderizing.