Names and naming

Names and naming are powerful tools in constructing how we think of people or things, and how information is controlled or passed on.

Consider:

• Pronouns, such as per, which establish gender identity
• Surnames & family naming conventions
• Honorifics which are gendered (establish gender identity) or establish politics, class rank, marital status, etc. (Mr., Ms., Mrs., Miss)
• The practice of using pseudonyms or initials to disguise gendered names
• Gendered personal names (Michele vs. Michel, Anna, James)

Names in a patrilineal or patriarchal society can serve to render women's identities, accomplishments, history, and lives invisible. A woman who marries and changes her name with each marriage, or whose children take their names from their fathers, lend significant difficulty in tracing her life and history. A woman who is under economic or social pressure not to use her own or original name because it is gendered is forced to thereby contribute to the erasure and invisibility of women as a sex in the historical record.

Women who are given gender-ambiguous names (e.g., "Terry" in English) face a similar problem, because gender-ambiguous names may be read as a masculine default, especially if the woman is operating in a setting in which women are a minority.