There are a lot of factors that go into choosing a baby name. It could be a fandom thing, such as with the babies named Anakin or the children named after Game of Thrones characters.

給小寶寶起名字有諸多影響因素。給孩子取名阿納金(天行者，《星球大戰》中重要人物)或者根據《權力的游戲》來取名是粉絲可能會做的事情。

But it could be also simply be the way it sounds. According to a new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, people tend to assign certain names to boys and others to girls based on the first phoneme.

但有時候可能僅僅因為發音關系，《性格與社會心理學雜志》發表的一項新研究稱，根據頭一個音素，人們傾向于給男孩子取有些特定的名字，而給女孩子取其它一些特定的名字。

The researchers analyzed 270 million recorded baby names in the US from 1937 and 2024 and found that names typically assigned to boys were voiced and began with a “hard” phoneme, or one that vibrated the vocal cords, while girls had “softer” names.

研究人員分析了美國自1937年至2024年2.7億記錄在冊的嬰兒名字，發覺分給男孩子的名字通常是濁音發音，開頭音素”有力“，或者需要震動聲帶。而女孩子的名字則”更加輕柔”。

To judge the difference for yourself, say your name and see if the first sound is made purely with your tongue and lips (so a “soft” name) or if you use your throat.

要親自作鑒別，說說自己的名字，看看第一個音是不是單純靠舌頭和嘴唇發出的(這就是“柔和”的名字)，還是說需要用喉嚨。

Of course, this study isn’t the end of all conversations about names and gender, especially considering how gender can’t be simplified between just two ends of a spectrum. It’s also not a definite identifier of gender, as there are many names that are typically assigned to girls that start with that hard phoneme, such as Jessica, Yvonne, and Ariel.

當然，這一研究并不能對名字和性別一概而論，尤其考慮到性別并不能分化成兩極來談。這同樣也不能以此絕對判斷性別，因為有些典型的女孩子名字開頭音素就頗有力道，如Jessica、Yvonne還有Ariel。

The study provides more insight into how we perceive sounds and the relationships between those sounds and meaning. Why do we find certain words repulsive? Why do others sound moreapproachable? These are questions that can crack open a language and a culture.

這項研究深入研究了我們是如何洞察聲音的、如何看待聲音和意義之間的聯系的。緣何我們對有些特定的詞反感，又覺得有些聲音特別親切?這些問題可以打開語言和文化的大門。

There are a lot of factors that go into choosing a baby name. It could be a fandom thing, such as with the babies named Anakin or the children named after Game of Thrones characters.

給小寶寶起名字有諸多影響因素。給孩子取名阿納金(天行者，《星球大戰》中重要人物)或者根據《權力的游戲》來取名是粉絲可能會做的事情。

But it could be also simply be the way it sounds. According to a new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, people tend to assign certain names to boys and others to girls based on the first phoneme.

但有時候可能僅僅因為發音關系，《性格與社會心理學雜志》發表的一項新研究稱，根據頭一個音素，人們傾向于給男孩子取有些特定的名字，而給女孩子取其它一些特定的名字。

The researchers analyzed 270 million recorded baby names in the US from 1937 and 2024 and found that names typically assigned to boys were voiced and began with a “hard” phoneme, or one that vibrated the vocal cords, while girls had “softer” names.

研究人員分析了美國自1937年至2024年2.7億記錄在冊的嬰兒名字，發覺分給男孩子的名字通常是濁音發音，開頭音素”有力“，或者需要震動聲帶。而女孩子的名字則”更加輕柔”。

To judge the difference for yourself, say your name and see if the first sound is made purely with your tongue and lips (so a “soft” name) or if you use your throat.

要親自作鑒別，說說自己的名字，看看第一個音是不是單純靠舌頭和嘴唇發出的(這就是“柔和”的名字)，還是說需要用喉嚨。

Of course, this study isn’t the end of all conversations about names and gender, especially considering how gender can’t be simplified between just two ends of a spectrum. It’s also not a definite identifier of gender, as there are many names that are typically assigned to girls that start with that hard phoneme, such as Jessica, Yvonne, and Ariel.

當然，這一研究并不能對名字和性別一概而論，尤其考慮到性別并不能分化成兩極來談。這同樣也不能以此絕對判斷性別，因為有些典型的女孩子名字開頭音素就頗有力道，如Jessica、Yvonne還有Ariel。

The study provides more insight into how we perceive sounds and the relationships between those sounds and meaning. Why do we find certain words repulsive? Why do others sound moreapproachable? These are questions that can crack open a language and a culture.

這項研究深入研究了我們是如何洞察聲音的、如何看待聲音和意義之間的聯系的。緣何我們對有些特定的詞反感，又覺得有些聲音特別親切?這些問題可以打開語言和文化的大門。