국내에 나타나는 중성적 이름의 증가와 성 중립적 이름의 음운 특성에 관한 분석 및 고찰

Abstract

This study investigates the rise of gender-neutral given names in Korea and analyzes their phonological characteristics. Drawing on large-scale naming data released by the Supreme Court, the research traces changes from the 1940s to the 2020s and compares them with American trends. Three definitions of unisex names, established in previous sociolinguistic research, are applied to evaluate their distribution. Findings indicate that androgynous names have continued to increase from the 1970s and through the early 2020s. The increase is linked to social factors such as gender equality, loosening of traditional roles, and a shift toward individualistic naming practices. Phonological analysis (based on 2012–2023 data) reveals that Korean gender-neutral names occupy an intermediate position between male and female names: they show higher rates of sonorant consonants, acute consonants, and open syllables than male names, yet not as high as female names. This paper suggests that the Korean naming system lacks strong morphological or phonological markers of gender observed in many European languages, which contributes to a relatively higher prevalence of gender-neutral names compared to Western contexts.