Names and Nuances...

Ever noticed most Indian names have something in common. All girl names invariably end with a vowel and the boy names with a consonant.

I thought about this when I read Know your English column in The Hindu today. The quote at the end said, Always name your child with a vowel at the end - it is easy to yell their name out loud.

This got me thinking and I started to check a few names out that came to my mind as I read the article.
Sudha, Deepa, Priya, Nithya, Vidya, Shilpa, Sruthi, Kaavya, Daksha
Gokul, Sriram, Ganesh, Prakash, Shreyas, Saatvik, Ankit

Guess what, most Indian girl names end in a vowel. Even a 'y' at the end has an 'e' sound most of the times. And most Indian boy names end with a consonant.

It is a no-brainer that a vowel sounds easy to pronounce at the end and flows well compared to the consonant that has an abrupt end to the pronunciation. This is also why boys with nick names most often have their nick name ending in a vowel.

Does this mean...
1. We use girl names more often when we speak and call them out so much that we prefer to name them with easy pronunciations
2. The flow and mellifluous pronunciation jives well with one gender and the abrupt and staccato pronunciation is fitting for the other
and there goes my thought process...

In parallel I tried to Google and see if this observation of mine had more data or theories behind it or was it something that just I have discovered. Of course like always some one had already stumbled on this similarity. Google took me to a website and there I read an interesting (feminist) comment and a strong request to all the would-be Moms...
A lady (see even lady has an e sound at the end) was suggesting all the moms out there to stop naming their new-born girls with names having vowels at the end. Why? Apparently names with vowel-endings sounded weak and made the girls less stronger compared to the boys. A discrimination of some convoluted sort. Names ending with a consonant shows more strength and authority compared to names ending with a vowel which sounds weak was her theory. You know the rest...women standing for women's right blah blah blah. Her observation was based on western names - Sara, Linda, Kelly vs. John, George, Michael

Interesting how names have evolved across cultures and civilizations but still have a few common traits. Yet the reasons and interpretation of why they are the way they are and what they should be are so diverse.

Any other theories on names and their distinct nature for the two genders or may be three in some constituencies...