Three last letters identify most female first names

The last spelled letter often indicates the sex of first names. Most female names end with the last letter a, e, Or i. Female names are distinctive an d therefore easy to identify because of the small number of predominantly f emale endings. Most male names end with one of 19 last letters. Two last le tters, b and y, occur with similar frequency for both sexes. The cultural t radition of higher status for men contributes to the avoidance of predomina ntly female last letters for male names. A female name with a predominantly male last letter therefore occurs more often than a male name with a predo minantly female last letter. The findings were obtained from the 500 most f requent first names given to males and females in Pennsylvania in 1990.