Are Brenda, Juanita, and Latoya More Feminine Than Jia and Neha? Gendered Evaluations of Racialized Names

Names are frequently used in social science research to manipulate identities such as race and gender. However, past research has shown that racialized names (i.e., names that are associated with particular racial-ethnic groups) could signal identities that researchers did not intend, such as social class. This research tested another methodological issue concerning names in which identities intended by researchers are not signaled clearly. Three studies (N = 1,100 US participants from Prolific and CloudResearch Connect) examined the perceived femininity and masculinity of names from five racial groups: Chinese, Indian, Black, Hispanic, and White. Studies 1 and 2 consistently found that Chinese and Indian female names were perceived as less feminine and more masculine than the three other racialized female names, which contradicts extant findings using Asian female faces. Chinese and Indian male names, on the other hand, were considered more feminine and less masculine than the other racialized male names. Study 3 found that participants expressed greater uncertainty in categorizing the gender and lower confidence in knowing the gender of Chinese and Indian names compared to other racialized names. This research raises potential methodological concerns regarding the effectiveness of racialized names in signaling the gender of Asian ethnic groups.