Does anyone know of a good library for mapping a person's name to his or her gender?

I am looking for a library or database that can provide guesses about whether a person is male or female based on his or her name or nickname. Something like

john => "M",
mary => "F",
alex => "A", #ambiguous

I am looking for something that supports names other than English names (such as Japanese, Indian, etc.).

Before I get another answer along the lines of "you are going to offend people by assuming their sex/gender" let me be clear, my application does not interact with anyone. It does not send emails or contact anyone in anyway. There are no users to ask. In many cases, the person in question is dead, and the only information I have is name, birth date, and date of death. The reason I want to know the sex of the individual is to make the grammar of the output nicer and to aid in possible searches that may come latter.

"I tell ya, life ain't easy for a boy named 'Sue.'"

...So, why make it any harder? If you need to know the sex, just ask... Otherwise, don't worry about it.

Just ask people, and if they are nice they will give you their 'M's or 'F's , and if they are not then give'em an 'A' .

I think it will be hard to find libraries or databases that covers more than one (or a limited few) cultures. For instance, here in Sweden the name "Maria" is strongly identified as a female name, while (to the best of my understanding) that connection is not at all as strong in spanish-speaking countries.

Dont bother attempting to determine a persons sex from an entered name. When you get it wrong your going to really piss someone off, letting users enter their sex is simple so you may as well let them enter it.

Name-gender maps can work but in multicultural countries it's more like guessing. I can give you one example: Marian in Polish is a typical masculine name, whereas the same name in Great Britain is a female name. In the era of people immigrating all over the world, I'm not sure such database would be very accurate. Good luck!

The only thing you'll get from trying to automate it is a bunch of unhappy users. From that census data:

> JAMES, JOHN, ROBERT, MICHAEL, WILLIAM, DAVID, RICHARD, CHARLES, JOSEPH, THOMAS, CHRISTOPHER, DANIEL, PAUL, MARK, DONALD, GEORGE, KENNETH, STEVEN, EDWARD, BRIAN, RONALD, ANTHONY, KEVIN, JASON, MATTHEW, GARY, TIMOTHY, JOSE, LARRY, JEFFREY, FRANK, SCOTT, ERIC, STEPHEN, ANDREW, RAYMOND, GREGORY, JOSHUA, JERRY, DENNIS, WALTER, PATRICK, PETER, HAROLD, HENRY, CARL, ARTHUR, RYAN, JOE, JUAN, JACK, ALBERT, JUSTIN, TERRY, GERALD, KEITH, SAMUEL, WILLIE, LAWRENCE, ROY, BRANDON, ADAM, FRED, BILLY, LOUIS, JEREMY, AARON, RANDY, EUGENE, CARLOS, RUSSELL, BOBBY, VICTOR, MARTIN, JESSE, SHAWN, CLARENCE, SEAN, CHRIS, JOHNNY, JIMMY, ANTONIO, TONY, LUIS, MIKE, DALE, CURTIS, NORMAN, ALLEN, GLENN, TRAVIS, LEE, MELVIN, KYLE, FRANCIS, JESUS, RAY, JOEL, EDDIE, TROY, ALEXANDER, MARIO, FRANCISCO, MICHEAL, OSCAR, JAY, ALEX, JON, RONNIE, TOMMY, LEON, LEO, WESLEY, DEAN, DAN, LEWIS, COREY, MAURICE, VERNON, ROBERTO, CLYDE, SHANE, SAM, LESTER, CHARLIE, TYLER, GENE, BRETT, ANGEL, LESLIE, CECIL, ANDRE, ELMER, GABRIEL, MITCHELL, ADRIAN, KARL, CORY, CLAUDE, JAMIE, JESSIE, CHRISTIAN, LONNIE, CODY, JULIO, KELLY, JIMMIE, JORDAN, JAIME, CASEY, JOHNNIE, SIDNEY, JULIAN, DARYL, VIRGIL, MARSHALL, PERRY, MARION, TRACY, RENE, FREDDIE, AUSTIN, JACKIE, JOEY, EVAN, DANA, DONNIE, SHANNON, ANGELO, SHAUN, LYNN, CAMERON, BLAKE, KERRY, JEAN, IRA, RUDY, BENNIE, ROBIN, LOREN, NOEL, DEVIN, KIM, GUADALUPE, CARROLL, SAMMY, MARTY, TAYLOR, ELLIS, DALLAS, LAURENCE, DREW, JODY, FRANKIE, PAT, MERLE, TERRELL, DARNELL, TOMMIE, TOBY, VAN, COURTNEY, JAN, CARY, SANTOS, AUBREY, MORGAN, LOUIE, STACY, MICAH, BILLIE, LOGAN, DEMETRIUS, ROBBIE, KENDALL, ROYCE, MICKEY, DEVON, ASHLEY, CAREY, SON, MARLIN, ALI, SAMMIE, MICHEL, RORY, KRIS, AVERY, ALEXIS, GERRY, STACEY, CARMEN, SHELBY, RICKIE, BOBBIE, OLLIE, DENNY, DION, ODELL, MARY, COLBY, HOLLIS, KIRBY, CRUZ, MERRILL, LANE, CLEO, BLAIR, NUMBERS, CLAIR, BERNIE, JOAN, DOMINIQUE, TRISTAN, JAME, GALE, LAVERNE, ALVA, STEVIE, ERIN, AUGUSTINE, YOUNG, JOHNIE, ARIEL, DUSTY, LINDSEY, TRACEY, SCOTTIE, SANDY, SYDNEY, GAIL, DORIAN, LAVERN, REFUGIO, IVORY, ANDREA, SANG, DEON, CAROL, YONG, BERRY, TRINIDAD, SHIRLEY, MARIA, CHANG, ROSARIO, DANNIE, FRANCES, THANH, CONNIE, TORY, LUPE, DEE, SUNG, CHI, QUINN, MINH, THEO, LOU, CHUNG, VALENTINE, JAMEY, WHITNEY, SOL, CHONG, PARIS, OTHA, LACY, DONG, ANTONIA, KELLEY, CARROL, SHAYNE, VAL, JUDE, BRITT, HONG, LEIGH, GAYLE, JAE, NICKY, LESLEY, MAN, KASEY, JEWELL, PATRICIA, LAUREN, ELISHA, MICHAL, LINDSAY, and JEWEL

are all names that work for both males and females. If a girl's name is Robert and everyone, including your software, keeps on calling her a man, she'd be rather pissed.

This is not really a programming problem - it comes down to getting a probability table.

AFAIK there are no public databases in distilled forms. You could either build this from census data, or buy the data from someone.

For example, this is [someone who sells the probability table for Canada][1].


[1]:

[To see links please register here]

Some cultures have unisex names - like mine. What do you do then? I think the answer is plain and simple - don't assume - you could cause offence. Just ask if its needed, otherwise gender neutrality.

It's also poor practice to assume that users must be male or female. There are a small but significant number of "intersex" people, most of whom are heartily sick of not having a box to tick..<br/>
bignose: interesting on the "singular they". I didn't realize it had such a long history.