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Mectojic

Minstrel
The name Kudavu - I was using it as a male name. But it suddenly dawned on me that it could be a female name too. What do you think?
 

Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
Or Kudave (like Dave).

Nah... honestly, if you're using a made-up name, it's hard to guess the gender. I typically wait for the author to make the gender known rather than guess. Kudavu doesn't sound feminine in English, so you probably won't have a problem.

Different cultures have different ways for names to sound feminine or masculine. Like for my youngest daughter's Chinese name, Leung ("dragon" in Cantonese) could not be used because that would be too boyish. Her Chinese name is Meung Tak, which doesn't sound a whole lot different than Leung Tak. All three of my daughters are something Tak, and that second syllable does not sound feminine at all (to an American English-speaker). In Chinese culture, it's the meaning, not the sound.

My point is this: Kudavu, for whatever reason, worked as a guy's name for you. Unless you know for certain that the name is a real girl's name in [specific foreign culture], I wouldn't worry about how readers might interpret the gender. For me, it sounds masculine enough.

As long as I have the name and a clue as to the gender ("s/he", "a wo/man known as ___", etc.), a made up name won't throw me even if I incorrectly guessed the gender when first reading the name.
 

Nimue

Auror
I agree--it doesn't really have an inherent gender--but I would like to point out that it sounds a bit like kudzu, an invasive plant species. Just something to watch out for if you're concerned about connotation.
 
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