志明和春嬌：為何兩「性」的名字總是有「別」？

Zhi-Ming and Chun-Jiau: Why Are Men's Names and Women's Names Always Different?

本文主旨是以名字為素材，進行一個有關兩性命名差異的象徵分析。筆者嘗試解釋，為何華人社會（以台灣地區為例）的「同名」現象具有「相對穩定」的性別區分，以及此一現象所代表的文化與社會意義。本文使用台灣地區某醫學中心掛號資料來整理百年來兩性名字的差異與變化趨勢，結果發現，百年以來常見兩性命名用字出現了明顯的改變與洗牌，但是性別界線仍然十分明顯。本文援用Pierre Bourdieu的象徵暴力理論與相關概念進行討論：兩性名字的差異正是「象徵暴力」的表現，象徵暴力一方面表現在命名者和被命名者的「秉性」之中，幫助我們感知、接受什麼是「天生」適合男性的名字或女性的名字；另一方面，象徵暴力也表現在性別分工，那許許多多曾經被使用、正在使用或是未來將被使用的「名字」正是社會空間中眾多性別分工的一部分。此外，在象徵貨物經濟的作用下，命名是一種分配象徵資本的文化實行，可以協助男性取得象徵資本，並將女性次級化和邊緣化。在秉性與象徵貨物經濟的交互作用下，許多原本武斷存在的兩性文化差異（例如男人的名字和女人的名字）得到了承認與接受，成為不受質疑的「文化常識」，也讓我們願意以「巧合」的觀點去看待「同名」現象的性別區分，這正是象徵暴力希望達成的效 果。兩性命名差異的「相對穩定性」至少表現在兩方面：一是首、次名之間的功能性移轉，二是同音字的象徵衍生。就性別研究而言，本文希望可以檢視一些我們習以為常但卻不自知的父權心態或刻板印象。雖然許多研究發現，不論在教育、家庭、身體、勞動、職場表現，性別區隔已經出現鬆動甚至減少的趨勢，本文則要指出，社會上仍有許多我們不自覺的「認知與心態」，繼續以文化常識的形式在流傳著（兩性命名差異只是其中一例），否則性別區隔的鬆動將更為快速，兩性平等的社會實踐也會更有成果。

This paper provides a symbolic analysis of gender differences in names and naming, based on hospital registration data, which is used to plot the long-term pattern of gender differences in names in the 20th century. The most frequently used names for both men and women changed significantly over the years 1900-1999, but gender differences in names remained relatively stable. Giving the credit to Bourdieu's idea of symbolic violence, the persistent stability of gender difference/boundary in names can be explained as a consequence of disposition and the economy of symbolic goods. Disposition refers to a tendency for people to perceive and recognize 'natural' names for men and for women. In addition, naming has symbolic power to produce symbolic capital, the distribution of which allocates symbolic capital to men and subordinates and marginalizes women. As a result, many arbitrary cultural differences, such as men's names and women's names, are perceived as 'natural' and accepted without question. The persistent stability of gender differences in names can be observed at least in two aspects: one is a functional transfer from first name character to second name-character, and the other is a symbolic derivation of homophonic names. This paper is relevant to gender studies, in that examining taken-for-granted aspects of gender differences in names can point to hidden paternalistic attitudes and gender stereotypes.