Why do some countries regulate baby names?

[Ian]

There are some unisex names. Some may lean toward one gender more than the other, but I've known male Frans and Stacys and female Seans and Chrises...

My younger daughter is named Skyler.

To me, that sounds more feminine than Tyler, which is also unisex but I associate more with men.
Some might disagree on either of those though.

[Svartalf]

Satchel is what I carry my books and papers in.

[hadespussercats]

Satchel is what I carry my books and papers in.

And a John is where people shit.

[hadespussercats]

There are some unisex names. Some may lean toward one gender more than the other, but I've known male Frans and Stacys and female Seans and Chrises...

My younger daughter is named Skyler.

To me, that sounds more feminine than Tyler, which is also unisex but I associate more with men.
Some might disagree on either of those though.

I think you chose a feminine spelling. If she were Schuyler, I might wonder...

[Bella Fortuna]

There are some unisex names. Some may lean toward one gender more than the other, but I've known male Frans and Stacys and female Seans and Chrises...

My younger daughter is named Skyler.

To me, that sounds more feminine than Tyler, which is also unisex but I associate more with men.
Some might disagree on either of those though.

Funny because the only Skylar I've met (yes, spelling difference) was a boy.

[JimC]

All the men in our family have very traditional names - James, Arthur, Charles, David, Nicholas...

A bit boring, really...

My mum was Jessie, or more usually Jess...

[pErvinalia]

Do you have any sisters? Jessies Girl(s)??

[JimC]

Do you have any sisters? Jessies Girl(s)??

Nope, only child...

[Tyrannical]

Maybe we do need laws against girls stealing boy's names.

[Horwood Beer-Master]

You can't name a child in Iceland any name with the letter C in it, since the Icelandic alphabet contains no C. Yet they have an enormous population of English-speakers!

"C" is a pointless letter though. When you say it it's either a "K" or an "S".

While we're at it "Q" is simply "KW", and the "U" after a "Q" is simply pointless.

I hate the name Jayden as much as I hate the line of names like Shamiqua and Tamiqua.

I believe some variety of Jaden/Jayden is currently the #1 name for baby boys in America.

Shamiqua and Tamiqua are fine. No worse than super-white names like Chad or Travis or Todd.

Those are all awful names.

...I think Lee might be the only truly androgynous name left...

Sam? Alex?

[macdoc]

My son is Mckenzie which is gender neutral but he goes by Mac.

[Horwood Beer-Master]

My son is Mckenzie which is gender neutral but he goes by Mac.

That's a surname.

[pErvinalia]

It's a reasonably common Scottish first name, I believe.

[hadespussercats]

...I think Lee might be the only truly androgynous name left...

Sam? Alex?

Ah! Yes. You're right.

[Coito ergo sum]

Cultures don't die, though. They change. To "preserve" a culture through mandates is to suggest that the culture people create on their own is inferior or less deserving of existence than the culture people created on their own in a previous time.

I mean -- English went through the transition from Old English to Middle English to Modern English, and endured the Great Vowel Shift and whatnot. If we had language preservationists in play, they'd want us to still speak and write like Beowulf.

Cultures change and eventually what was once our culture is no more. Like life and death, it is part of the way of things. I see no reason to waste a minute forcing people to talk and act in accordance with one culture as opposed to another.

English evolved over time, and the culture associated with it evolved in tandem. That doesn't happen when a language dies out. Cultures are closely bound to languages, and cultures die when languages stop being used.

Even assuming that is the case, so what? Cultures die. Big deal. We have no more Latin and no more Roman culture of the 4th century AD. Not a biggie.