Never. Nor would I assign them a gender, because they don't have one. I think I appreciate my ukes as much as the next person, but I don't assign any imaginary qualities to them, they're musical instruments. I don't name my cars either, or surfboards, or tools, toasters, or shoes, and none have genders.
Kyle, I'm very sorry for your loss. I guess a uke could be "sexed" by knowing if the tree it came from was female or male...some employees of an ALF named my fave "Dreammaker" because it put a very anguished resident to sleep, when nothing else was working. I changed the name to "Ativan" cause I like that better...I haven't named any of my other ukes....both are concerts, and both are Kalas, so it's easier for my GF to know which one to grab if I ask her to meet me and bring one of my ukes to a jam session.....
Yes. I named mine Lokahi. And for those of you who make fun of those who name their ukes (and those who don't as well), below is a link to a story that tells why my ukulele is named.
Although I don't feel genders with them. I call one "My Beater" cause it was not very expensive and I wale on it a lot. My BanjoUke or Banjolele is called the "Old Man" as my dad had a similar one and another is called "Pricey" because it was pricey for me. The last one is just called Pineapple cuz thats what it is.
The ukuleles I play most frequently now have names. My concert is called 'Paloma', and my soprano 'Pajaro'. This continues a tradition born with my 1996 Guild guitar Mariposa. Naming instruments strengthens the bond, to me, anyway.
I haven't named any of my ukes on purpose. However, someone named one of them by accident.
I was with some musicians, one of whose tongue got a bit tangled when she asked me if I was going to play something on my ukulele; it came out as "your lukulele." It was inevitable that the uke be dubbed Luke. Normally, I am not made happy by cutesy names such as "Luke the Uke," but sometimes, these things happen. Besides, I have a song about Luke Skywalker. It's all good.
I don't really use their names though. The only one that gets used on a semi-regular basis is Eloise, and only because the uke in question is a vintage (circa 1920's) one that I inherited from a great aunt named, you guessed it, Eloise
My guitar and banjo also have names, Dexter and Mr. Declan Banjo, but like most of the ukes, I never really refer to them by name.
My upright bass doesn't have a name.
For me, some of the names are natural, and some are forced. But I like giving them names regardless.
One of my ukes was just named today! This is my first instrument with a name beyond the model designation. I have always felt a name should come about organically, like a nickname does (e.g., refer to Howard's astronaut nickname on "The Big Bang Theory").
I was playing the Grateful Dead song, "Ripple", with a group of friends, and one of the guys said: "Ripple, just like on your ukulele", referring to the curly koa on my Kanile'a tenor. So, "Ripple" it is