Is _chan_ a feminine or masculine suffix?
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suffixes gender
What does the Japanese diminutive suffix "chan" indicate?
The suffix _-chan_ is not inherently gendered (Japanese has no grammatical
gender), but by the quality of the diminutive, it is primarily used by and for
females.

For example, _-chan_ is often used as a suffix for girls' names, where for
boys' names the corresponding suffix would be _-kun_.

The suffix is used, much like the diminutive, to "cutify" people (e.g. for
children, 涼ちゃん Ryō-chan [girl's name]), animals (e.g. わんちゃん "doggy"), and
sometimes even objects (e.g. あめちゃん "little" candy).
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2016-03-10T23:29:38.747
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You've noticed that there are masculine and feminine endings, which is a good
start. There is also a **diminutive** ending: ちゃん{chan}. Diminutives indicate
something small or cute.

ちゃん{chan} is most often used when referring to children, or other people or
animals for whom a diminutive makes sense -- such as someone's cute dog, or
Hello Kitty, or a pop culture personality who makes their living by being cute
and plucky. Since cuteness of this sort is more frequently attributed to women
in Japanese culture, you'll encounter more uses of ちゃん to refer to adult women
than to adult men. But when it's used to refer to children, especially young
children, the gender of the child is less of an issue.

I'm not used to seeing this used to refer to anything inanimate -- this is the
same as for the usual personal suffix さん{san}, or the polite personal suffix
さま{sama}.

If you're interested in the origins of this ちゃん suffix, see:

_[Origins of -ちゃん](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/16149/)_

**Addendum**

The Wandering Coder kindly reminded me of family situations where ちゃん is used
regardless of age or gender:

  * お姉{ねえ}さん → お姉{ねえ}ちゃん ( _"sis"_ )
  * お兄{にい}さん → お兄{にい}ちゃん (I can't think of a good diminutive English analog; for older speakers, more likely to be used by a sister than a brother)
  * お母{かあ}さん → お母{かあ}ちゃん ( _"mommy"_ )
  * お父{とう}さん → お父{とう}ちゃん ( _"daddy"_ )
  * おばあさん → おばあちゃん ( _"granny"_ )
  * おじいさん → おじいちゃん ( _"grampa"_ )
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