i chose a feminine name both times i played through the game and never felt that it was awkward - the dialogue generally feels pretty gender-neutral, with some player lines even reading more feminine than anything with the extra vowels making certain things sound more cutesy ('aweee'), at least to me. i also clicked through some of the default names just to see what there was and i got a couple of female names like naomi, so they're not all masculine.

sexuality isn't discussed for emily or evelyn so it's not crazy to think that they could fall in love with a supportive girl friend who likes all of the same stuff that they do and helped them get through rough times! they could both be bi or pan sexual for all we know. it would have been really disappointing to get to like, the fourth chapter and have either of them go "wow, i would totally date you if you were a guy! too bad i'm not into girls lol.".