Wouldn’t it have come by way of an occupational surname? Like Thatcher or Smith?
ETA: And another vote of thanks to Dr. Drake for all the info.
That does spark a thought… what about names that were originally female occupational surnames that have been subsequently used (even if uncommonly) as male given names? That would seem to fit the OP after a fashion.
Examples of this include: Baxter, Brewster, and Webster.
That’s hilarious! I can just imagine a secret cabal of old ladies at their annual meeting…
Leader: Well, it was a good year for us! We’ve solidified our hold on Avery. We’ve made good progress on Evan and Dylan. And we’re making a significant dent in Hunter. Morgan is in the bag.
:: wild cheers ::
As usual, there are no names at all being reclaimed by the enemy.
:: laughter ::
On that note, let’s consider whether we want to make any changes to our current booby-prize list. Let’s see…as of last year, we agreed not to go after Jacob, John, Matthew, Peter, or Mark. Does anyone have any changes to propose?
:: silence ::
All right then, let’s identify some new targets for this coming year and discuss our ongoing strategy. I’ve been thinking that we could really start to exploit the weak spots in Michael and James…
Two seriously macho guys come to mind: Beverly (Bevo) Howard (http://www.spence-air-base.com/bevo.html), maybe the best acrobatic pilot ever, and Carrol Shelby (http://www.carrollshelby.com/.)
And of course Marion Morrison. (John Wayne - Wikipedia)
Hagar!
Originally the mother of Ishmael, and latterly a horrible barbarian!
<ignore this post>
Gomer was Hosea’s wife in the Bible. And, (Surprise, surprise, surprise!)I can only recall one other Gomer throughout History .
There is also a Hagar, who apparently was an Egyptian servant (female) to Abraham.
Seven years later, and people are still getting the question backwards.
Yeah, that was traditionally a guy’s name. See St. Hyacinth or the Greek mythological hero Hyacinth, for instance. That would have been my middle name if my dad translated it from Polish to English correctly. His middle name is “Jacek,” which is the Polish version of “Hyacinth.” Instead, I got “Jack” as my middle name, which works well enough for me.
ETA: Didn’t realize this was an old thread. I thought this was the other name thread we have going on contemporaneously.