Yes. Two guys and three dogs (male). Seen The Tempest a few times, and Ariel was played by a guy in each production. Hence my thought that Ariel was predominantly a male name.
However, in the 1970’s cartoon show Thundarr the Barbarian, the princess’s name was Ariel. So at least someone had the idea to name a girl Ariel before The Little Mermaid.
[sub]Yeah, I watched Thundarr the Barbarian. You wanna make something of it?[/sub]
Well, Ariel Sharon, the PM of Israel is a famous boy Ariel. Come to think of it, his last name is a girl’s name too. Such a tough guy to have such a girly girly name!
<g+r>
My sister, like the bass player for the Bangles, is named Michael. To make matters worse, her middle name is Christian.
I have two cousins named Kendall, both girls, born within two days of one another. It was a complete coincidence that they got the same name. There are girls named Madison, Logan, Chase, Carson and Blake in our circle of friends, (we’re such yuppies) and one callled Alex, though her full name is Alexandra.
To be fair, Ariel as a girl in the Little Mermaid vein ought to be pronounced Airy-El, while the Hebrew name for a boy meaning “Lion of God” is Are-Ee-El, and is often shortened to the nickname Ari, pronounced Are-Ee. My best friend’s son is Ariel, her former boss’s daughter is too. They had quite a giggle over that.
Actually, now that you mention it, I recall seeing Devon as a girl’s name quite a few times… even knew one myself.
I hear Evelyn used to be a male name {like the novelist Evelyn Waugh}, but over time, it just sort of grew into a female name…
F_X
I can’t believe no one has yet mentioned Daryl (as in Daryl Hannah)
[Newhart]Hi. I’m Larry, this is muh sister Daryl, and this is muh other sister Daryl.[/Newhart].
My dog is a female, and her name is Zeke. However, I thought she was a boy when I got her and named her and began using the name over and over so she’d recognize it, and by the time I realized, I figured why confuse her?
(I should have gone ahead and confused her; ten minutes’ work saved has meant eight years of confusion.)
I’ve never found anything odd about a girl named Alex, because of the longer forms Alexandra, Alexandria, and Alexis.
I knew a Kendall in high school, have met a middle aged woman named Michael, and went to middle school with a girl named Keith, yes, Keith.
~V
I’m a Charley, and even tho I’m a bit long in the tooth, I’ve only ever met 2 other female Charleys (altho they usually spell it differently). But I kinda like the name, and it’s really not that big a problem. The funniest was meeting my in-laws after marrying Mr. Singular. We got married in New Zealand and simply sent out notices, and when we finally met they said, “Oh, honey, we’re just so glad you’re a girl!”
Yikes! It seems worse than I first thought. We’re hoping to have a girl this time to even things out, but if it is a boy I just wanted to be prepared.
We don’t like someone else’s surname as a child’s first name, regardless of gender so the Madisons and Taylors shouldn’t be an issue. We also don’t like place names like Denver, Dakota or Dallas.
tlw mentioned all the surnames used for girl names by the “yuppie” parents, but here in the midwest the opposite seems to be the case. Considering co-workers, friends, family, neighbors, etc. it almost always and without exception in the last 4-5 years has been the educated professional upper-middle income types who have been using traditional first names (Ethan, Peter, William, Alexander, Henry, Elizabeth, Gabrielle, Isabelle, Emma, Olivia, etc. are all actual kids I know).
Meanwhile, the more blue-collar (or maybe first generation through college) people are using surnames and place names almost exclusively (Austin, Jarrett, Carson, Logan, Cole, Cade, Colby (like the cheese for crissakes!) Brantley, Michayla, Briar, Taylor, Hunter, Madison, etc. (again, all real kids I know).
My brother-in-law thinks we’re prententious snobs for giving our son a traditional first name when he could have been named after a NASCAR driver like his son, but I don’t concern myself with the opinions of slack-jaw, booger-eatin’ morons - not that I’m stereotyping.
Anyway, our current favorites are Claire, Eleanor, Olivia and Elizabeth and William, John/Jack, Edward, Nathan and Thomas. Really no need to specify gender, is there? Pretty, yet not too cute girl names and solid boy names (with nicknaming options).
thanks to all for adding to the lists . . .
We named our dog Ben, and when we found out she was a female, we just called her “Ben Hur.”
Belladonna, just to let you know, Connor is a first name. It’s Irish 
And for all the Boys out there called Shannon, its a feminine name, as it is a river.
H8_2_W8, the trend over here is somewhat similar, such that a friend of mine was reluctant to give her child an unusual name because that is what the ‘underclass’ tend to do. Old-fashioned names do tend to come round in cycles though, as children are named after their grandparents or older family members.
I like your name choices. Olivia and Elizabeth were near the top of my list when I was pregnant too (I knew I was expecting a girl). The reasons I decided against Elizabeth is that I detest the shortening Liz, and it also became a very popular name. (It will be so even more this year, with the Golden Jubilee). Those are both Shakespearean names, btw, as are many of the current popular ‘upper-class’ girls’ names.
QueenAl - speaking of Shakespearean names, we could use “Portia” and simply tell the redneck B-I-L that she was named for the sportscar, but we changed the spelling to make it easier for her. He’d never know the difference.
My best friend is a guy named Alexis. Better yet, his middle name is Marie. (It’s a French thing.)
My name (Kerri) is a guy’s name. My name was going to be Kerry, but the nurse in the hospital said that was the male spelling. (It’s also a county in Ireland.)
I’ve never heard of a girl named Kyle. And most of these names that have ‘crossed over’ are news to me. I think the most popular names I’ve seen recently for kids are very gender-oriented. In other words, the girls have ‘girly’ names and the boys have ‘manly’ names.
Oops. Sorry Twist, you damn Irish and your “names”. Pshaw. 
Actually, it’s funny, because last night I was thinking about this thread and realized “DUH”, my Irish name totally applies. It’s Darcy–and as a kid the only time I ever saw it was in Irish or European stories and it was always a boy’s name. Lately though, when I see it (which still isn’t often) it’s usually applied to a girl.
H8_2_W8, I Love the name Olivia. I think Elizabeth is overdone, personally, but Olivia is just sublime. When I was preggy I debated over Isabella and Madeline and Olivia was a close third. Of course, I ended up with a Philip who is rarely called anything other than “bubby” or “boomer”.
bella
While we’re at it, I have to bring up a little girl that was named “Kinsey” by her bible-thumpin’ parents (friends of my sister-in-law). Her older siblings are being home schooled because of religious objections to public school. I seriously doubt they have made the connection that their daughter’s name is the same as in the Kinsey Institute, the world famous and somewhat controversial sex research center located just an hour away from them.
http://www.indiana.edu/~kinsey/
Oh, how I wish I could be there to see their faces when the finally find out what they’ve done to her!
Alexis. I’ve met two or three Alexises (Alexii? :D) who have both been girls. One of them had a Chemistry class with a Greek professor and when he read the name Alexis, he kept looking at one of the guys in the class. He got confused when she said that Alexis was her.
Rub it in, why don’t you. Every male I’ve ever know that shares my first name has been painfully aware that most of us who have the name are female. However, my parents said that when they were expecting me (late 70’s) baby books had it listed for both sexes. I doubt they’d have named me that if I’d been a boy, though. Shannon’s like Colleen, right? " Irish" names not used in Ireland.
FWIW, both René and Jocelyn are boys’ names in French (the girls’ equivalents are Renée and Jocelyne).
I know at least a few female Jaimes, one of whom confused the grammar teacher the other day where I’m studying (Jaime is a man’s name in Spanish).