I am sending proposals to two magazine editors named Geordie and Ahlya, and I have no idea whether to address them to Mr. or Ms. They are in another country, so I can’t call from work to ask—any input? I’m guessing Ahlya is female, but Geordie has me thrown completely.
I worked with a Geordie once. He was male. But knowing what country they’re in might help.
Well the chief engineer on the Enterprise D is Geordie LaForge. And he’s male. That’s the only usage for that name I’ve ever encountered, though.
It’s England. And now I have “Hey, there, Geordie Girl” running through my head.
Sooo, female on Ahyla, male on Geordie?
Why not just use : “M.” ? …or just use the names without any M, Mr, or Ms or Mz or Miss, etc?
I use M. when I am not sure, and increasingly, you cant tell anymore by the names you see. I now see babies of both sexes being named Morgan, Jordan, Cheyenne, etc. In Johhny Cash’s interview before he died, he said he heard from quite a few males who were actually named Sue, including a judge in Mississippi. Lots of guys and gals named Beverly, Candy, Marion, etc.
The song is Georgie Girl. A Geordie is someone from the native culture of Northumbria.
According to http://www.babynames.com/V5/index.php?content=gosearch, “Geordi” is male and of Greek origin. I’m not sure if adding the “e” to the end changes anything, though. 
And I couldn’t find anything on “Ahlya.”
Plus, this dude here http://www.geordiejohnson.com/ is male.
If that helps…
It has become common in the United States to address business correspondence with the person’s full name, avoiding any courtesy title – “Dear John Smith:” “Dear Jane Jones:”
The first & last name would give away the gag that I don’t know them, though . . . I want them to at leaat think I am familiar with their work. I’m gonna guess Ms. Ahlya and Mr. Geordie . . .
Speaking as a Geordie myself (in that I’m a native of Tyneside, rather than that it’s my given name) I can inform you that Geordie is a traditional diminutive of the name George.
Well, it’s not so easy these days to judge by traditional diminutives – Ginger, Christy, Viv – they’re all traditionally masculine, but these days they are much more likely to be attached to a woman.
Lots of traditionally masculine names have been feminized over the past few decades – Leslie, Lynn, Tracy, Vivian, Adrian, Randy, Terry, Stacey, Alexis …
Call from home. One of those 10-10 services is stupidly cheap to Western Yurp.
All of a sudden you’re Carrot-Top?
Have you tried Googling them by first and last name? If there’s anything about them on the 'net that could give you some clues as to the proper sex of each.
Well, at least I got Eve’s Geordie Girl joke!
Oooh, thanks, romansperson, thats a good idea!
[and thanks, Kalhoun, too!]
Bite me, :wally
I’d bite you with relish, Droppie—but Carrot-Top? Not till I had me shots.
‘Geordie’ is a nickname for a male from the NE. I wouldn’t use Mr or Ms or whatever, just go with Geordie and then the last name. Obviously intends it to be somewhat informal.
As for “Ahlya”, could be one of a few I suspect (different spellings), all of them Scottish in origin and female - you might want a correct spelling for her. It might be, for example, ‘Isla’
I think I’ve even heard Ailsa pronounced as “Ahlya” , but I’m not sure.