# guys named Debbie/ Deborah **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 12, 2003, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-named-debbie-deborah/148052 "2003-01-12T01:24:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Weeks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbce88/32.png) [@Weeks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weeks)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-named-debbie-deborah/148052/1 "2003-01-12T01:24:00Z")
While looking up an old friend, I came across [this](http://phone.people.yahoo.com/py/psPhoneSearch.py?FirstName=debbie&LastName=rex&Business=&City=&State=&PostalCode=&srch=&total=14&index=11) page that contained WAY too many guys with the name DEBBIE in their name. Maybe it contained WAY too many girls with the name Gary, or Bob or whatever. Can anybody explain the black hole I’ve just stepped into. Is naming your child “one each” of the two known sexes’ names part of the Rex family tradition or is this just a weird anomaly? I don’t mean to be rude, but you gotta admit( especially if you look at the second , and final, page of search results) that a page full of guys named deborah IS pretty weird. WTF? I’m not even sure what my question is I just don’t know what to make of this… ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-named-debbie-deborah/148052/2 "2003-01-12T01:30:58Z")
My guess would be that, for example, “Kenneth Debby Rex” is short for “Kenneth **and** Debby Rex”. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-named-debbie-deborah/148052/3 "2003-01-12T02:01:16Z")
My Grandfather was named Marion. ---
**Author:** ![mightyaphrodite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@mightyaphrodite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mightyaphrodite)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-named-debbie-deborah/148052/4 "2003-01-12T02:09:26Z")
Men with female names isn’t unusual. I work in a call centre and encounter it on a regular basis. For example: Stacey Tracey Lindsay Courtney There are many more examples, these are just a few I could think of off hand. ---
**Author:** ![Weeks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbce88/32.png) [@Weeks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weeks)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-named-debbie-deborah/148052/5 "2003-01-12T02:09:57Z")
Yeah, and “I’m store” is short for " I’m going to go downtown and have a baby that I’m going to name Thomas Alice. Then I’m going to pick up a couple of packs of smokes at the store".:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Primaflora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Primaflora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primaflora)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-named-debbie-deborah/148052/6 "2003-01-12T02:22:44Z")
Marion, Stacey, Tracey, Lindsay, Courtney have all been male names at one time or another. McKenzie FE is a female name in NZ but every McKenzie I’ve encountered in Australia is male. Deborah’s never been a male name. OK this is officially weird. I ran a couple of searches using Jane and Sarah Rex and none of the results returned came back with John Jane Rex or Bob Sarah Rex as I was expecting it to because I was speculating that it was a layout thing. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-named-debbie-deborah/148052/7 "2003-01-12T02:34:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bibliophage \* > \*\*My guess would be that, for example, “Kenneth Debby Rex” is short for “Kenneth **and** Debby Rex”. \*\* My brother and his wife are listed as Gary Cathy XXXXXXX. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-named-debbie-deborah/148052/8 "2003-01-12T04:55:12Z")
My listing is Tom Deb Bxxxx. Imagine that. 😉 The various phone companies (whence the listings) do not always bother to insert “and” into the listing when couples are listed. ---
**Author:** ![Agback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/977dab/32.png) [@Agback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agback)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-named-debbie-deborah/148052/9 "2003-01-12T12:14:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mightyaphrodite \* > \*\*Men with female names isn’t unusual. [SNIP] For example: > > Stacey > Tracey > Lindsay > Courtney\*\* Those are all originally _family_ names, not girls’ names. My great-grandfather, for example, was William Courtney. Norman Lindsay was a famous Austalian writer and artist. Spencer Tracey was a famous film actor. Some people give family names as personal names to boys, Other people give family names as personal names to girls. Yet other people do both. Regards, Agback ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-named-debbie-deborah/148052/10 "2003-01-12T12:32:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mightyaphrodite \* > \*\*Men with female names isn’t unusual. I work in a call centre and encounter it on a regular basis. For example: > > Stacey > Tracey > Lindsay > Courtney > > There are many more examples, these are just a few I could think of off hand. \*\* Actually, Courtney is originally a boy’s name that became a girl’s name: From [Parenting.com](http://www.parenting.com/parenting/tools/babynamer/index.html) > [@](#): > > Courtney, like its sisters Brooke and Paige, Morgan and Blair, is a mega-fashionable androgynous name with a thick upper crust — a bit too thick, perhaps, for these less pretentious and prosperous times. An aristocratic British surname that was used as a first name for boys a hundred years ago but now has become almost exclusively female, it has been on the girls Top 25 list for several years now, has been seen on a couple of soap operas, and we’re afraid it has nowhere to go but down. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-named-debbie-deborah/148052/11 "2003-01-12T14:35:22Z")
Our listing is Danny Doreen Dxxxxx, even though the phone company listing has the “and”. ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Montana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tony\_Montana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tony_Montana)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-named-debbie-deborah/148052/12 "2003-01-12T16:39:01Z")
Rosie or Rosey or whatever, I dont know their spelling, but I know of two guys named this… ---
**Author:** ![stockton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@stockton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stockton)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-named-debbie-deborah/148052/13 "2003-01-12T17:04:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tony Montana \* > \*\*Rosie or Rosey or whatever, I dont know their spelling, but I know of two guys named this… \*\* There’s also the great 60’s NFL standout Rosie Grier [http://shop.store.yahoo.com/sportstation-steinersports/roseygrier.html](http://shop.store.yahoo.com/sportstation-steinersports/roseygrier.html) … I’m pretty sure it’s actually short for “Roosevelt.” ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-named-debbie-deborah/148052/14 "2003-01-12T17:37:46Z")
“Marie” can be used as a male name in France. Witness Jean Marie Le Pen. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-named-debbie-deborah/148052/15 "2003-01-12T21:03:52Z")
Sally, a friend of mine, is a man. There was also a Sally in _The Godfather_, And there was a restarunt in Mulberry St, in NYC, named Sally’s, after the owner, Salvatore. There are also Kelly’s of both genders. I’ve never ran accross a male Debbie. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-named-debbie-deborah/148052/16 "2003-01-12T21:06:30Z")
Oh, and Connie. Also from the above movie, I think. Connie Mack, baseball or something? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-named-debbie-deborah/148052/17 "2003-01-12T22:11:31Z")
\*It seems I had to fight my whole life through. Some gal would giggle and I’d get red And some guy’d laugh and I’d bust his head, I tell ya, life ain’t easy for a boy named “Sue.” \* ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-named-debbie-deborah/148052/18 "2003-01-13T02:42:05Z")
There has been a Ransom in every generation of my mother’s family for several generations. About half of them were/are women. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-named-debbie-deborah/148052/19 "2003-01-13T10:26:37Z")
Beverly is used as a men’s name in the UK, but it is starting to fall out of favour. Only old men seem to have it these days. ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-named-debbie-deborah/148052/20 "2003-01-13T12:43:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AWB \* > \*\*Actually, Courtney is originally a boy’s name that became a girl’s name: > > From [Parenting.com](http://www.parenting.com/parenting/tools/babynamer/index.html) \*\* Stacey,Tracey,Lindsay,Courtney, Jordan, Madison, Kelley, Marie, Beverly, Marion(John Wayne), Candy, Connie, Brook, Morgan, Sandy, etc were all originally boy’s names that became girl’s names. Men are very insecure, and phobic of anything feminine. Once something is identified as commonly being female(e.g.pink and purple), or a name like Jordan or Courtney becomes common for females, boys and men are teased, and it is thus abandoned for use by males. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-named-debbie-deborah/148052.md?page=2)