Leslie. Ashley. Madison. Campbell. Stockard. All these names, and I’m sure there are others, used to be boy’s names, but are now just about exclusively given to girls. But I can’t think of a single female name which has even gone unisex, let alone changing entirely over to the other gender.
Are there any examples of that, of which I’m unaware?
(Note, I tried submitting this before but the hamster got tired. I don’t kinow if it got posted or not. I apologize for the double post, if any.)
Don’t forget Marion Morrison, a/k/a John Wayne.
My own name, Britt, is traditionally a girl’s name, in Sweden at any rate. It’s the Swedish form of the name “Bridget”. It’s pretty much unisex now. At least I hope it is.
Kelly and Tracy come to mind.
The only example I can think of what was a “female” name becoming “male” is that of Lady Douglas Sheffield. However, I have no idea if Lady Douglas had a unique name, or if it was more common. (I haven’t seen it used elsewhere in Tudor studies.)
Kimberly
Maybe Brett, which used to be primarily a girl’s name early last century (certainly in Hemingway’s Fiesta), but now seems to be at least as popular for males as females.
The boy->girl thing is definitely more common. I’d add Shannon, Dale and Hillary to that list.
Florenz Ziegfield was a man.
Stacy and a few others are not sex-specific. (I’m not even sure which direction Stacy is moving.)
I think Christian was used for girls in the middle ages.
Re. Leslie. In the U.K. it is still ( I think) the case that the “Leslie” form is male, and the “Lesley” form is female.
The “Campbell” one really confuses me, as it was really a surname*, then OK, I suppose a male first name. But why do
parents give the kid a name that really means “bent nose”?
And I dimly recall from “The Bonfire of the Vanites” some little girl with the given name of “MacKenzie”: from a U.K. and especially Scottish perspective, that seems sort of odd too.
Still cannot think of any names doing the female/male transition, but I bet the question will bug me all day!
Ah - how about the female “Valerie” - at least there is a French (male) version “Valery”?
Hazel.
Never heard that one, but it does remind me of Holly - surely that was a female name first. Although the only time I have seen it as a male name was some pop grou called, I think, “Frankie goes to Hollywood” - maybe it only counts as a nickname.
I think we’ve done this before – there are plenty of names that are used for men in France and Russia that are women’s names in Anglo-Saxon countries. I doubt that they spread in an easterly direction though, so they will have been men’s names first.
Changing the gender of names seems to be more common in North America than it does this side of the water. I’ve never heard of a male Hazel, nor a Kimberly spelt in full (Kim does exist as a boy’s name here though). Holly Johnson’s real name is William Johnson.
That’s something a bit different from what we’re discussing here. Younger sons of English nobles of the higher ranks–I think that just takes in marquises and dukes–are traditionally addressed as “Lord Firstname”. I think they can call themselves Lord Firstname Lastname, but never just Lord Lastname. The daughters are similarly addressed as Lady Firstname. If Miss Ashley Jones marries Lord Firstname Lastname, she can then call herself Lady Firstname, or Lady Firstname Lastname, since she gets the title by marriage. But she can’t call herself Lady Mary or Lady Jones.
So I’m guessing that Lady Douglas Sheffield married Lord Douglas Sheffield, or possibly Sir Firstname Douglas-Sheffield.
Lindsay, I believe.
Vivian and Joyce have also migrated from male to female usage.
It’s hard to find eveidence of names going from female to male. Maybe in other languages … take the Italian male name “Mario”. Is that a back-formation from Maria, which in turn is a descendent of the Hebrew female name Miryam (approx)? Or no?
“Rene(e)” is French for “reborn,” IIRC. Which sex was this name used for first?
You won’t find a Hazel anymore, I think that went out of style pre-WWII. You might find some elderly guys with the name - but odds are better they’ll go by “H. Somethingsomething.” Ross Perot is not one of them, though, unless my memory is failing me.
Unless I misunderstand, English titles is that they aren’t related to the person’s name at all, i.e. Sarah, Duchess of… it’s York, right? Her last name isn’t York, that’s the title of the Duchy. Lord Byron’s real name was George Gordon, and sometimes you’ll see it written out that way: George Gordon, Lord Bryon. Not a lot, though, since most people just know him as Byron.
Mario is not a back-formation of Maria. It’s derived from Marius, which comes from Mars (Roman god of war).
I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t asked. Thanks.
Interestingly, that means that the English name “Marshall”, and Italian “Mario” are cognates.
No problem. I’m very interested in names, which you might expect from a guy named Marley. www.behindthename.com is good for questions like your Maria/Mario one.