Not really. According to Behind the Name (mentioned elsewhere in the thread) Mario is either derived from Mars or latin mas, maris, meaning male. Marshal(l) is an old Germanic named derived from marah, horse and scalc, servant.
No, Lissa is correct, but it is debatable whether this is a case of a name changing sex.
The woman in question, who is famous because she may or may not have married the Earl of Leicester, was the widow of 2nd Baron Sheffield of Butterwicke and a daughter of 1st Baron Howard of Effingham. According to modern conventions, she was the Hon. Douglas Howard until her first marriage and Lady Sheffield (or, more properly, Baroness Sheffield) after it. Tudor conventions were different, so, although Lady Douglas Sheffield would probably still have been thought to be incorrect, Lady Douglas Howard would have been an acceptable form.
But where did the Douglas name come from? The usual explanation for unusual Christian names in the sixteenth century is that the person was given the surname of one of their godparents. My guess would be that Douglas Howard was named after Lady Margaret Douglas, Henry VIII’s niece, whom her uncle, Thomas Howard, had been hoping to marry. The complication is that Douglas was/is a Scottish Christian name which at this date could apparently be given to either boys or girls, but, if, in this case, the name derived from the surname, that would be irrelevant.
can’t quote chapter and verse right but am pretty sure Douglas started off as a (Scottish) surname.
I had always assumed that Mario came from Maria, as well. But what about Evan (presumably from Eve)?
Of course, this really isn’t what the OP is asking for, since Eve-Evan (and Maria-Mario, were that true) both involve changes of form, unlike (say) Leslie transitioning in the same form.
Evelyn (as in the author Evelyn Waugh)
Robin
Beverly
(Who else is amused that the gentleman Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind was portrayed by Lesley Howard!)
Evan is a Welsh version of John, Eve is from Hebrew. Names come from a lot of different languages (Hebrew, Greek, varying versions of English, Gaelic, Scottish, Latin… and plenty more); similar spelling is not an indication of origin unless you can tell what language it’s from.
Re: Mario/Marshall- what about MARCELLO? Is that an Italian form of the Germanic name?
Ciao!
I’d like to submit Julian, as in Lady Julian of Norwich. Though that might be swinging back the other way again (the author Julian May is a woman, but all the other Julians I know/know of are male)
Vivian/Vivien is a name I have seen both for men and women, but I don’t know who had it first.
In Germany, I’ve read that it was popular before WWII to give males the middle name “Maria,” as in Eric Maria Remarque, author of * All’s Quiet on the Western Front. *
A couple of other names which I don’t know were male or female first are Carol and Blair.
Gerald Ford’s original name was Leslie King Jr. His father was an alcoholic who abandoned the family when he was a baby. His stepfather was Gerald Ford Sr.
Possibly Leslie was a popular boys name at the turn of the century. Remember to that Bob Hope was born in England, and emigrated here as a baby.
So now, we could of had a President Leslie King and Queen Elizebeth celebrating the life of England’s greatest living bard, Leslie Hope. (Not to mention Leslie’s long term contract with the BBC)
SP
I’ve known male Gale’s and female Gail’s . I don’t know which came first, though.
Just as a slight aside, I’m a female Lesley who is the daughter of a male Leslie. I’ve always been called by my second name though, Ann.
In Canada, I’ve met as many, or more, female Leslie’s.
My baby name book says that Marcelllo derives from Latin “Marcellus”, a diminuitive form of “Marcus”.