# Happy 100th, Leslie "Bob" Hope!  Or, has any name changed from female to male usage?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-leslie-bob-hope-or-has-any-name-changed-from-female-to-male-usage/178636>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 30, 2003, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-leslie-bob-hope-or-has-any-name-changed-from-female-to-male-usage/178636 "2003-05-30T21:58:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-leslie-bob-hope-or-has-any-name-changed-from-female-to-male-usage/178636/1 "2003-05-30T21:58:28Z")

</div>

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.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-leslie-bob-hope-or-has-any-name-changed-from-female-to-male-usage/178636/2 "2003-05-30T22:03:15Z")

</div>

I’ve known Sidney’s of both sexes, but I’m not sure which came first.

Beverly used to be a man’s name (or has been used as such), right?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-leslie-bob-hope-or-has-any-name-changed-from-female-to-male-usage/178636/3 "2003-05-30T23:06:26Z")

</div>

Tom Sawyer’s brother was named Sydney, so I think it used to be only a man’s name.