Male names given to females and vice versa

[Muriel]

The nearest I've got Carol is a Valentine. Even then I think it may have started as a surname as it was the middle name of one of his uncles.

However, way back in the distant recesses of the tree there is a brother & sister called Stark Jack (male) & Millar Jack (female). Imagine calling them in for dinner!

Muriel

[speleobat2]

Muriel,

I bet they had really simple nicknames!

Carol

[brendaannc]

Two that come to mind in use today for both sexes are, Courtney and Finlay/Finley.

Brenda

[paddyscar]

Courtney is predominantly a female name here in Canada and Taylor is flexible. I know of men who would be in their 70's whose names are Beverly, Ruby and Shirley, but no one more recent.

I can't imagine the frustrations upcoming genealogists will have in looking for Tifannie/Tiffane/Tiffanie/Tifanny/Tifany, Britany/Brittany/Britanny/Brittannie and all the other variations parents are coming up with to ensure their child's name is unique.

Then there are the Apple, Summer, Winter, Tree, River and Sunset children whose names have been taken from other things in life.

Small consolation mechanical printing, rather than a minister's or registrar's script and cheap ink, may seem to future searchers!

Frances

[Miss Poohs]

I over heard some one the other day who came across a daughter called after her father, Hector - poor wee girl was called Hectorina - Bless.

[Andy]

Most of the "Male" names posted here fall into the same catagory as the modern equivalents: Lindsay, Lyndsey, Francis, Frances, Robin, Robyn, Kieran, Ciaran, Hilary, Courtney, Kelly, Kim, Sally, Jackie etc. All acceptable as either Male or Female names.

I tend to think of Sally, Kim and Hilary as female names but all are quite common male names in the Americas and Africa.

The most Macho of the Machos John "The Duke" Wayne was actually Marion Morrison.

He used to say that his father gave him a cissy name to make him tough. In fact if you do a US 1880 Census search on IGI for Marion Smith I think you'll be amazed at the HUNDREDS of male Marions just with the surname Smith.

Names like Nicholas, and others, we identify as Male, were equally valid as Female given names, they simply fell out of fashion.

I feel more sorry for the offspring of celebrities, some of the names they're lumbered with is downright abusive!

[wini]

I had an aunt called Angusina, she had a grandfather Angus.
Nothing to do with this but I heard the other day of a boy called Harley.

The family surname was David, thence Harley, David's son
Not sure if it is another urban myth.

wini

[Currie]

My Great Uncle’s name (born OZ 1880’s) was Vivian Walter but he always went by the name of Walter. There are about 25 Vivian Walter births on freeBMD so I suppose Vivian would have once been a fairly common boy’s name.

My grandfather’s name (born England 1870’s) was Meredith George. His father was Welsh and Meredith was and is a boy’s name in Wales but it seems to have been largely hijacked by females. Everybody called him Merry.

It’s interesting to see there’s a Merry Christmas birth registered March Quarter 1874 in the district of Midhurst in England. It sounds as if the father’s Christmas was a bit too merry. The 1881 census has him as Merrcy so maybe that was an improvement, poor boy.

Alan

[joette]

You can also have a good guess at somebody's age if they have a historical name.
Like my Granny's cousin middle name Ladysmith born in Feb/March 1900 -the news reached Scotland the day she was born.
I also have an ancestor named Ramsay Wardlaw McFarlane- I can find no connection to anybody of that name so have no idea where he got his name!
My Granny's sister Robertina-she was named being the 2nd youngest child -I think her parents gave up hope of having another boy after their wee Robert died.

[Currie]

Hello Joette,

Lieutenant Ramsay Wardlaw, of the 19th Foot, died in the Crimea. The news of his death reached the UK newspapers around 19-21 October, 1854. The officer’s deaths were reported a bit more prominently than the rank and file. The 19th appears to have been the 19th (The 1st Yorkshire North Riding) Regiment of Foot.

“On board the Andes, of wounds received in the battle of the Alma, aged 23, Lieut. Ramsay Wardlaw, 19th Regiment, youngest son of the late Lieut. Gen. Wardlaw.” http://books.google.com.au/books?id=Y3Z ... wardlaw%22

Does the date fit with yours?

Alan