Genealogy Chat

Just dawned on me that Cecil is both a boy and a girls name.
Had a (female) neighbour called Cecil when I was a child.
Also:
Hilary
Kim
Robin
are all boys & girls names.


maggie

Jodie
Alex
Robin/Robyn
Chris
Lee

Dianne xx

How about -

Lesley/Leslie
Esme (my mother's name, but is usually male)
Frances/Francis
Billy/Billie
Ashley

I am sure there are lots of others but my brain is a bit tired this time in the morning.

Sam
Billy/Billie

Interesting.

I've never heard of a female Cecil so that must have been rare. I think there is more frequently Cecile but that doesn't sound quite the same.

Sydney/Sidney was occasionally used for girls.
Frances/Francis sound almost the same and I've seen old records using mixtures of spellings.
Lesley is the female version in the UK but I think Leslie is often used for girls as well as boys elsewhere.
Lee and Leigh can be either.
Morgan
Peter/Peta sound the same

I bet others can think of more.

Sue
x

Lynn,
I only know female Esme's - was totally unaware it was a male name.

Kerry can be male or female, as can Kay.

maggie

Christian was a girls name until recently

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unisex_name

http://www.cool-baby-names.com/search-categories-unisex.htm

http://www.babynameguide.com/categoryunisex.asp?strCat=Unisex

Sue
x

Terry / Terri
Courtney

Hi Maggie,

My mum's name was Esme with an accent over the last 'e'. Apparently that was the male version of the name which originated in France. She went to school with a boy called Esme, but you are right that it is almost always a female name now.

She had a girl friend in Canada called Sidney.

Lynn

I've never heard of Cecil as a girl's name either - maybe it was a shortened form of Cecilia.

I had an Uncle Alma, and there are also several female Almas on my tree.

Evelyn is another example: the author Evelyn Waugh was a man.

Hi Mary - definitely not a short form of Cecilia - this neighbour when I was very young was very old & scary - and insisted to my dad it had nothing to do with Cecilia!! LOL

Apparently (after googling) it's of Latin and Old
Welsh origin.

Know of Evelyn Waugh, Alma I always thought of as female (Alma Cogan)

maggie

I once had a date with a Vivian!

He had a Rolls Royce car and we (us girls) needed a lift home from the youth club.(1967)

He obviously liked the look of me so we got our lift home!

I was the last to get dropped off.....he asked to see me again.....tea with Mummy and Daddy?

I thought OMG! what a house!.....Turned out....It was the flippin gate house!!

Main house was further up the flippin drive!!!!!

No! I diddnt marry him......married a git with no flippin money...10 years later and 3 kids, DIVORCED him......broke!...


Ho hum...such is life!
Kids turned out OK and I'm........wait for it!.......

§till Lòóking™ LOL


Gerri x

Gerri, how about your own name?

Also Charlie / Charley?

And George, or is that one cheating?

Duncan

Oh yeah!


Gerri/Gerry/Geri

Geraldine x AKA Dena

Anyone remember the wrestler, Big Daddy? His christian name was Shirley. John Wayne's real name was Marion. And there was a top class footballer in the 70's whose middle name was Primrose - don't think I should name him as he is still alive.

You can't help asking serious questions about the parents sometimes!

Duncan

Of course Gerri - Vivian in that thing with Ade Edmonson (Vivian) and Rik Mayall!!

Duncan - George - short for Georgina/Georgia, Charlie/Charley short for Charlotte - still relevant as our rellies may have used these forms in the census!!

maggie

Oh yes, Shirley Crabtree!!

Duncan - please name the footballer!!

Pretty please????

It must be on his passort LOL

maggie

I always wondered where Alma came from too, but apparently it was quite a common boys' name at one time - I read recently that it was the name of a battle during the Crimean war.

Just thought of another one, I have a friend called TJ, his name is actually Tracy.
Used to be Tracy = male
Tracey = female
but it has sort of merged now and many Tracy's are female.

maggie