Is Evelyn truly a gender neutral name?

[yellowmeerkat]

Just curious really - only recently found out the name is unisex and used for males too. Never come across a male Evelyn in the UK. What’s everyone else’s experience?

Deffo a girls name. I'd be shocked if I met a boy Evelyn

It’s a girls name.

I knew a male Hilary and a male Vivien so I wouldn't find a male Evelyn too out there.

I’ve never heard of this being unisex, always known it as a girls name.

It's pronounced differently isn't it. Evelyn Waugh is deffo a man!

The first "Evelyn" I think of is Evelyn Waugh, but that was some time ago.

Historically it may have been unisex, but it's a girls name these days surely?

According to Google in fact:
"1 out of every 189 baby girls and 1 out of every 206,738"

The author Evelyn Waugh was male. Originally it was a male name.

Evelyn Waugh. And his cursed books. Ugh.
I don't know if it's used for men anymore, though.

John Wayne's real name is Marion, so could be I suppose.

Evelyn Waugh - a male novelist from the last century.

Ev-ah-linn = girl
Eve-linn = boy

It's not the most masculine of names is it? But quite classy.

Didn't he marry a woman called Evelyn?

They were known as Hevelyn and Shevelyn

Eve-lin is male
Ev-e-lyn is female

Absolutely not, but pretty rare when you do encounter them. I knew a male Lesley, now dead, and I do know a (quite mad, not young) male Hilary.

Names do ‘migrate’. Male Evelyn Waugh was married to a female Evelyn. Shirley used to be a male name. Dara in Ireland used to be pretty unisex in my schooldays, but has migrated towards male.

Boys years and years ago, girls nowadays.

I know of a male Evelyn yes.
It's unisex but extremely rare to find a male Evelyn

It’s a male name too, and I’ve met a male Vivian.

And Beverley too.

I’ve never met a male Beverley though. I must have read it somewhere (MN probably).

I've known of one, he was very posh and well into his elder years, so I don't think it's very popular or current. It's definitely a unisex name but I wouldn't use it for a boy.

A male relative who was born around 1925 was called Evelyn. We knew him by his more traditionally male middle name though. He changed it when he signed up to the army when he was 16, after being bullied about it as a child. I think one of his brothers was called Shirley, or had it as a middle name

It was my grandad’s name, born in 1920s.

Evelyn
Jocelyn
Hilary
Beverly

All historically male names that have become established as female names really now, although I've met men with all those names. "Bev" is a huge bloke, you wouldn't want to pick a fight with him by telling him he had a "girls name".

I only know female Evelyn’s.

In ds’s class there is an Evelyn (pronounced Eve Lyn) and an Evelyn (pronounced Ev Lyn).

I guess it is, but in the same way than Leslie and Hilary are (as in, Leslie Nielsen and Hilary Benn).