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?

I agree with a PP.
Boys names become unisex and then female.
They don't tend to go in the other direction.

imo Parents of boys don't want unisex names, only parents of girls.

I worked for a male Evelyn, born in the 30s.

Kim Philby

Beverly Nicholls was a male journalist/columnist.

There is I think a male saint Hilary
Leslie Charteris (male) wrote the Saint. Female version usually -Lesley-

There was an Evelyn in my nursery class back in the early 80s so I’ve always considered it a female name.

@Treasureboxkey ,No. Evelyn can be eev-lyn, evlin or evuh-lin for a girl.

@MyGrandmaLizzie , I've worked with male Kims.

It's feminine now, would be odd to name a boy it even if it was originally a boys name

I remember Chris Hemsworths character in Home and Away was called Kim.

I work with a male Leslie he often gets emails calling him Ms. Probably doesn’t help that his surname is also a women’s name.

I wouldn’t name my son a unisex name as like others say the trend is often for unisex names to become female exclusively and I wouldn’t want my son to be annoyed at causing him issues.

Maybe I'm just ignorant, but I only ever knew Sidney as a boys' name for a very long time until one or two celebrities called their daughters that - in the UK at least.

The female Sidney that I know (in the UK) is in her 60s

Kim as a name featured equally in girls and boys at my school in the 1960s.

Evelyn is Maureen Lipman on Corrie !

Lots of names that sound similar but can be used for either male or female. I’m possibly off the generation where I know friends on my elderly parents and younger children so personally know all the following.

Male then Female:
Beverly. Beverley
Robin. Robyn
Leslie. Lesley
Evelyn. Evelyn
Shirley. Shirley
Aubrey. Aubrey
Vivian. Vivienne
D’arcy. Darcy
Kelly. Kellie
Sidney. Sydney
Kim. Kim
Kimberly. Kimberley
Chris. Chris
Sam. Sam

Just beware of the implications - many many years ago I arrived extremely late for a conference. Was informed I was room sharing so went to my room, went to bed then woke in the morning to discover my room mate was of the opposite sex. No one had realised (rather stupidly) that he had a name that could be male/female. Reservations had allocated us a room together not realising and the night receptionist hadn’t seen the other person so was none the wiser either.

The apology flowers only added fuel to the fire for my husband - it took a lot of explaining!!!!

Evelyn Waugh, anyone?! 🙄

That's the whole point of this thread.
Evelyn Waugh was born in 1903.
In the last 120 years the name Evelyn has transferred to being female.
I assert it would be highly unusual to name a boy Evelyn these days.

Sounds female these days. You could go for Yves if you would like a male name. If you’re looking for a gender neutral name, ask yourself why.

Evelyn Waugh didn't like his 'girl's' name, so even at the start of the 20th century it was more associated with girls.

Shirley is another one that used to be a boy's name.

I've never met a male Evelyn.

It's a boy named Sue territory imo.

Yes, but smacks a bit of public school

I know a male Tracy.

I don't think I've ever heard of another male Kelly, apart from the lead singer of Stereophonics.

I know a male Hilary who is roughly my age. Surely Leslie is not such an unusual male name - there must be hundreds of men called Les still about including a fair few famous ones.

Evelyn...I wouldn't be surprised to meet a male one but it's quite a name for a baby and small child.

A friend's brother is called Kelly. He's in his 60s and of Caribbean heritage.