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?

Yes unisex but more often associated with girls. I prefer it as a boys name.

I'm called one of the unisex names mentioned in the thread. Was born in the 1970's and at school with lots and lots of Sharon's, Karen's, Amanda's, Tracy's, C/Katherine's, Jane's and Joanne's. Got bullied for having an unusual name. I was named after my DM best friend when she was little up and I think the name is much more common in the age group of 30-40 years older than me.

Well if I was a 15 year old boy called Evelyn I highly doubt I'd be thanking my parents for it.

Yes, all of these historically have been boys names too. I actually quite like Evelyn (pronounced Eve-lyn) for a boy, but would never do it.

I still find Evelyn, Hilary, Jocelyn and Leslie unisex. My first thought on hearing those names are Evelyn Waugh, Edmund Hillary (yes I know it's a surname!) and Leslie Howard.

I think of Marion, Shirley and Beverly as female.

I think it's a real shame when lovely male names get stolen for girls.

I knew a guy called Shirley. He was Jamaican.

The only "Eve-linn" I know is an elderly woman. I don't know whether her pronunciation is unconventional or whether it just varies a great deal?

Oh. Zombie thread. Apologies!

I would pedantically argue that "historically male" is a bit misleading... They were never exactly well-established, common, traditional male names. They were fashionable when aristocratic surnames were in vogue as boys' names, and then the prettier sounding names in that trend (so not the Percys and Herberts and Stanleys) were picked up for girls too.

I don't have stats at hand to prove this, but I suspect there have been far more female Evelyns, Beverlys, Jocelyns and Hilarys born than there ever were male ones.

The question is kind of a moot point right now, as everyone would assume the bearer of one of these names was female, so no, it's not "really" gender neutral.

Evelyn
Shirley
Beverley
Leslie
Hilary
Florence
Kerry
Ashley
Vivian
Kimberley
all used for boys in the past but once they started to be used for girls, they dropped out of fashion for boys. I hope the same doesn't happen to James.

My headmaster's name was Shirley. And I knew a lad called Tracy. My FIL is Francis.

Evelyn, Hillary, Beverly and Kimberley it think all crossed over from make to female names. I know men with all these names! All in their 60s or older now though.

No, it's a girl's name now.

Changingplace · 09/05/2023 21:03
I’ve never heard of this being unisex, always known it as a girls name”

Evelyn Waugh is the first person who springs to mind for me.

They tend to be surnames that are used as first names, then as girls' names.
Ashley, Leslie, Lindsay, Casey, Finley etc often with a slight change of spelling

"Kim" Philby was a nickname. His real name was Harold.

Even Evelyn Waugh was christened Arthur. I wouldn't call a boy Evelyn, it's definitely a feminine vibes name.

He was given his father's name, and was probably always called Evelyn.

It used to be a male name. But like everything else, once it started to be used for girls, it was dropped like a hot potato for boys.
Fun fact. Evelyn Waugh's wife was also Evelyn. They were known among their friends as Hevelyn and Shevelyn.

Evelyn is like Lynn or Lindsay. It’s now so feminine nobody would call their son it.

Boy named Sue.

It's very feminine. I really wouldn't land a boy with it

Makes me think of the male character Evelyn Napier in Downton Abbey.
A suitor to Mary Crawley.

But now it is mostly a female name, I think.