Tell me what your name is without telling me what your name is

[BatsatHalloween]

My name has a male and female variant
It was number 36 the year I was given it
It was acceptable in the 80s
It's a bit French
It's also a little bit Essex
Most people shorten it

Deborah!

samantha

Yes!

Two Queens Regent and three Queens Consort ...

This is fun.
Mine has a lot of different spellings and people usually get them wrong.
It's not spelled like the Freaky Friday girl (but I do look a bit like her haha)
A certain actor called Robert had it as his surname (again spelled differently to mine)

Yes

Lindsey?

Nellie?

Elizabeth?

Correct! And right spelling too hahahaha

Easy. Born in 1951 I was named after a princess born 9 months earlier. I would have liked a little more original thinking.

Haven't seen my name yet.... it went right out of fashion shortly after I was given it due to an affair between the Secretary of State for War and a good time girl.

Christine?

Such a fun thread. Thanks for starting it, OP.

Lindsey

Christine.

minette?

Anne.
Half the members of the youth club I was in as a teenager had mothers called either Elizabeth or Margaret.......

Christine?

My shortened version could be set into a ring. However growing up in the 80s it was a very popular dog name.......

Ann?

0ooh I like this game!mine was very popular in the 80s/90s, three others in my year at school. Can be shortened to a name in it's own right. Has a male equivalent.
No-one called this now aside from a very famously couple's son's, famous in her own right, wife.

Mainly black and white Collies......

Ruby?

Of course.
Did @Squirrelsnut turn out to be Pauline, or Paulette, or Paula?

Yes!