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ElizabethHerts
11-09-12, 21:36
http://www.lincstothepast.com/Records/RecordDisplayTranscript.aspx?oid=728588&iid=25201

Right-hand page, two burials for sons of John and Douglas Toyne.
Olde Crone
11-09-12, 21:39
Elizabeth

I can't help with your query, sorry, but this thread has reminded me of "another site" where we all spent ages looking for a Stuart somebody or other, only to find out Stuart was a female. The irate poster said that everyone should have known that Stuart was a girl's name, lol.

OC
ElizabethHerts
11-09-12, 21:41
http://www.lincstothepast.com/Records/RecordDisplayTranscript.aspx?oid=728588&iid=25200

This is their marriage in 1668.
ElizabethHerts
11-09-12, 21:42
Elizabeth

I can't help with your query, sorry, but this thread has reminded me of "another site" where we all spent ages looking for a Stuart somebody or other, only to find out Stuart was a female. The irate poster said that everyone should have known that Stuart was a girl's name, lol.

OC

Well, I can see how you might all have been barking up the wrong tree!:d

Must be fun when you see a Douglas giving birth. :D
kiterunner
11-09-12, 21:46
I haven't come across Douglas as a girl's name before as far as I can remember, but I have seen a few oddities such as Florence for a man (mostly in Ireland, I think)
maggie_4_7
11-09-12, 21:46
Well not sure about Douglas but I have a few female ancestors named Nicholas all descended from the same family, its defintely Nicholas.
Merry
11-09-12, 22:13
Yes, I have seen Douglas as a girl's first name - several times over on some fiche PR copies I have, but I don't remember which part of the country they are for - might be in Bedfordshire??
Asa
12-09-12, 05:42
There was a quite a famous C16th Douglas(s) - Sheffield, nee Howard who was a mistress of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Wikipedia says she was probably named after her godmother Lady Margaret Douglas.
ElizabethHerts
12-09-12, 05:59
Merry and Asa, very interesting. I have quite a few women who have family names, but usually as their second names.

My Lincolnshire ancestors were very good at giving surnames as Christian names. Hence I have "Newbourn Wood" and "Gawthorpe Wood" to name just a couple, but these were men.
Merry
12-09-12, 06:05
Wikipedia says:

Although today the name is almost exclusively given to boys, it was used as girls name in the 17th and 18th centuries, in the north of England

So, I'm thiking it probably wasn't my Bedfordshire fiche! But I don't have any north of England fiche, so that's a bit strange! I'm sure the entries I saw were earlier than the 18thC.
Shona
12-09-12, 08:38
Rare, but Douglas has been used in the 17th and 18th centuries as a female name - in the north of England and Scotland. Christian and Nicholas also used as female names in Scotland. Have also seen 'feminised' male names, eg, Hughina and Alexandrina, shortened to Hugh and Alex.
ElizabethHerts
12-09-12, 08:40
Shona, I have a couple of Scottish ancestors who vacillated between Christian and Christina. I think they are interchangeable.
Shona
12-09-12, 08:45
Shona, I have a couple of Scottish ancestors who vacillated between Christian and Christina. I think they are interchangeable.

They are interchageable - with some great variations. One favourite is Crusty! I've also got a few females who were baptised 'Baby' as a variant of Barbara.
Mary from Italy
12-09-12, 09:23
I have a female Merville in my tree. I discovered from the electoral rolls that the family house (in Australia) was called Ville de Mer - no idea which name came first.

I also have loads of female Christians in 17th/18th-century Derbyshire.
Phoenix
12-09-12, 12:46
Lots of my Marthas appear as Matthew in registers. Denis, Philip and Sidney are other female names. Sidney als Sidonia was the name of a female saint.

We didn't speak Latin, so I don't know how some of the names we actually spoken, but I get the impression that a lot were Phoenixa for girls and Phoenixus for boys. In other words, not really gender based.

The ones I do find hard to get my head around are Cecil and Lionel.
maggie_4_7
12-09-12, 17:20
Rare, but Douglas has been used in the 17th and 18th centuries as a female name - in the north of England and Scotland. Christian and Nicholas also used as female names in Scotland. Have also seen 'feminised' male names, eg, Hughina and Alexandrina, shortened to Hugh and Alex.

Yep the women named Nicholas are in my Scottish family. Have a lot of near female relatives living now with INA added on the end of male names too :D as well as in the past.

Williamina, Charlesina, Robertina, Jamesina...
ElizabethHerts
12-09-12, 17:35
I also have Williamina. Robina was another popular name in my family.
maggie_4_7
12-09-12, 17:37
That INA thing is definitely a Scottish querk though.

Some names that trip of the tongue may have migrated South but most haven't.
Asa
12-09-12, 19:37
Some of my Scottish Barbaras are recorded as Barbaray which I suppose has a lot to do with pronounciation? I know an Alexandrina and my great grandmother was a Robina, probably a helpful hint as to who her father was