On Aug 27, 2006, at 18:04, Margery Allcock wrote:
Tamara wrote:
in Polish, "Marian" is a male name; in English, it's not :)
I think, in English, this depends on the spelling: "Marion" is male
(John
Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison on May 26, 1907); Marian
Montgomery
(the jazz singer) on the other hand was female.
Depends on "which English" we're talking about <g> My husband's first
wife's name was Marion. Which, for me, was easier to accept than "Maid
Marian" (Robin Hood's companion). Who, in Polish version of the story,
appeared as "Marianna". Same goes for Brenda's "Michal"; in Polish,
it's *strictly* a male name (same as English "Michael"), "Michalina"
being the female version. We had a major snafu once, when a family
asked for an exchange student, hoping he would be a companion for their
son. The girl's name was Hilary (or maybe Hillary, but what's one "l",
when dealing with foreigners <g>)...
There are some other names which depend, for their gender, on the
spelling -
e.g. Leslie is male, and Lesley is female, as far as I know.
Again, not this side of the Atlantic; "Leslie" seems to be a female
name here, and I can't remember ever seeing a "Lesley", though
doubtless they exist.
But it's true that I had forgotten all of those "double-edged" names
when I said that given names gave away one's gender :)
--
Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/
Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland)
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