male or female name?

[tingirl]

Sheridan IS a female name, isn't it?

[kempie]

Sheridan was a surname, much as Clive was, and has been appropriated as a forename.

Strict gender conventions for personal names seems to have disappeared (if they ever existed!) with females being named with 'traditionally' male names e.g. Michael. No doubt the reverse is also true.

Many names are non-gender specific; Dana, Shirley, Jocelyn (a surname) are but a few examples.

[jno]

American girls seem to be acquiring names like Taylor and Madison that are normally surnames. If you remember who Clive James is (he hasn't been on the telly for a while)... he says in his autobiography that he was christened Vivian. Soon after that Gone With The Wind came out and thanks to Vivien Leigh this became unmistakably a girl's name, so he and his mother chose a new one, Clive.

Must say kempie I don't know many boys with traditionally female names. I did once know a woman called Hilary, who had sisters called Robin and Leslie; 'My parents wanted boys,' she said.

Anyway, Sheridan could be male or female.

[kempie]

Christy Brown & Christy Moore spring to mind.

[SteveD]

Sheridan Morley looks very much a male:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/biographies/biogs/radio2/sheridanmorley.shtml

[Holbeckian]

This Sheridan is definitely a woman..!!

Mind you, on "Two Pints.." she acts more like a bloke at times!!!!

http://www.sheridansmith.co.uk

[Grunty]

Try telling Hyacinth Bucket that her son has a female name.

In mediaeval times, there is reason to believe that many people had dual-gender names or the genders were not as they are today. Reading the original documents, it is possible to build up quite the wrong impression of a person from that period.

[Drusilla1S]

As mentioned above, Sheridan Morley is a man and names are not always gender specific. When I was a child my parents knew a couple called Kaye and Sydney. Sydney was the woman. I also knew an American boy called Tracey.

John Wayne's real name was, Marion Morrison. Now, that must have got him into a lot of fights!

[electricblue]

A guy i used to know when i was younger was called sheridan!!

[Lonnie]

How about 'Shirley Crabtree' alias Big Daddy the wrestler.

[markja]

i thought it is a hotel!