(no subject)

[jessiac.livejournal.com]

I am quite interested about the issue of the name Ashley. I have always considered Ashley to be a predominately male name - I know couple of (male) Ashleys, and I always think of the Premiership footballer (soccer player) Ashley Cole whenever I hear the name! Is it really that popular a girl's name in the US?

Using the unscientific method of searching on google I found that:

Searching for the name 'Ashley' just in the UK returned, on the first three pages, the name 'Ashley' clearly as a forename in approximately 6 cases, all male. The other results did not mention the gender of the person.

Performing the same search, but excluding domains .uk, I found that the name Ashley appeared as a female name 6 times (twice for the same person, Ashley Judd), definitively, out of three pages, and once as a male name.

So my question is, why is there a difference at all between the designation of Ashley as a male and female name in the UK and the US? And is it that pronounced?

Comments

[lipsandhips.livejournal.com]

i know one male ashley and about 1000 female ashleys.
its a huge girls name here. very popular.

[solyma.livejournal.com]

ditto

[morphinae.livejournal.com]

Let's not reference drama filled posts, it just continues it. Please remove that line, just in case some retard wants to come back and start more crap.

As far as I know, Ashley started out as a predominetly male name a long, long, long time ago. It's just an earlier form of Riley, that became popular years and years ago for females. Now almost no one recognizes it as it's original form as a male name, except maybe in Europe where it originated as a male name, it's probably really weird for them to see so many american girls with a boys name.

[jessiac.livejournal.com]

Let's not reference drama filled posts, it just continues it. Please remove that line, just in case some retard wants to come back and start more crap

Alright.

You're right - I am surprised by how many female Ashleys there are. I used to assume they were all male until I heard of Mary-Kate and Ashley, and took the view that anyone American with that name is female.

Do you know why it started to become more popular for girls rather than for boys?

[morphinae.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I appreciate it.

As for your question, no idea. Probably the same reasons some male names have turned popular for girls now, someone just thought it was cute for a girl and it became a trend. If you think about it, the way name trends just happen and catch on like wild-fire is pretty neat.

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

Well, there is a male character in Gone with the Wind named Ashley, so I think it was a more popular male name in the US way back when.

Like you said, I do think of Ashley Cole when I hear of a man named Ashley, but the only Ashleys I have ever met in real life (I'm from the US, btw) have all been female. It seems to be an extremely popular girls name among people of my generation. I knew at least 5 or 6 Ashleys in junior high/high school, all girls.

[colin-chaotic.livejournal.com]

If I ever hear of male Ashleys - which I don't, except in fictional TV - I automatically assume they're upper class, old money. I don't know why I make that connection, but I do. On the other hand, female Ashleys I automatically think of as blonde ditzes - I blame the media for that, because of the tons of Ashleys I've ever met, maybe two have been blonde, and one's been ditzy (and she wasn't one of the blondes).

[dingo83.livejournal.com]

Yup, the gap is that big and opposite, and I haven't the slightest clue why. There are also variations of the name Ashley, such as Ashleigh, Ashlie, Ashlei, Ashlynn, Ashton, etc. and those are mostly females (the exception being Ashton- typically used as a boys name).

[dolcedaze.livejournal.com]

It's interesting to look at it on the baby name voyager software-
http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html

If you click just the "boy" box, you'll see that in its first round of popularity here it reached #663, and was only popular as a boy name. When it came back in the 30's, it stayed a boy name for a few decades, but then reached it's highest boy popularity at #357 in the 80's, after it was a girl's name as well. Even in the 90's it was on the chart for boys, it only dropped off completely in the last decade. I like it as a boy's name, but my husband would never go for it!

Madison follows a similar pattern, but later.

[wykd-faerie.livejournal.com]

I'm from the US and i have to agree that it is completely a girl's name here. In fact, the only male ashley i even know of is Ashley Parker Angel from the short-lived boy band o-town and who now has his own show on MTV. I think it's kind of interesting that a name that's all one gender in one part of the world is the opposite in another part.

[jessiac.livejournal.com]

I think it's kind of interesting that a name that's all one gender in one part of the world is the opposite in another part.

It is odd, isn't it? It seems so uncommon. Usually, where the US goes, the UK follows. Maybe Ashley will be a predominately girls' name in the UK in time.

[wykd-faerie.livejournal.com]

yeah it IS odd. the other name is Kelly. I know ONE male kelly and he gets made fun of all the time. there is also my name: Taylor. Which is now completely unisex, but when I was born (in 1984) it was a male name. I lost track growing up how many people would be talking to friends of mine on the phone and my friend would say, "i'm hanging out with my friend Taylor" and the person on the phone would think I was a boy and wouldn't believe I was a girl till I got on the phone. Now there are female Taylors everywhere.

[knightanika.livejournal.com]

To me Ashley will always be a girls name. I never met a boy ashley or ever heard of a boy ashley. There was this boy named Thomas Ashley (being his last name) And people teased him about it all the time.

I have a almost 3 1/2 year old cousin named Ashleigh and I know a 2 1/2 year old named Ashley. So Ashley will always be a girls name to me.

[rockstargrrrlie.livejournal.com]

I think that Ashley became a female name in the US when names ending in the -ey sound started to become more common for girls, starting in the 50's with Leslie, and then becoming more common in the eighties with Kelly, Courtney, Lindsay, etc. Ashley seems to have just followed up on that trend, and then became a hit for girls in the US.

It's a shame, because I think it's such a great name for a boy, with a perfect nickname, and the only thing that would stop me from naming my son that is the overwhelming popularity it has as a girl's name.

xoxoxo Michelle

[jessiac.livejournal.com]

My (male) cousin is called Courtney. He had a British mother who moved the entire family to the US. I feel for him ;-).

I think that I prefer Ashley as a middle name. I'd be worried that the popularity of the name in the US would influence the name use over here. But the nickname *is* really cool..

[smasharash.livejournal.com]

I live in the UK and have always thought of Ashley as a male name, though I did know a female Ashlee quite well.

I have only come across one female Ashley, and generally consider it to be a male name.

[ladyofmoonlight.livejournal.com]

I used to only know female Ashley's until I moved to the south (North Carolina) where there seem to be quite a few more male Ashleys. I think it follows along the same lines as Kelly, Cary/Kerry, Morgan, and Madison. It's still possible to use it as a boys name over here, and there are still many men with that name, but it's a predominantly female name now. Other boys names, like Riley, Carson, and Logan, seem to be following the same pattern. I think people in the US like using boys names for girls.

[last-summer.livejournal.com]

Just like others said, naming a boy Ashley in the U.S. today would definitely cause other kids to make fun of him for having a girls name. I've never met a boy Ashley, while it was probably the most popular name for a girl in my high school. I could easily name 10 or more girls.

However, I like it better for boys. But I would never subject a son of mine to have it now.

[jessiac.livejournal.com]

On a side note, I've always wondered how Cameron Diaz managed at school - that is still a predominately male name in the US, isn't it?

[paperboat118.livejournal.com]

Yep.
My choir teacher's name is Cameron [boy].

[last-summer.livejournal.com]

I'd say right now, it's probably become fairly equal for girls and boys. But when she was younger, it would have definitely been a boy's name.

[the-theorist.livejournal.com]

Ashley is an EXTREAMLYYYYYYYYYYY popular girl's name in the US. I haven't met 1 boy named Ashley here.

[quiet-recluse.livejournal.com]

I don't live in the US or Europe, but to me Ashley is a cool unisex name, and it's just as popular on boys as it is on girls.

[ouronlylight.livejournal.com]

I live in the southeastern portion of the US, and I've never met a male by the name of Ashley. Ashley is a hugely popular girls' name here - according to the social security administration (http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/), it was number eight in 2004. For boys, it fell out of the top 1000 in 1994 (http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi), and had never really been that outstandingly popular. For girls, however, it began rapidly climbing the charts in the mid '60s and peaked at number one in 1991 and 1992 (http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi), and has remained wildly popular since.

[julieannie.livejournal.com]

I remember hearing that a female soap opera character was named Ashley in the late 70s/early 80s and that caused a big boom of female Ashleys to appear. I had 5 female Ashleys in my 4th grade class. I've known one male Ashley in my life other than hearing it on TV.

[trissyd.livejournal.com]

I live in Canada and I only know one boy Ashley, as opposed to about 20 girl Ashleys.

[paperboat118.livejournal.com]

Lets say that out of 180 students that I go to school with every day, I know 12 Ashley/Ashleigh/etcs that are ALL girls.

I'm in Cali, and I've never met a boy Ashley.

[krosp.livejournal.com]

This isn't relevant because I'm from Australia, not US or UK. (Although Australia tends to be a mixture between the two quite often)

Here I think Ashley is stil considered a unisex name, but among younger people it is mostly found on girls. I think most people would be wary of giving it to a boy because girls have the name too, but not because "it is a girl's name".. if that makes sense.

[iheartjcchasexy.livejournal.com]

I'm a female Ashley, I went to school with more than a few female Ashleys, and I except for Ashley Parker Angel from O-town, I've never met a male Ashley.

Ashley is one of my favorite male names (it just doesn't sound female to me at all, and my mother gave it to me intentionally because she didn't want people to be able to determine my sex just from my name -- there went that, eh?). Sadly, because I myself am an Ashley, I'll never be able to name my own son Ashley. That would just be cruel. :-\