(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?