Names girls and boys

I haven’t blogged about names for quite a while... but one of my favourite forms of names, are “girls names that derive from boys names". In medieval times, these names were often still pronounced in the masculine way, informally. Philippa was said as “Philip” or Jacqueline as “Jake”. Feminine endings in French are usually formed by adding “e” or “ette” to a male name… such as Henriette, or Antoinette… or Martine, for the feminine of Martin... or Simone for the feminine version of Simon. In English, a name is often feminised by adding an “a” to it... such as “Alexandra”, or Alberta. Others are Cecilia, Claudia, Martina, Michaela, Roberta…. Other feminisations are made by adding “etta” as in Henrietta, or Harriet… for Henry or Harry. Another way of feminising a name is to add “ine” or “ina” to the name, such as Geraldine, Georgina, Christina, Josephine. Caroline is a feminine version of Charles, from the Latin version of Charles, "Carol” with “ine” added. Other female versions of Charles are “Carole”, or Carola, which had some popularity in Victorian times. And the French feminine, “Charlotte” passed into English. The usual female version of Stephen, is Stephanie, which is also a French and German name.. but which became popular in English. An unusual and occasionally used “female name” is Richmal for Richard. The author Richmal Crompton, famous for her “Just William” stories, had this name, which was a mixture of Richard and the feminine “mal” for Mary. Other female versions of Richard which have cropped up in recent years are “Richenda”, and “Richelle”. There was a medieval name, Richilde, which meant Rule in Battle. Its not an exact equivalent of Richard but it is similar in meaning. Thomas has a feminine version, Thomasina, but in recent years, the shorter version, Tamsin, has become popular. Michael has been feminised as Michelle or Michaela. Peter has the feminine version Petra or Peta. Yvo has the Frenchified version, Yvonne. Samuel does not have an exact feminine version but the name Samantha, which was invented in the 18th century, has been used.
David has a few versions. One is Davina, another is Davida, and a third is Davinia. Francis has a very similar version, Frances or Francesca. James has a French version.. In France the name is Jacques and the female name is Jacqueline.. This has become common in England. Luke has Lucy or Lucia. Mark is feminised as Marcia or Marcella. In modern times, it has become more common to give girls names which were originally boys’ names… such as “Jamie” or “Jaime” as a version of James.. or Charlie for Charles.