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ArchivesQuestion re. Alison
Does anyone know when the name Alison was first used as masculine?
As in what time period?
I checked the board, but I'm curious about when it changed gender.
Is it a recent development, or was it originally masculine, became feminine and is now masculine?
Thanks in advance.
As in what time period?
I checked the board, but I'm curious about when it changed gender.
Is it a recent development, or was it originally masculine, became feminine and is now masculine?
Thanks in advance.
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Replies
Well, actually I think the entries are a little misleading as the entry for Alison says both male and female while the one for Allison only mentions female, and an even higher % of males who have been named Allison would have the two-l spelling, since that seems to be the most common spelling for the surname.
The use of Allison or Alison as a male name is not a direct transfer from the female name to male use, but is a use of the surname Allison as a male given name. I don't know when the very first such use happened, but it probably would have been in the late 18th or early 19th century, the time when it became an established custom to turn almost any surname into a male given name. The surname Allison sometimes does indicate that one had a medieval ancestress called Alison, but it also can go back to "son of Alan" or "son of Alwin", according to Reaney & Wilson's A Dictionary of English Surnames.
The use of Allison or Alison as a male name is not a direct transfer from the female name to male use, but is a use of the surname Allison as a male given name. I don't know when the very first such use happened, but it probably would have been in the late 18th or early 19th century, the time when it became an established custom to turn almost any surname into a male given name. The surname Allison sometimes does indicate that one had a medieval ancestress called Alison, but it also can go back to "son of Alan" or "son of Alwin", according to Reaney & Wilson's A Dictionary of English Surnames.
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