Florence - a man's name?

davidm_uk · Post by **davidm_uk** » 06 Apr 2008 12:44

I have two census entries (see below) for an ancestor, in which the name appears (both to me and Ancestry indexes) as Florence Donoghue but age is shown in the male column, and in her daughter's marriage certificate Florence is shown in Fathers Name box. They were born in Ireland.

Has anyone come across Florence (or very similar spelling) as a man's name?

1841 - Class: HO107; Piece 673; Book: 4; Civil Parish: St Giles in The Fields; County: Middlesex; Enumeration District: 4; Folio: 17; Page: 26.

1851 - Class: HO107; Piece: 1508; Folio: 501; Page: 38.

Thanks, David.

ID:2842

YouTube · Post by **Jane** » 06 Apr 2008 14:44

I have not see it as a boys name, no chance it was Clarence or Florentz?

For checking names I find http://www.thinkbabynames.com/ useful when checking for variants on names.

g_mcallister · Post by **g_mcallister** » 06 Apr 2008 15:40

My Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names says Florence as a male name did not survive the 17c in England but has continued in use in Ireland. As you say your ancestor came from Ireland then Florence may be correct.

ChrisBowyer · Post by **ChrisBowyer** » 07 Apr 2008 06:46

I've never heard of it either, but a quick search on Ancestry for 'Florence, Male' reveals a handful in each census year, most of which, but not all, are obvious mis-transcriptions.

davidm_uk · Post by **davidm_uk** » 07 Apr 2008 10:09

Here are images of the names from the census returns (1841, 1851):

Not sure what the annotation to the left of the second one means. Both look like Florence to me. In both case the ages are listed under the male column. Other names confirm it's the same family in the two censuses.

David

ChrisBowyer · Post by **ChrisBowyer** » 07 Apr 2008 10:51

My guess is 'GM' is the clerk in the statistics office's initials querying the name (or more to the point, the sex), hence the wavy line below.

jeremyhills · Post by **jeremyhills** » 09 Apr 2008 16:37

I have a Florence Crauford GROVE, born in Florence, in 1838, he is definitely male!

Jeremy

BobReeder · Post by **BobReeder** » 10 Apr 2008 18:01

I too have a male ancestor named Florence, sometimes spelled Florance. I have seen this forename a number of times in census pages, the man being either born in Ireland or of Irish descent.

davidm_uk · Post by **davidm_uk** » 10 Apr 2008 18:06

Thanks everyone. So it looks like my 3 x Gt Grandfather really was Florence!

[oops][oops]

David

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