Ora Jones Married Ora Jones

Abstract

^RA JONES married Ora Jones,' a statement of 'Believe it or Not' t/ Ripley, exemplifies the amusing and often puzzling practice of giving the same Christian names to men and women. I remember learning, as a child, a set of mnemonics for the vowels which included Ora as a girl's name, and I recall my surprise when I read later of the doings of one Ora Morningstar, a male billiard player. And I was confused when I first read about Alma Richards, an Olympic highjump star. The list that follows is composed of names which have been employed both as male and as female given names. (The abbreviation f. is used for female and m. for male.) In some cases, the double use is of my own knowledge (e.g., a man of my acquaintance insists that his name is 'Ruby,' and never writes it any other way; he has support in the name of the former governor of Kentucky, Ruby Laffoon); some I have been told of by others; but most have been culled from my recent reading. In the latter case I have accepted a name in a use which I found novel and unaccustomed only if the context or setting, such as a picture or a personal pronoun, showed the sex without question. I have ignored such pairs as Francis and Frances; my whole point is the application of precisely the same name to both sexes. I have been wary of, and have sought to exclude, nicknames and diminutives; but the related phenomenon of applying to women diminutives ordinarily regarded as male is considered later. Middle names, such as that of Erich Maria Remarque, have not been included; the names of female saints are often given as middle names to boys in Catholic countries. Pen names, such as Henry Handel Richardson and George Eliot (are there any instances of men using women's names as pen names?) are, of course, irrelevant.