Gregg as a female name?

Have you ever met a man named Mr. Shalimar?

Doubt it, since Jaffe named him after the perfume.

It's an unusual name for a female for sure but she was an actress so maybe it was not her given name but a stage name she took. I read the book and there is no explanation for the name in it either.

Siri

Don't Make Me Have to Release the Flying Monkeys!

The answer to your question is 'Yes". My name is Gregg and I am a woman. My mother named me after this character when she was pregnant with me in 1960. She adored Suzy Parker who played Gregg in the movie. And I've only heard of maybe 2 other women with this name. One was a wealthy socialite in Miami and the other was an actress, so it might have been a stage name... But I don't know how the character in the book came about having that name. Maybe it was supposed to be a family (last) name? (When I finally watched the movie, after hearing about it all my life, I was bummed to find out that Gregg died. My mom never told me about that part!)

Gregg was probably named as a nod to the shorthand system devised by John Robert Gregg in the 19th century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregg_shorthand

Male names for girls occur more often than anyone thinks. I just watched "The Unknown", a Forties film starring Jeff Donnell. Others are Tucker McGuire, Lee Remick and Michael Learned. Over the years, we've had Glenn Close, Sean Young, Drew Barrymore, and Darryl Hannah, to name just a few of the well-known ones.

I'm not sure if Jo Morrow counts; "Jo" is her middle name, but perhaps it's from "Little Women". There's also Oscar-winner Jo Van Fleet.

In the early Fifties, my sister and I were given male names for our middle names. Later, they became commonly used for females: Lynn and Lee.

I do agree that an actress might choose something unusual. They still do it occasionally.

I wonder how many females out there have a male name because their parents expected a boy. I've worked with a number of women who ended up with a male name because the parents decided not to change their minds. While working at the city newspaper for 10 years, especially in obituaries, I saw women with men's names and vice versa many times. As a writer, unusual names fascinate me.


*** The trouble with reality is there is no background music. ***

For what it's worth, I think Jeff Foxworthy's wife is named "Gregg"

It could be her middle name; perhaps she was named Margaret (Elizabeth, Louisa etc) Gregg Adams, and though Gregg a better stage name. It´s quite usual, isn´t it?

Short for Gregoria, perhaps.