Hi

A simple question - can Clare be a man's given name in the USA?

I'm trying to trace Clara/Clare S Noble, born 1870. While I can find references to Clara/Clare's birth, they say she is a female. But later on she seems to become a male.

I've wondered if Clare is an abbreviation for Clarence; or if Clare is another way of spelling Claire; or if she was 'assigned' as a female at birth but later decided to be the male that he felt he was; or indeed whether she was a lesbian who decided that the only way to get through life was to describe herself as a male on census returns.

There are lots of possibilities, and I don;t expect that anything will get resolved. But any thoughts would be appreciated.

If I've made some errors in my thinking around the gender/sexuality issues and have offended anybody who reads this then please accept my apologies.

Geoff