Dazbo, have you not heard of Princess Michael of Kent? Although that has come from marriage to Prince Michael of Kent, so it's really more like a title, although it's a bit odd all the same. And there's a perfectly good female version anyway - "Michaela".

Names do shift genders, for reasons I don't understand. For one, "Hilary" (or "Hillary") was a man's name until this century (you can still find some older men around called "Hilary"), whereas now it's exclusively female. The change happened on the British side of the pond, so I don't know what went on there.

What I find strange in the US is the "John Smith the Third" thing, like they're founding a dynasty. To European eyes, where "the Third" or whatever is tradition-based and signifies royalty/aristocracy, this looks both quaint (like they've not understood the rules) and profoundly arrogant. It's therefore often the basis for jokes about Americans. In a similar vein are the American tradition of having a title as a first name ("Earl/Duke/Lord/Prince"), the white American tradition of using surnames as forenames ("Forrest/Preston/Wilson") in a reversal of the old tradition of surnames originating from forenames, and the older Puritan-based practise of using Biblical names which aren't generally used elsewhere ("Hiram/Ezekial").

Basically, I guess other English-speaking countries shouldn't assume they have any cultural intersection with Americans, even if they happen to speak the same language! ;-)

Graham.