Amable

Amable has been used for both boys and girls, in different times and places, and for different reasons. The name comes from Latin amabilis, and means "loveable." When Amable has been used for a girl it is often a re-spelling or a misspelling of Amabel. Notice that the difference here is simply the transposition of two letters, and the meaning and pronunciation are the same. Both Amabel and Amable were also sometimes given as Christian "virtue" names, and in this case were actually meant to represent the word "aimable." Amable is also a French name--same meaning, same origin-- and in this case is a masculine name. This name is one of those that have given people in the U.S. who are researching their family geneaology a few headaches. The reason for this is that names were often changed from their original French forms to English forms by census takers in the U.S., and Amable in some cases became simply Ama, and in some cases became Marble. The Marble example is known to have occurred in the U.S. 1850 census in Maine, and this might give a clue about how Amable was being pronounced. (That is simply my guess, but I'm thinking a-MAH-bul, leading to Marble. I could easily be wrong.) Amable is also a surname, though not an extremely common one, so it stands to reason that a few Amables have been given the name because it was the maiden name of their mothers. We don't see the name Amable much in the U.S., and I don't really see a rise in popularity for it in the near future. If you happen to be writing a novel that involves some French-Canadian history though, Amable is a name that might be useful.