I think usuage varies with english speaking country too. Ashley is somewhat unisex in the US but I've rarely heard it for a woman in the UK. I have known a female George though.

The UK Office for National Statistics has some data about names. The baby name explorer is mildly frustrating because they let you look for either boys names or girls names but not both at the same time. And for boys the only spelling is Ashley but for girls the only spelling is Ashleigh. For girls you're not allowed to enter George, only Georgia or Georgina.

Baby name explorer: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsde...

Baby names for girls: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsde...

Baby names for boys: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsde...

I get the impression that George as a male name took off because of one of the royal babies.

That’s funny, Ashley in French is clearly female :)

Even weirder is that, also in the UK, I'd consider it mostly feminine having only encountered a few tortured souls who had it as a male name.

Lots of women are called George. I know at least three and they’re different generations. If I heard someone was called George I don’t think I’d assume either way. I think that’s the whole point of why multiple female authors picked it as a pen name isn’t it?

...really? Georgina / Georgia / Gina are common feminine forms (US anyways). The point of picking George was to pick an unassailably male name so no one would question if the works came from a female brain.

Maybe you're an expert on this subject and I don't know what I'm talking about, but I think the point was to pick an common ambiguous name, so people could assume it was male if that was their bias but that it was also female. Note that three of the authors in this collection independently picked George as a plausibly-male name. I don't think that's a co-incidence.

I’m not picking a fight I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t walking into expert level trolling. It’s not an accident at all, you’re right. But this was not some happy thing in the 1800s. They picked George because it’s historically a male gendered name, so that small men would know they’re reading men’s work and it’s to be taken seriously and not laughed at in derision.