Editing Sharon (section)

==Etymology==
The Hebrew word simply means 'plain', as in a flat area of land,<ref>[https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H8289&t=KJV Strong's Concordance H8289]</ref> but in the [[Hebrew Bible]], {{lang|he|שָׁרוֹן}} is the name specifically given to the fertile plain between the [[Samarian Hills]] and the coast, known (tautologically) as [[Sharon plain]] in English. The phrase "[[rose of Sharon]]" (חבצלת השרון ''ḥăḇaṣṣeleṯ ha-sharon'') occurs in the [[KJV]] translation of the [[Song of Songs]] ("I am the rose of Sharon, the [[lily of the valley]]"), and has since been used in reference to a number of flowering plants.

Unlike other [[unisex name]]s that have come to be used almost exclusively as feminine (e.g. [[Evelyn (name)|Evelyn]]), ''Sharon'' was never predominantly a masculine name. Usage before 1925 is very rare and was apparently inspired either from the Biblical toponym or one of the numerous places in the United States named after the Biblical plain.