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I have never heard it as a name, though it looks more feminine than masculine, at least to me....

This is an English surname and place name. The place in England is in Shropshire, and according to A Dictionary of English Place-names by A. D. Mills is goes back to Old English words that meant "Lake or pool of a man called Elli."

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Ellesmere is probably best known today, though, because it's the name of a large island in the Canadian Arctic:

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http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0002578

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I haven't run across Ellesmere yet as a given name, but it wouldn't surprise me for either gender.

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