sentences:  The name was brought to England with the Norman invasion, and is occasionally recorded in England in the 12th and 13th centuries.The masculine given name appears with greater frequency in the early modern period.The spelling "Vivian" was historically used only as a masculine name, and is still used as such in the UK with this spelling, but in the 19th century was also given to girls and was a unisex name until the early part of the 20th century; since the mid 20th century, it has been almost exclusively given as a feminine name in the United States.