Dynamic Constructor using Lambda and Func<>
public class item
{
    public string name { get; set; }

    public item(string nam)
    {
        name = nam;
    }


}

IList<string> alist = new string[] {  "bob","mary"};

Func<string, item> func1 = x => new item(x);

Func<IEnumerable<string>,IList<item>> func2 = x=> x.ForEach(i => func1(i));

Func<IEnumerable<string>,IList<item>> func2 = x => x.Select( i => new item(i)).ToList();

IList<string> listOfStrings = new string[] {  "bob","mary"};
IList<item> listOfItems = listOfStrings.Select(s => new item(s)).ToList();

IEnumerable<item> myfunc(IEnumerable<string> stringlist)
{
    var q = from s in stringlist
            select new item(s);
    return q.ToList();
}