More Parents Are Opting for Gender-Neutral Baby Names (2024)

One day, the need for gender-neutral name lists will be obsolete. Any name could be either a boy name or a girl name, so it's kind of silly to separate them. And more and more parents are opting for names that could fit for any gender: According to a study cited in The Atlantic, "In 2021, 6% of American babies were bestowed androgynous names, approximately five times the number in the 1880s." And that's only getting faster: According to research done by baby-naming site Nameberry and the New York Times, which looked back at 100 years of baby names, there was an 88% increase in the use of unisex names between 1985 and 2015.

The SSA recently released a rank of the top 1,000 most popular baby names used in the United States last year, separated by sex. This year, out of the top 100 or so names for boys and names for girls, these monikers wound up ranking on both lists.

1. Parker (No. 94 for boys, No. 115 for girls)
2. River (No. 105 for boys, No. 150 for girls)
3. Rowan (No. 96 for boys, No. 276 for girls)
4. Riley (No. 39 for girls, No. 225 for boys)
5. Avery (No. 26 for girls, No. 221 for boys)
6. Logan (No. 33 for boys, No. 372 for girls)
7. Quinn (No. 73 for girls, No. 443 for boys)
8. Jordan (No. 92 for boys, No. 504 for girls)
9. Cameron (No. 64 for boys, No. 514 for girls)
10. Angel (No. 62 for boys, No. 521 for girls)
11. Carter (No. 47 for boys, No. 550 for girls)
12. Ryan (No. 74 for boys, No. 582 for girls)
13. Dylan (No. 41 for boys, No. 576 for girls)
14. Noah (No. 2 for boys, No. 618 for girls)
15. Ezra (No. 25 for boys, No. 648 for girls)
16. Emery (No. 82 for girls, No. 727 for boys)
17. Hunter (No. 101 for boys, No. 780 for girls)
18. Kai (No. 59 for boys, No. 790 for girls)
19. August (No. 106 for boys, No. 862 for girls)
20. Nova (No. 32 for girls, No. 883 for boys)

While those names above are both popular and in use for both boys and girls, some of them are still far more heavily weighted to one side than the other. Nameberry has compiled a list of what they call "nonbinary names," or names that are used (roughly) the same number of times across all columns. "Names in the nonbinary group are used equally for babies of any sex and do not identify with either gender," the site says. These truly unisex names include these monikers.

1. Arbor
2. Ash
   
3. Charlie
4. Drew
   
5. Ellis
6. Everest
7. Jett
8. Lowen
9. Moss
10. Oakley
11. Onyx
12. Phoenix
13. Ridley
14. Remy
15. Robin
16. Royal
17. Sage
18. Scout
19. Tatum
20. Wren

Of the names Nameberry has cited, a few, like Arbor, Sage and Moss — along with bird names like Robin and Wren — are nature-inspired names, a trend we've been seeing for a few years now. The Atlantic says other unisex names have arisen from other naming trends, which just aren't associated with any particular gender. One of them is the use of last names as first names, like Blake, Emerson, Lennon and Remington. Another is place names, like Phoenix, Dakota and Brooklyn. And two of the most popular names The Atlantic saw — Charlie and Frankie — follow the trend of using nicknames as first names. (Stevie is another popular choice in this vein, like Stevie Nicks.)

When you look at the really big picture, throughout history there have been many names the names that flipped from blue to pink and back again — or landed somewhere in the middle. Quartz has analyzed a few names that have become more and more gender-neutral over the past 100 or so years. They may have started off being associated with either boys or girls, but over time, the other side has managed to even the score. (Interestingly, the names Ashton and Harper have become more gendered over time.) Some popular unisex names Quartz has observed include Alexis, Azariah, Baylor, Emory, Finley, Hayden, Justice, Landry, Skylar and Spencer.

Other names are more stable. Data scientist Nathan Yau analyzed SSA charts going back to 1930, and found names that kept the unisex 50-50 split for years, even decades. He also notes the times that a moment in pop-culture history — such as Disney using the name Ariel for the protagonist in The Little Mermaid — tipped the scales one way or another. According to Yau, these are the most typical unisex names that we haven't already mentioned:

1. Jessie
2. Marion
3. Alva
4. Ollie
5. Cleo
6. Kerry
7. Guadalupe
8. Carey
9. Tommie
10. Sammie
11. Jamie
12. Kris
13. Robbie
14. Tracy
15. Merrill
16. Noel
17. Rene
18. Johnnie
19. Ariel
20. Jan

Those are names that have been used pretty evenly for both boys and girls. Yau also notes the names that have switched the most, ping-ponging back and forth between being used by mostly girls, then mostly boys, and vice versa. The most toggled names are:

1. Casey
2. Jackie
3. Kerry
4. Jodie
5. Rene
6. Darian
7. Robbie
8. Milan
9. Jaylin
10. Devan
11. Channing
12. Gerry
13. Monroe
14. Kirby
15. Santana

If you didn't find your unisex name among those listed above, here are additional gender-neutral names.

1. Adair
2. Aubrey
3. Bailey
   
4. Bellamy
   
5. Bentley
   
6. Blair
   
7. Bowie
   
8. Campbell
   
9. Cassidy
   
10. Cedar
    
11. Colby
12. Courtney
    
13. Dallas
14. Dale
    
15. Darcy
    
16. Echo
    
17. Gray
18. Greer
19. Harley
    
20. Haven
21. Holland
    
22. Hollis
    
23. Indigo
24. Kendall
25. Kit
26. Lane
    
27. Lennox
28. London
    
29. Loyal
    
30. Luxury
    
31. Lyric
    
32. Marley
    
33. Morgan
34. Navy
35. Ocean
36. Palmer
    
37. Peyton
38. Presley
39. Raleigh
    
40. Reagan
41. Reef
    
42. Reese
43. Rory
44. Salem
    
45. Sawyer
46. Shea
47. Shiloh
48. Sidney
    
49. Sloan
    
50. Story
51. Sutton
52. Taran
    
53. Taylor
    
54. True
    
55. Zion
    

Looking for more great baby names? Check out these Good Housekeeping guides:

Indian/Hindu Boy Names | Indian/Hindu Girl Names | Hispanic Boy Names | Hispanic Girl Names | Irish Boy Names | Irish Girl Names | Long Names for Boys | Long Names for Girls | Short Names for Boys | Short Names for Girls

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