150 Gender-Neutral Names for Parents Who Want to Keep Things Unisex
Plus, you might be surprised: Many monikers that have traditionally been thought of as a boy or girl name make a great gender-neutral name, too. You’ll love seeing how so-called boy’s names work for a baby girl, and vice versa — sometimes all it takes is one creative parent (or a famous celebrity) to change the perspective.
Unisex Baby Names
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Searching for the perfect gender-neutral name for your little one? Check out the top unisex baby names here.
These days, gender reveals are an increasingly popular way to find out your baby’s sex and announce it to the world. But if you’re one of those parents who would prefer to be surprised in the delivery room rather than in front of friends and family while cutting cake, these unisex names will save you a lot of in-the-moment deliberation and stress.
Plus, you might be surprised: Many monikers that have traditionally been thought of as a boy or girl name make a great gender-neutral name, too. You’ll love seeing how so-called boy’s names work for a baby girl, and vice versa — sometimes all it takes is one creative parent (or a famous celebrity) to change the perspective.
Here, some of our favorite unisex baby names for a baby boy or a baby girl. You can’t go wrong with any of these gender-neutral ideas.
Gender-neutral names
1. Alex
The variations of this classic unisex name can be written a few different ways on your child’s birth certificate: Alex is, of course, a go-to nickname for Alexandra and Alexander, but it can also be shortened from Alexis, Alexia, Alexa or Alexandria — or simply opt for Alex on its own.
2. James
You might not have considered the name James as being gender-neutral until actress Blake Lively gave her daughter the name in 2017. Nicknames like Jim or Jimmy work well for a boy, while Jamie is a sweet option for a girl.
3. Blake
Much like her daughter, Blake Lively knows what it’s like to navigate the world with a unisex name. Blake is a popular unisex name for both boys and girls, landing number 210 on the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) list of top names in 2020 for boys, and 219 the same year for girls.
150 Gender-Neutral Names for Parents Who Want to Keep Things Unisex
These nonbinary names are as cute and unique as they are.
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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.
For now, though, the Social Security Administration (SSA), which keeps data about the most popular baby names, still separates the name list by boys and girls. And from its data, we can see that there are some names that still seem most heavily associated with one gender. But parents, it seems, are less and less likely to adhere to conventions about which names belong to which column.
If you’re one of the parents interested in unisex baby names, these are trending gender-neutral names for 2023. Some are common for everyone; others are traditionally associated with one gender but are increasingly flipping to the other one. But they’re all beautiful, and unlikely to leave with you with baby-name regret.
Most Popular Gender-Neutral Names
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.
- Parker (No. 94 for boys, No. 115 for girls)
- River (No. 105 for boys, No. 150 for girls)
- Rowan (No. 96 for boys, No. 276 for girls)
- Riley (No. 39 for girls, No. 225 for boys)
- Avery (No. 26 for girls, No. 221 for boys)
- Logan (No. 33 for boys, No. 372 for girls)
- Quinn (No. 73 for girls, No. 443 for boys)
- Jordan (No. 92 for boys, No. 504 for girls)
- Cameron (No. 64 for boys, No. 514 for girls)
- Angel (No. 62 for boys, No. 521 for girls)
- Carter (No. 47 for boys, No. 550 for girls)
- Ryan (No. 74 for boys, No. 582 for girls)
- Dylan (No. 41 for boys, No. 576 for girls)
- Noah (No. 2 for boys, No. 618 for girls)
- Ezra (No. 25 for boys, No. 648 for girls)
- Emery (No. 82 for girls, No. 727 for boys)
- Hunter (No. 101 for boys, No. 780 for girls)
- Kai (No. 59 for boys, No. 790 for girls)
- August (No. 106 for boys, No. 862 for girls)
- Nova (No. 32 for girls, No. 883 for boys)
Nonbinary Names
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.
Trending Unisex Names
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.)
Classic Unisex Names
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:
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:
More Options
If you didn’t find your unisex name among those listed above, here are additional gender-neutral names.
Looking for more great baby names? Check out these Good Housekeeping guides: