I’ve noticed that most of the perennial popular names that have always been in the top 30 are boys names (James, William, David, John) but I can only seem to find one perennial girls name: Elizabeth. Why do you think it is that girls names tend to change trends more than boys?
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it’s an interesting question, and i agree that people are generally more adventurous with girls names! i’m not sure why, though. girls are in some ways given more freedom of expression than boys (take this with a grain of salt, though), so the range of names that we perceive to be acceptable might be wider for them. also, i think that honour names are more traditionally used for boys, so perhaps there’s historically been less room for creativity. or maybe girls aren’t perceived to require a “formal” or “professional” name to the same extent that boys are? studies have shown that parents are generally willing to give their daughters more adventurous names, although in the last decade or so, the rate at which new boy names are being invented has caught up to the rate for girls.
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i agree with everything @anon35922409 said, especially that boys are more commonly named after male family members (their father, grandfather etc) than girls are
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I think @anon35922409 explaned it well, although I can’t find the studies she’s refering to.
Maybe parents like cute, new names for more for girls and mature, classical names more for boys.
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Girls get to be trendsetters and boys are encouraged to be more mainstream and conform to what’s “normal.” Its a bit unfair for boys but alas a lot of things are unfair for everyone. Names, clothes, hairstyles, toys…
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People just seem more conservative about their male names. Me, too. For my first names of sons, I would likely name them [name_m]Edmund[/name_m], [name_u]Robert[/name_u], [name_m]Gordon[/name_m], [name_u]Timothy[/name_u], [name_m]Lewis[/name_m], [name_m]Roger[/name_m], [name_u]Laurence[/name_u], etc. For my first names of daughters they’d be place names like [name_f]Geneva[/name_f], romantic names like [name_f]Guinevere[/name_f] or [name_f]Rosamund[/name_f], floral names like [name_f]Forsythia[/name_f] or [name_f]Jessamine[/name_f]. etc. But of course for my male middles, I’d go wild. 
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I believe it’s because boys are named after their fathers, grandfathers etc, much more often than girls are named after female relatives. (I’m talking about first names here, rather than middle names.) Girls’ names tend to be chosen based on fashion rather than tradition, which means they tend to become “dated” faster, because what’s fashionable now is unlikely to be fashionable in thirty years’ time.
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I agree with @anon35922409 !
I also think that @elanorelle (?) may have done some research on what names constituted as classic for each sex a little while back, so she may have some insight.
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I agree with what the above posters have said! There are a fair few name trends that show up for girl’s names and not boy’s names.
I’d reference this post that @tfzolghadr made, which I think explain the point quite clearly:
https://forum.nameberry.com/t/masculine-names-for-girls/241084/30?u=elliewilbury
in summary, this post is stating that the trend of genderbending names extends in one direction— masculine names on girls— and not in the other. This is one example of a naming trend that mostly applies to female names.
This post:
received a fair amount of positive comments (including my own)
while this post:
garnered overwhelmingly negative responses (again, including my own!) which I think illustrates it pretty clearly?
Another is nature names. On NB I think most nature names are fairly unisex, but in real life a male Sage or Lilac or, heaven forbid, Hummingbird, would be highly uncommon (at least in my experience)! Parents can get braver and braver with their nature names on girls, and little Wildroses and Nightingales and so on may keep popping up, but nature names on boys is a far more limited number.
Then there are virtue names. A male Patience or Joy is unheard of (again, in my experience) but are fairly commonplace on girls— or, at least, wouldn’t raise any eyebrows. @seawillow explain it well in this post:
https://forum.nameberry.com/t/unique-names-you-wish-were-used-more-often/371444/2?u=elliewilbury
and of course all of these trends that only apply to girls’ names do so for the reason of internalized misogyny— but that, of course, is another issue 
and if we’re going to get into that, I think NB does a good job of treating nature and occasionally virtue names as wholly unisex, and I try my best to, but genderbending names is still getting there! I am an offender of that as well, as you saw above in the Caspian and Jennifer posts, but NB is working on it and there are plenty of users who aren’t blind to internalized misogyny and who bring up the issue! so we’re getting there.
sorry for rambling 
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I’ve definitely noticed this as well! The most popular names for boys are always more classic, always-in-style kind of names, whereas the girls are often more trendy. I think many people feel more apprehensive about choosing a bold name for a boy. I don’t know why that is. Maybe there’s more pressure for boys to be professional, and thus they are given a more professional and traditional name. (I do not agree that this should be the case, it’s just a possible reason.)
For those of you who are not personally okay with giving [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f] to a boy, I totally understand. I completely get it I do. To each their own. I just thought I would try and rebuke the whole boy name on girl trend and go the other way, but the thing is that it doesn’t go both ways. I wish I did, so that there’s a balance. It won’t so there’s that. So no worries, it’s all good.
[name_f]Hope[/name_f] you all have a fantastic week. Take care 
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Oh, I understand, and I agree! I was trying to make that very point. It’s true— it doesn’t go both ways, even if it should, but that’s not just a result of NB’s view on this topic; it’s a result of what reaction one might get from society in general.
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Yup totally. Agreed
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I have noticed the same trend: people seem to embrace more unique girl names, while they stick closer to the classics for boys.
One possible reason: I think it is more likely for a boy to be named after a father or grandfather or other male family member, which would keep older names in the family.
Otherwise, there seems to just be this universal understanding that we play it safe with boy names. Well, unless you’re a Berry! 
However, the trend does seem to be shifting, and I think we are seeing and will continue to see parents choosing braver names for their boys.
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That’s an interesting observation. I feel like men are encouraged to be more “stoic” so maybe that applies to names as well? Like maybe people feel inclined to give their sons a name that feel “solid” and reliable instead of one that feels more trendy and who’s popularity has had more ebbs and flows. Women, on the other hand, are stereotyped as being very emotional so maybe that unconsciously leads parents to choose a girls name who’s popularity is a bit more “flighty”. Idk if that makes sense. I’m probably overthinking this.