Let’s break this down a little bit… gender neutral names are typically pretty great… and there are so many to choose from and in the same categories as gendered names. BUT there aren’t quite as many and sometimes names try to gender themselves through usage… or people do through association with these names as they’re in use.
Some of the best categories to look in for them of course are:
words/nature… while many names have been designated best for one gender over the other and flower names for example are almost exclusively found used for girls… there’s a lot to choose from but people give different qualities to boys and girls and do tend to separate even words by gender!
You have names that have just been neutral for so long that people genuinely don’t make guesses when they read a name off a page.
And you have obscure names that people just haven’t heard and have no association with what-so ever…
And then you have the names that cross gender barriers, one day is every other boy and the next it’s also being worn by a little girl and people begin to feel comfortable with that, it’s the initial wow then ok yea that works!
I feel like I’m missing categories? (Feel free to add your own)
But what it breaks down to for parents looking for a name for a child… (or individuals looking for a name for themselves!!!) why are they choosing a gender neutral option and is the name chosen being chosen for a reason or it being chosen for a reason within being neutral and what’s the reason there… and I think that can be important as well. I for example have realized that my almost preference for gendered names probably comes mostly from a love of classic literature and family… BUT I also really love gender neutral names (on boys especially!)… one real look over my long (probably won’t use these but I love them anyway) list and I think a lot of people might question why so many of them show up as pink on nameberry! They’re clearly usable on boys!
(Suggestion: green please, let’s have not just pink and blue, could we have green names that show up as pink and blue and green so we can pick? This is mostly for aesthetics when making lists on this site…)
Anyway… if you’ve read this far you can answer this for yourself and share your thoughts with other users as well… onto actual names (you’ll notice I’ve neglected to mention a single actual name up until this point *shocking I know)
5. I love long frilly names… names you could see all dressed up a long while back into the past and familiar enough but not too familiar (Biblical names, regency era names…) … AND I love names from the above categories as well, just adding this as a bit of a challenge…
Does anyone have any really believable as entirely neutral names in their minds that would fit in that category? Maybe Valentine… I feel like could work
Would anyone who’s interested like to list their top 5 gender neutral names in each of these let’s call it 5 categories and why… if they chose a gender neutral name for their child/self, plan to, or would?
This post is entirely too wordy but perhaps a fun way to kick off this new section!
I can’t think of a top 5 for all of these categories (really I’m just not well versed enough in name trends and stats to comment on some of them!), but word/nature names are my favourite category of gender neutral names, so coming up with a top 5 is quite easy (slash hard because I have to stick to just five…)
Robin (my son’s name so has to go first - it might also fit categories 2 and/or 4?)
River
Rowan
Haven
Indigo
I also like a lot of nature names that currently lean feminine on any gender, like Autumn, Wren, Willow, Winter, and Meadow!
We chose a gender neutral name when I was 12 weeks pregnant and waited until the birth to find out the sex - our baby was going to be a Robin either way, but we had different (gendered) middle name options picked out. We didn’t really set out to pick a gender neutral name, but since we had decided to not find out the baby’s sex, I was browsing gender neutral name lists and suddenly Robin jumped out as the perfect name for our baby for various reasons (that I’ve probably waxed lyrical about enough on these forums already ). I consider the fact that it’s a gender neutral name a plus but it wasn’t our main concern when picking out a name, and if we ever have another child, gender neutrality probably won’t be top priority (rather, the name working well in all the languages our families speak was/is most important). Still, it’d be fun to find another gender neutral name.
Place names came to my mind, too! I’m fond of Memphis (but my wife isn’t… might end up using it on a pet).
I agree with [name_f]Katinka[/name_f] about place names and surnames as categories. Maybe even family names that people have chosen to pass on regardless of gender.
[name_u]Frankie[/name_u]
[name_u]August[/name_u] (maybe - I feel like I’ve read about Augusts of various genders)
[name_u]Sasha[/name_u]
[name_u]Carey[/name_u]
[name_u]Darcy[/name_u]
[name_u]Nature[/name_u] and Word Names [name_u]Wren[/name_u], [name_u]Hazel[/name_u], [name_u]Rowan[/name_u], [name_u]Oakley[/name_u], and [name_u]Brooks[/name_u]
Socially Accepted Neutral Names [name_u]Noah[/name_u], [name_u]Elliot[/name_u], [name_u]Charlie[/name_u], [name_u]Teagan[/name_u], and [name_u]Avery[/name_u]
Obscure Neutral Names [name_u]Poet[/name_u], [name_u]Mercer[/name_u], [name_u]Aspen[/name_u], [name_u]Calloway[/name_u], and [name_u]Lux[/name_u]
Names That [name_u]Cross[/name_u] Gender Lines [name_u]James[/name_u], [name_u]Harper[/name_u], [name_u]Ellis[/name_u], [name_u]Sawyer[/name_u], and [name_u]August[/name_u]
[name_m]Long[/name_m] and Frilly Neutral Names [name_u]Endellion[/name_u], [name_u]Sequoia[/name_u], [name_u]Valentine[/name_u], [name_u]Dominique[/name_u], and [name_u]Florence[/name_u]
Some names are gender neutral because they have two or more origins. For example, [name_u]Ira[/name_u] is Hebrew boy name and a Russian girl name.
Names can also be gender neutral because they are a short form of both a feminine and a masculine name, like [name_u]Sam[/name_u] from [name_m]Samuel[/name_m] or [name_f]Samantha[/name_f].
). I consider the fact that it’s a gender neutral name a plus but it wasn’t our main concern when picking out a name, and if we ever have another child, gender neutrality probably won’t be top priority (rather, the name working well in all the languages our families speak was/is most important). Still, it’d be fun to find another gender neutral name.
