I’m perpetually on the lookout for a new name (for myself) that feels both traditional and not overly gendered.
It seems like a lot of gender neutral names I see are bnog/surnames or fairly modern nature names. Nothing wrong with any of them but I’m after something that fits with my family, think very traditional, very [name_f]English[/name_f] (Lawrence, [name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m], [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f], [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] etc).
The most obvious route (to me) is traditionally nicknames such [name_u]Charlie[/name_u], [name_u]Bobby[/name_u] etc which could go either way but I recently came across a female [name_u]Augustine[/name_u] in my family tree and really liked it. It’s traditionally masculine but still has a feminine sound with the -ine ending.
Augustine is lovely! You may also like Valentine, Evelyn (traditionally male, most notably when pronounced EEV-lyn), Billie, Kit, Ellis, Rory, Remy, Will, Georgie.
This is such an interesting topic because you are right, so many unisex names fall into more modern categories. [name_u]Or[/name_u] may feel traditional on one gender, and modern on the other.
[name_u]Augustine[/name_u] is a great example. What do you think of
[name_f]My[/name_f] name is [name_m]Caspian[/name_m] [name_f]Cate[/name_f] and I love it! [name_m]Caspian[/name_m] is similar to your Augustine; traditionally masculine but very feminine ending sound. [name_f]My[/name_f] friends call me [name_f]Catie[/name_f] and I use [name_m]Caspian[/name_m] professionally.
[name_u]Merle[/name_u], [name_u]Sidney[/name_u], [name_u]Leslie[/name_u] and [name_u]Lindsay[/name_u] were all pretty split over a hundred years ago, and though Leslie/Lesley and [name_u]Lindsay[/name_u] are almost always used on girls now, I think they still have a lot of potential as more than just girl names.
It seems that [name_u]Merle[/name_u] never really fell into one gender or the other before it fell out of use. It’s an interesting one I’d love to see come back.
Oh, and [name_u]Valentine[/name_u]! That was a [name_u]French[/name_u] girl’s name at the same time as it was being used as an [name_f]English[/name_f] boy’s name. It sounds very neutral to me and it has quite a history.
[name_f]My[/name_f] first thought was the name [name_u]August[/name_u]. I’ve met both boys and girls with that name, and it would also be a shortened version of [name_u]Augustine[/name_u]. [name_f]My[/name_f] other suggestions would be:
