Looking for advice on gender neutral names, my partner’s two main criteria for naming seems to be an international sound (ie: no strong tie to a region in sound/phonetics or imagery, works well in multiple languages), and something more gender neutral-leaning. Try as I might, I’m having a hard time combining these two requests into a list of names, since I’m finding most gender neutral names to have a very American/anglophone sound and feel about them, and most names that I would consider international/intercultural seem to have strong gender associations.
Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas on how to go about this?
[name_m]Sacha[/name_m] or [name_f]Sasha[/name_f]! Also [name_m]Lee[/name_m], [name_m]Merle[/name_m], [name_m]Sam[/name_m] (which in Persian means fire and it is a national hero, but also a form of [name_m]Samuel[/name_m] and [name_f]Samantha[/name_f] and Samira), Wen, Lian/Lien (German, Chinese, [name_m]Dutch[/name_m] etc), [name_m]Misha[/name_m] / [name_f]Mischa[/name_f], [name_m]Vanya[/name_m], Arne/Anne (Anne is masculine too in Frisian, it is read as ah-nuh/ah-neh), [name_f]Andrea[/name_f], [name_f]Felice[/name_f], [name_m]Fiore[/name_m], Cel, Vyn/Vin, [name_m]Cam[/name_m] (Vietnamese for orange), Lou/Lu, Lun/Loan/Luen, [name_f]Marion[/name_f], Vivian/Vivien, [name_f]Leslie[/name_f], [name_f]Ashley[/name_f], [name_m]Jamie[/name_m]
[name_f]Seren[/name_f] may work for you. It has various origins (Polish, Turkish, Welsh) and is used for different genders in those respective countries.
Other ideas:
[name_f]Juno[/name_f], [name_m]Miro[/name_m] and [name_m]Saro[/name_m]
[name_f]Aquila[/name_f] and [name_m]Akira[/name_m]
[name_m]Asher[/name_m], [name_f]Asha[/name_f]
[name_m]Micah[/name_m]
[name_f]Dara[/name_f], [name_m]Darragh[/name_m]
so many good suggestions! i want to add that my name is zia, which is a masculine name in arabic, but also a shortened form of many feminine names, and only once or twice have i ever had anyone find it a weird name for a girl. even if in a certain culture or language a name leans towards one sex (like, for example, a hebrew speaker would always assume noa was feminine but an american would equate it with noah and assume masculine), there may be wiggle room with everyone else!
some i would suggest:
almas
amal
amit
aran/arin
beren
bevan
carmel
ciar (pronounced “keer”)
dara
dian
eike
eka/eko
ime
isha
islay
jaya
jo
joss
mies
mo
nil
nima
noam
nour/nur
odell
paget
reagan/regan
reese/rhys
remy/romy
riny
safa
sevan
shai
shams
sigi
sloan
also maybe this is just me but i feel like names that end in “a” or “ia” tend to give this exact international unisex vibe to english speakers. not sure where you live or if this helps you but i feel like there are so many languages in which “a” is a traditionally masculine name ending, but in english we tend to think of it as feminine, so masculine names that are obviously from other languages like krishna end up falling somewhere between masculine and feminine for english speakers.
behindthename is a great website for names from all languages and cultures, and they have a gender neutral filter. best of luck!
[name_f]Alva[/name_f], [name_f]Alva[/name_f], [name_f]Alva[/name_f]! It has history in multiple nationalities (both masculine and feminine) - I think it’s brilliant. Probably also [name_f]Eden[/name_f]? It ranks in close to a dozen countries’ popularity lists, has origins in Israel/English but also has use in [name_f]France[/name_f], Belgium, Netherlands, etc. so I can see it working well in multiple languages (I guess it depends on how you feel about its religious origins, though!).
Maybe Rowan/Rohan too? Has origins in [name_f]India[/name_f] and Ireland/UK and history of use for boys & girls (although I think Rohan’s use is mostly masculine).
I’m struggling to think of any more, but I do think [name_f]Alva[/name_f], [name_f]Eden[/name_f], and Rohan/Rowan are nice options!
I think the number of unisex names that exist in multiple geographically diverse cultures and that would be usable by Westerners is probably quite small. Unless you’re counting names like [name_f]Arya[/name_f], [name_f]Elia[/name_f] or [name_f]Isa[/name_f] that are masculine in one culture but feminine in another, rather than names that are truly unisex in both cultures, if that makes sense.
I’d recommend looking at the names listed on Behind the Name under the label unisex and searching through the languages you are interested in:
I don’t know much about different international names to really give any good suggestions but I can understand your struggle because trying to even think of some off the top of my head they’re all very gender specific
Would your partner be down for an international/intercultural name that was gendered but then had a gender neutral nickname?
Example could be
[name_f]Rosalie[/name_f] with the nickname [name_m]Li[/name_m], [name_m]Lee[/name_m] or even [name_m]Sal[/name_m]
[name_m]Alejandro[/name_m] with the nickname [name_m]Al[/name_m], [name_m]Ali[/name_m], [name_m]Jay[/name_m] or even [name_m]Drew[/name_m]
Is there a certain region/country that you’re looking for names in particular? Whether it’s to tie in roots, maybe your own connections to your partner (like if your first trip was to France) or any other reason? Mainly ask because there are soooooooo many names and many different countries go about naming differently
[name_f]My[/name_f] partner is originally from [name_m]Morocco[/name_m], so in an ideal world the name would be something that worked with at the very least [name_m]French[/name_m] and [name_f]English[/name_f] (what is spoken in our home), but also have some ties/at least somewhat blend with Arabic (darija) and/or Tamazight. Lots of things to consider!!