See the results of this poll: Which gender do you tend to prefer unisex names on?
Respondents: 75 (This poll is closed)
- Girls : 20 (27%)
- Boys : 21 (28%)
- Both : 24 (32%)
- Neither: 10 (13%)
It really depends on the names, tbh. For example, [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u] is traditionally male and technically unisex. I prefer it on females. [name_u]James[/name_u], on the other hand, is considered unisex, but it is 100% male to me. However, [name_u]Jamie[/name_u] is unisex, and I like it equally for both genders. [name_u]Addison[/name_u] is unisex, but is traditionally male, but I like it for boys and girls. It also depends on if I know someone with the name. For example, [name_u]Kelly[/name_u]. I know a male [name_u]Kelly[/name_u], but my mother is [name_f]Kellie[/name_f], and I prefer the [name_u]Kelly[/name_u] spelling for males and [name_f]Kellie[/name_f] for females.
I generally like them equally for both, but there are some names that are unisex that I would only ever consider for one gender.
It really depends on the name for me.
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It tends to depend on the name, but my boys list has far more unisex names than my girls. In part because a lot of unisex names (including some more popular for girls) just sound more like boys names to me, and also if I am split I tend to go for boy just because my boys list is shorter than my girls. I think for girls I only have [name_u]Artemis[/name_u], which as a goddess name with masculine alternatives I dislike the idea of as a boys name (even having read the [name_u]Artemis[/name_u] Fowl books) and nature names, like [name_u]Sky[/name_u] and [name_u]Rue[/name_u]. But for boys there’s [name_u]Phoenix[/name_u], [name_u]Marlowe[/name_u], [name_u]Indigo[/name_u], [name_u]Darcy[/name_u], [name_f]Indie[/name_f], which I think are seen as more unisex or on the girls side.
I dislike most unisex names for either gender because they sound bland. It’s not that I find them too feminine or too masculine, it’s that they feel devoid of any interesting imageries or heritage.
Sure, of course it depends on the name for any individual case. But I am really asking people to reflect on their general tendencies about the category as a whole. You can like [name_u]Addison[/name_u] and [name_u]Kelly[/name_u] on boys but still recognize that you generally prefer unisex names on girls, for example, or dislike [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u] and [name_u]Meredith[/name_u] for boys but still generally prefer unisex names on boys. The best litmus is probably names that are still in wide use for both genders (even if they lean one way or another): how do you feel about [name_u]Jordan[/name_u], [name_u]Dakota[/name_u], [name_u]River[/name_u], [name_u]Avery[/name_u], [name_u]Skyler[/name_u], [name_u]Emerson[/name_u], [name_u]Quinn[/name_u], [name_u]Sage[/name_u], [name_u]Taylor[/name_u]? Those are really genuinely unisex names, so if you tend to prefer those on one gender over another, you probably lean one towards it in general, and if you like most of them equally on either gender, you probably don’t. If you just don’t like those names period, you probably have a general dislike for the category.
FWIW I don’t really consider something [name_u]James[/name_u] a unisex name - it’s a boy name that a few people have used on girls, but not enough for it to really matter (or break the top 1000).
Oooh [name_u]Artemis[/name_u]! There’s a great counterpoint to the trend I talked about - it’s a female name that people began to use on boys! Super rare. Agreed, I only like that for girls, but I think if that’s one of the few “unisex” names you prefer on girls, you’ve got as strong a preference as I do for them on boys! I did hear someone suggest [name_f]Blythe[/name_f] on boys, which is one of my favorite girl names, but I think I could totally get behind a male [name_f]Blythe[/name_f].
Yeah, a lot of current unisex names are neologisms, surnames and place-names. But there are older ones with really long histories, too - [name_m]Saint[/name_m] [name_u]Vivian[/name_u] was a 5th-century bishop, for example, and [name_f]Jocelyn[/name_f] was not an uncommon name for boys in the Middle Ages. We just don’t really think of them as unisex anymore.
I tend to prefer them on boys; I find they have a soft sound, which I rather like, yet on girls they feel quite masculine, which in turn, I’m not a huge fan of.
I find there’s a certain old-world charm in a boy named [name_u]Addison[/name_u] or [name_u]Mackenzie[/name_u] or even [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u]. I love how gentlemanly they feel, emphasis on gentle; they make me thinkg of handsome young men with adventurous minds and romantic hearts, wearing suits and brogues.
Personally, I only have unisex names on my boys’ list and only in the middle name spot with [name_m]Edmund[/name_m] [name_f]Blythe[/name_f] and [name_m]Edgar[/name_m] [name_u]Vivian[/name_u] / [name_m]Arthur[/name_m] [name_u]Vyvyan[/name_u]. The former is a surname that, as a first name, has seen more usage for girls though has never been popular as a first name. The latter has been fairly unisex (in various spellings) for a long time having “gone to the girls” only recently (recently compared to all of it’s usage that is).
Boys, in general. There’s a couple I can appreciate on girls (like [name_u]Addison[/name_u] and [name_u]Harper[/name_u]), but I much prefer them on boys, and maybe one I like for each gender equally ([name_u]Eden[/name_u]! [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] [name_u]Eden[/name_u] [name_f]Johanna[/name_f] and [name_m]Casper[/name_m] [name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m] [name_u]Eden[/name_u] are both on my short list, and it feels like a girls’ name with [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] but masculine with [name_m]Casper[/name_m].), and a few I really [name_u]LOVE[/name_u] on girls’ ([name_f]Jocelyn[/name_f] and [name_u]Hadley[/name_u]!), but 99% of them I love on boys. And I personally don’t care if other people want to give their daughters unisex names–I’m not hugely passionate about the misogyny angle, or the point for feminism–but I hate that once it reaches a certain level of popularity–even if it’s still more popular for a boy (like my beloved [name_u]Rowan[/name_u]), I get encouraged not to use it. If anything, I have more of a right to use a unisex name for a boy because most of them started that way! That, and I have a unisex name (share it with my uncle’s brother, too, which I hate), and I’ve always felt that it limits my femininity, and I want a pretty name. I use the name [name_f]Aurora[/name_f] when I have to give a name for an order placed over the phone, etc., when friends and family aren’t going to be like, “Oh, boy, here she goes again…” I might try to transition to it if I haven’t been [name_u]Ashley[/name_u] for SO long and it just is my name.
But yeah, I adore [name_u]Bailey[/name_u], [name_u]Avery[/name_u], [name_u]Aubrey[/name_u], [name_u]Emerson[/name_u], [name_m]Grayson[/name_m], [name_u]Elliott[/name_u], [name_u]Shannon[/name_u], [name_u]Taylor[/name_u], [name_u]Morgan[/name_u], [name_u]Mackenzie[/name_u], [name_u]Harper[/name_u], [name_u]Addison[/name_u], [name_u]Hadley[/name_u], etc., etc., for a boy, and even some of the newer “unisex” names like [name_u]Sawyer[/name_u], [name_m]Beckett[/name_m], [name_u]Everett[/name_u], [name_u]Emmett[/name_u], etc., etc., for a boy, although I’ve heard that [name_m]Christian[/name_m] and [name_u]Emmett[/name_u] are also in that same category as [name_u]Artemis[/name_u], that started out feminine and went to the boys.
I remember once looking at my boys’ list, and something like 80-90% of it had FNs that I’d heard at least one person say they know a girl with the name or that they consider it a unisex name (we’re talking [name_m]Caleb[/name_m], [name_u]Everett[/name_u], [name_m]Jack[/name_m], [name_m]Brody[/name_m], [name_m]Asher[/name_m], [name_m]Zane[/name_m], [name_u]Bailey[/name_u], [name_u]Avery[/name_u], etc., here. Some who seem like they should be a bit sacred haha.). I mean, more power to whoever wants to use whatever name, as long as it won’t scar the kid. But [name_m]Caleb[/name_m]‘s not a girls’ name. 
le sigh. lol.
Definitely prefer them on boys generally. As someone who is very likely to have more boys vs. girls (I have 5 nephews and 1 niece so far), I tend to invest more time looking for potential boy names, and it’s been very disheartening to see that so many great names are ‘going to the girls’. As progressive as my husband and I are, we don’t want to saddle a boy with the burden of a name everyone will assume is a girl. So as much as I like the name [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u], unfortunately I probably won’t be able to use it on a boy.
Then there’s the trendiness of it all - when a boy name ‘goes to the girls’ it usually only does so as a fleeting trend. Think of names like [name_u]Kelly[/name_u] or [name_u]Ashley[/name_u] - these are names that are tied to a distinct decade where they were extremely popular and once the fad ended, they faded from usage. But after that point, no one is using those names - male or female. Male names tend to have less rising and falling and are more consistent through time, so it makes me sad to see a timeless name get taken by this trend only to be used up and tossed aside. So that’s another reason I don’t like the trend.
And inherent in this entire trend is the fact that 99% of people who willingly choose a traditionally masculine name for their daughter are not going to choose a traditionally feminine name for their son. It’s incredibly one-sided and the motives seem very sexist. There are many strong, feminine names if that’s what they want.
Until names are shared equally across genders, it’s problematic to me.
Edited to add: I think place names and surnames are fair game - how can anyone associate a gender to a place? My stance mostly applies to names like [name_u]Elliott[/name_u], [name_u]Emery[/name_u], or [name_u]James[/name_u].
I’m often all over the place. There’s some I only like on girls, some I like only on boys, some I like on both, and some I don’t like on anybody. I tend to lean strongly to the girl side though so I voted girl.
For example: [name_u]Artemis[/name_u] (especially [name_u]Artemis[/name_u]), [name_u]Rue[/name_u], [name_u]Ellington[/name_u], [name_u]Fallon[/name_u], [name_u]Onyx[/name_u], [name_u]Madison[/name_u], [name_u]Piper[/name_u], [name_u]Henley[/name_u], [name_u]Harley[/name_u], [name_u]Pepper[/name_u], [name_u]Peyton[/name_u], [name_m]Wilson[/name_m], [name_u]Parker[/name_u], [name_u]Carter[/name_u], [name_u]Carson[/name_u], [name_u]Dana[/name_u], [name_u]Tyler[/name_u], [name_u]Tyson[/name_u], [name_u]Hunter[/name_u], [name_u]Cassidy[/name_u], [name_u]Meredith[/name_u], [name_u]Quinn[/name_u], and any spelling of [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u] and [name_u]Haley[/name_u] I only like on girls, though I used to like [name_u]Onyx[/name_u] on boys. [name_f]Ciel[/name_f], [name_f]Avalon[/name_f], [name_u]Elliott[/name_u], [name_u]Percy[/name_u], [name_u]Nico[/name_u], [name_u]Jamie[/name_u], [name_u]Lou[/name_u], [name_m]Adrian[/name_m], [name_u]Seth[/name_u], [name_m]Wyatt[/name_m], [name_m]Espen[/name_m], and any spelling of [name_u]Daryl[/name_u] I only like on boys, though I used to like [name_f]Avalon[/name_f] on girls. Some I only like certain spellings on one or the other: [name_u]Skylar[/name_u] on girls, [name_u]Schuyler[/name_u] on boys, [name_u]Dani[/name_u] on girls and [name_u]Danny[/name_u] on boys, [name_u]Francis[/name_u] on boys and [name_f]Frances[/name_f] on girls, [name_u]Wyn[/name_u] on boys and [name_u]Wynn/name_u on girls, [name_u]Dallas[/name_u], [name_u]Riley[/name_u], and [name_u]Addison[/name_u] I love on girls but only “like” on boys, though [name_u]Dallas[/name_u] I used to love on boys. [name_u]Demeter[/name_u] I can see on either, though I prefer names like [name_m]Demetri/name_m and [name_f]Demi[/name_f]. [name_u]Mason[/name_u] and [name_u]Cameron[/name_u] I like on both. I’m not interested in -[name_u]Aiden[/name_u] names on any gender anymore. [name_u]Harper[/name_u], [name_u]Taylor[/name_u], [name_u]Ever[/name_u], [name_u]Everly[/name_u], [name_u]Lee[/name_u], [name_m]Fisher[/name_m]/Fysher, [name_u]Remington[/name_u], [name_u]Remy[/name_u], [name_u]Bobby[/name_u]/[name_u]Bobbie[/name_u], [name_u]Billie[/name_u]/[name_u]Billy[/name_u], and [name_u]James[/name_u] I don’t like on anyone.
I see what you mean about unisex names (or in other words, traditionally male names) being used on girls to promote the idea of being a strong, confident female being a vicious cycle. Putting masculine traits on a pedestal is still a real problem in today’s society, whether people realize that’s what they’re doing or not.
However! Some of the arguments about unisex names seem misguided as well. Take [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u] for example. In the 1900’s, it ranked on average 38 for girls… and 951 for boys. That was its peak for males in recorded name history.
Same for [name_u]Vivian[/name_u]/[name_u]Vyvyan[/name_u]. At its highest for boys it ranked on average 572 in the 1890’s. At the same time it ranked 190 for girls. [name_u]Vyvyan[/name_u] was never high enough to make a dent in the ratings for either gender.
[name_u]Shannon[/name_u] has always far and above been a girl’s name. It spiked to #866 in 1939 for females, right before it hit a popularity spike in the 40’s. It doesn’t enter the SS list for males until the year 1942. [name_u]Jody[/name_u] entered the top 1000 for girls before it did for males as well.
There are a handful that follow the pattern where a name that was marginally popular for males at one point in the distant past was then picked up as girls names later on. Generally they were used as male names at the turn of the century at the end of the 1890’s/beginning of the 1900’s. [name_u]Ashley[/name_u], [name_u]Kelly[/name_u], [name_u]Courtney[/name_u], [name_u]Addison[/name_u]… They all fit this pattern.
I understand the argument that once a name “goes girl”, it’s generally seen as off limits for boys from then on. That’s certainly sexism at its finest, since now the name seems too “soft” for a boy.
Can a name really be “stolen” if it was never popular for males to begin with though?
I did some very light cross referencing on the SS website, and the [name_u]Baby[/name_u] Name [name_m]Wizard[/name_m] website. Unfortunately due to records, about as far back as we can go is the 1870’s, so maybe these names were more popular for males at one point, and I’m wrong. I’m not opposed to changing my opinion if all this I just typed is moot. I’m just not fond that certain naming circles rampage on about girls “stealing” names, when it seems like all they did was read a wiki name article that mentions a certain name was also used for boys at one point, and then that was all the research they bothered to do.
To answer your question though, it depends on the name, but generally I can make a case for unisex names on either gender, if it is truly a unisex name.
I say both. Very few names do I consider truly unisex. A lot of names (like [name_u]Cameron[/name_u], [name_u]Ryan[/name_u], [name_u]Dylan[/name_u], [name_u]James[/name_u], [name_u]Mason[/name_u], [name_u]Finley[/name_u], etc.) that people would call “unisex” are purely masculine to me. Others (like [name_u]Addison[/name_u], [name_u]Harper[/name_u], [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u], [name_u]Meredith[/name_u], [name_u]Mackenzie[/name_u], etc.) seem too far gone as they aren’t even really used for boys at all anymore. There are nicknames (like [name_u]Alex[/name_u], [name_u]Sam[/name_u], [name_u]Charlie[/name_u], [name_u]Kit[/name_u]) that seem to work well on either gender, but only as nns, imo. Like, for me personally, I would say a boy could be [name_u]Charlie[/name_u], but for a girl to be a [name_u]Charlie[/name_u] it should be short for something more feminine like [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f]. Same with [name_f]Alexandra[/name_f] "[name_u]Alex[/name_u], [name_f]Samantha[/name_f] “[name_u]Sam[/name_u]”, and [name_f]Katherine[/name_f] “[name_u]Kit[/name_u]”, etc. That’s just my opinion, of course. Anyway. Typically, the names that are called “unisex” lean masculine, I think.
I agree with all of this! I often wonder if people are using “masculine” names on girls lately to give their daughters an “edge.” It makes me sad, because it implies that femaleness isn’t as strong or something. Of course, I don’t necessarily judge people for doing so, since there are a million reasons people choose the names they do. But I can’t help but wonder if it sometimes, in some cases, comes from internalized misogyny. I mean, why aren’t girl names ever going to the boys? It’s something worth thinking about.
To answer your question, I also prefer unisex names on boys. I ever had a boy I would want him to be a compassionate feminist, and hopefully not brainwashed into toxic masculinity. I have a lot of feelings on this topic, haha. I’m a fan of names like [name_u]Rowan[/name_u] and [name_u]Sage[/name_u] for boys because of this. I also wish boys had more nature names! There are some, but it seems that many (like [name_u]Juniper[/name_u], [name_u]Skye[/name_u], and [name_f]Willow[/name_f]) end up solely as girls’ names for some reason.
Oh, interesting! So are those 5 nephews your husband’s brother’s kids? The thing to remember is that gender is determined by the father, and tendency to have more boys or more girls is actually genetic. So you have to follow the Y chromosome - you look at the gender balance of your husband’s siblings, your husband’s brother’s kids, your husband’s father’s siblings, your husband’s father’s father’s siblings, etc. With mine there is very little hint (he has one sister and his dad has a brother and sister). But if your husband’s male line has a 5:1 male:female ratio, that would be a great indication! If it’s on your side, though, it won’t have any bearing on your kids’ genders.
I think there’s a middle ground between a name like [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u] and a real currently unisex name like [name_u]River[/name_u]. The only way for this pattern to stop is if parents don’t automatically have the attitude that a name is off-limits once it’s at all being given to girls. It’s phrased as concern for the child, but really it’s often projection of their own biases - a boy being teased for being named [name_u]Emerson[/name_u] or [name_u]Avery[/name_u] is really unlikely.
Some of this brings up some interesting points, but mostly it’s misguided because you’re basing your ideas on the notion that the history of names started in 1870 or 1900. [name_m]Saint[/name_m] [name_u]Vivian[/name_u] was a 5th-century bishop and the name was purely male for over a millennium. Same with [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u], which was also purely male for centuries - [name_f]Evelina[/name_f] was the female form until the 19th century, when parents began giving the male form to daughters. So when official records appear, the switch is already well underway.
People use those now-solidly-female names like [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u], [name_u]Vivian[/name_u], [name_f]Jocelyn[/name_f], etc. as an example of names that began the switch very early to talk about how old the trend is, so it doesn’t really make sense to use 20th century records to counter that. You don’t have official statistics before that, but you do still have plenty of historical records. It’s true that a lot of names were “marginally popular” for boys at the beginning of the 20th century and then exploded for girls later, but those names would have still had a masculine air about them, and it’s just not a coincidence that marginal or old male names became popular for girls but not vice-versa. The trend does generally start with male names that have similar-sounding female versions - [name_f]Evelina[/name_f] to [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u] is an example, but I’m also convinced that the [name_u]Madison[/name_u], [name_u]Addison[/name_u], [name_u]Emerson[/name_u] thing for girls started with [name_u]Allison[/name_u] (a historically female name since the medieval period - think [name_f]Alisoun[/name_f] in [name_m]Chaucer[/name_m], a diminutive of [name_f]Alice[/name_f]). [name_u]James[/name_u] is probably because of [name_u]Jamie[/name_u]. It doesn’t change, though, that so many parents chose these masculine-sounding versions of female-adjacent names for a reason, and the evolution began slowly. Also, most boy names period except for [name_m]John[/name_m], [name_u]James[/name_u], [name_m]William[/name_m], etc. were only marginally popular - 1/3 of all boys in 1900 had a name in the top 10! It’s like 7% now. The percentage of boys with the #1 name in 2016 is about equal to the percentage of boys with the #20 name in 1900.
It’s not just “looking at a Wikipedia article” - this is a well-noted historical tendency for names to go from male to female and not the other way around and has been going on for well over a hundred years. It’s just accelerated and intensified in recent years, to the point that even very mainstream, non-marginal male names ([name_u]James[/name_u]!) (that don’t just have a masculine air about them but just are strongly male) are targeted, and I think it’s totally valid to ask why that is and place it in context of gender equality (and its backlash).
I prefer most of them on boys, but that’s largely because I don’t personally consider a good number of unisex names to actually be unisex. I do not think [name_u]Emerson[/name_u], [name_u]James[/name_u], [name_u]Elliott[/name_u], or [name_u]Dylan[/name_u], for example, are or ever should be girl names. So for me, those aren’t unisex even though by general standards they are. On the other hand, the names I find truly unisex, like [name_u]Robin[/name_u], [name_u]Casey[/name_u], or [name_u]Avery[/name_u], I can easily see on a girl or boy and thus do not prefer them on one over the other. This is, of course, all based solely on personal opinion and not research, name rankings, etc. I really don’t care much where a name ranks for girls or boys now. Even if Emerson, for example, ranked higher for girls than boys (which it might for all I know currently), I would still think it should be a boy name because that’s how it sounds to me.
For me, it depends on the name. I like plenty of unisex names for boys, and different ones for girls (whether or not they’ve been vetoed by my S/O is a different story). Some are even on both lists, like [name_u]Addison[/name_u] or [name_u]Emerson[/name_u].
I do love a lot of unisex names for girls (and they appear more often in my signature because that’s just a list of what we’ve agreed upon - I’m still pushing for one of my long-time favourites for a boy ([name_u]Jamie[/name_u]) though), but I don’t necessarily like them because they sound strong or to make a statement.
[name_u]Kennedy[/name_u] for example - I do like it for both genders, but vastly prefer it for a girl, because that’s all I can picture it on. [name_u]Jamie[/name_u], however, I can picture on both genders, but prefer it for a boy (on a boy it feels fresh, on a girl it feels like someone I probably went to high school with), and when it comes to [name_u]Hayden[/name_u], I prefer it for a boy.
As for traditionally female names on boys - I’m not 100% sure where the divide lies historically with [name_f]Cadence[/name_f], but while it’s popular for a girl (at least spelled like [name_f]Kaydence[/name_f]/[name_f]Kaidence[/name_f] it is), I love it as a option for a boy. Would I use it as a first name? Maybe, who knows?
In my own personal outlook, it’s based on my experiences with people with the name really. [name_f]Do[/name_f] I think [name_u]Kennedy[/name_u] sounds like a strong girl’s name? Sure, but [name_f]Eleanor[/name_f], [name_f]Catherine[/name_f], [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f], etc. sound like stronger girls names imo.
Does it make me sexist to have a daughter named [name_u]Kennedy[/name_u] while my son’s name is [name_m]Aaron[/name_m] though? I’d like to say no, but it feels like I might be wrong.
Definitely boys. I absolutely [name_u]LOVE[/name_u] [name_u]Dallas[/name_u], [name_u]Riley[/name_u], [name_u]Tristan[/name_u] and [name_u]August[/name_u] on boys, but I don’t like them on girls. There’s nothing wrong with a girl named [name_u]Riley[/name_u], I’m just not a fan of the name on girls.
Similarly names like [name_u]Dylan[/name_u], [name_u]Hunter[/name_u], [name_u]Blake[/name_u], [name_u]Ryan[/name_u], [name_u]Elliot[/name_u] and [name_u]Carter[/name_u] are all boy to me. Yes, I realize they do rank for girls, but I’ve never met ANY girls with these names versus many boys with them. So when I hear or see [name_u]Dylan[/name_u] or [name_u]Hunter[/name_u] on paper, I always assume boy. So far, I’ve always been right.
Not only that, but I prefer a lot of gone to the girls names on boys too. [name_u]Skyler[/name_u], [name_u]Riley[/name_u], [name_u]Jamie[/name_u], [name_u]Ashley[/name_u], [name_u]Emerson[/name_u] and [name_u]Morgan[/name_u] come to mind.
Honestly, the only ones that I simply cannot see on a boy are [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u] (which I love on girls) and [name_u]Madison[/name_u].
I do like truly gender neutral names like [name_u]River[/name_u], [name_u]Jordan[/name_u], and [name_u]Rowan[/name_u] on both genders though.
I don’t like [name_u]Bailey[/name_u], [name_u]Aubrey[/name_u], [name_u]Harper[/name_u] or [name_u]Logan[/name_u] on either gender.
I agree with all of this! I often wonder if people are using “masculine” names on girls lately to give their daughters an “edge.” It makes me sad, because it implies that femaleness isn’t as strong or something. Of course, I don’t necessarily judge people for doing so, since there are a million reasons people choose the names they do. But I can’t help but wonder if it sometimes, in some cases, comes from internalized misogyny. I mean, why aren’t girl names ever going to the boys? It’s something worth thinking about.
To answer your question, I also prefer unisex names on boys. If I ever had a boy I would want him to be a compassionate feminist, and hopefully not brainwashed into toxic masculinity. I have a lot of feelings on this topic, haha. I’m a fan of names like [name_u]Rowan[/name_u] and [name_u]Sage[/name_u] for boys because of this. I also wish boys had more nature names! There are some, but it seems that many (like [name_u]Juniper[/name_u], [name_u]Skye[/name_u], and [name_f]Willow[/name_f]) end up solely as girls’ names for some reason.
I like unisex names more on boys, generally. I tend to like longer, prettier names for girls, and most unisex names are quite the opposite of that. To be honest, though, I don’t like most unisex names on either gender. A lot are surnames, that I’m not so fond of, but of course, there are exceptions ([name_m]Wilder[/name_m]) . That said, there seem to be a lot of names, like [name_u]James[/name_u], [name_u]Sawyer[/name_u], [name_u]Elliot[/name_u], ect, that some say are unisex, but to me, it’s still just that you gave your girl a boy name. There are actually a lot of ‘unisex’ names on here that I had no idea people thought should be used for both boys and girls, as they always seemed pretty cut-and-dry gendered to me. And the majority of girls I’ve met with names that could be taken as a boy’s said they wished there names were more feminine. Anyway, I don’t at all mind softer sounding names for boys, like [name_u]Shiloh[/name_u] and [name_u]Hollis[/name_u] and [name_u]Sky[/name_u]. And I never much cared about the whole feminism thing or misogyny whatever, this is just my opinion about what sounds I like.
My stance is sort of “I don’t really care.”
I prefer very feminine names for girls so I don’t run into the problem often. Place and word names seem very androgynous, so names like [name_u]Sage[/name_u], [name_u]Byrd[/name_u], [name_u]River[/name_u], [name_u]Jordan[/name_u], [name_u]Dakota[/name_u], [name_u]Dallas[/name_u], etc. can be used on either gender and I don’t think much of it. I have all boys and my naming style is based on the time period in which we live - where [name_u]Harper[/name_u], [name_u]Avery[/name_u], and [name_u]Aubrey[/name_u] are being worn by far more girls than boys. Am I sexist for not wanting to name my son a name that is in the girls top 20? No, I don’t think so. I wouldn’t give a daughter a name from the boys top 20 either. I want them to be assumed on paper as the sex they are.