Parents, Just Like Celebs, Are Going for These Gender-Neutral Baby Names (2024)

As each year passes, it makes less and less sense to have lists of names for boys and names for girls. Parents aren't paying attention to the "rules" anymore, and any name that sounds good can belong to anyone — and that's commendable! If anything, it just gives parents more choices, which is something to celebrate.

This means that two baby-name trends are happening at the same time. The first is that, as parents choose whatever name most fits regardless of whether it was traditionally a "boy name" or "girl name," those names are becoming less and less associated wih one sex over another. At the same time, parents are looking for names that are already gender-neutral or unisex: According to a study cited in The Atlantic, "In 2021, 6% of American babies were bestowed androgynous names, approximately five times the number in the 1880s." And that's only getting more pronounced: According to research done by baby-naming site Nameberry and The New York Times, which looked back at 100 years of baby names, there was an 88% increase in the use of unisex names between 1985 and 2015. And so, the cycle will continue, until there isn't a divide anymore.

For now, though, the Social Security Administration (SSA), which keeps data about the most popular baby names, still separates the name list by boys and girls. And from its data, we can see that there are some names that still seem most heavily associated with one sex over another.

But if you're looking to leave those conventions behind, here are some of the top gender-neutral names in 2024. Some are really not associated with a single sex, others have some association but can be used for anyone and others have had associations that have shifted over time.

Most Popular Gender-Neutral Names

The SSA tracks the most popular baby names each year, and it keeps a list of the top 1,000 names, separated by sex. After checking the top 100 names for boys and names for girls, these are the ones that had a presence on both lists. You can see, that they still wound up being more popular for one side than the other, and the rankings can tell you how heavily weighted to one sex each name is.

Names That Ranked Higher for Boys

Noah (No. 2 for boys, No. 640 for girls)
Ezra (No. 15 for boys, No. 763 for girls)
Dylan (N0. 34 for boys, No. 648 for girls)
Logan (No. 39 for boys, No. 356 for girls)
Carter (N0. 48 for boys, No. 510 for girls)
Cameron (No. 58 for boys, No. 480 for girls)
Kai (No. 61 for boys, No. 940 for girls)
Angel (No. 63 for boys, No. 524 for girls)
Rowan (No. 76 for boys, No. 233 for girls)
Ryan (No. 83 for boys, No. 677 for girls)
Parker (No. 91 for boys, No. 121 for girls)
Jordan (No. 98 for boys, No. 499 for girls)

Names That Ranked Higher for Girls

Avery (No. 29 for girls, No. 241 for boys)
Nova (No. 35 for girls, No. 952 for boys)
Riley (No. 43 for girls, No. 223 for boys)
Emery (No. 70 for girls, No. 750 for boys)
Eden (No. 77 for girls, No. 438 for boys)
Quinn (No. 85 for girls, No. 452 for boys)

Cute Nonbinary Names

What if you're looking for a name that isn't more popular for one sex than another? Nameberry has compiled a list of what they call "nonbinary names," or names that are used (roughly) the same number of times across all columns. "Names in the nonbinary group are used equally for babies of any sex and do not identify with either gender," the site says. These truly unisex names include these monikers.

Lowen
Arbor
Everest
Onyx
Ridley
Tatum
Wren
Ellis
Zephyr
Royal
Azriel
Ira
Sage
Blake
Ash
Jett
Robin
Spencer
Marlowe
Phoenix
Sutton
Shiloh
Koda
Amari
Artemis
Scout
Basil
Rory
Vesper
Lux
River

Trending Gender-Neutral Names

If you believe celebrities set the trends, then the new unisex name to watch will be Olin, the name of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds' fourth child. While it's traditionally a boy name, it works for either gender. They join celebrities like Meghan Fox (who named her son Journey), Paris Hilton (mother of Phoenix), Gigi Hadid (who chose Khai) and Lea Michele (mother of Ever) in choosing gender-neutral names.

Of the nonbinary names Nameberry has cited, a few adhere to larger patterns we've been seeing for a few years now. Names like Arbor, Sage and River — along with bird names like Robin and Wren — are nature-inspired names, a theme that's been popular throughout this decade. Other gender-neutral nature names include Ocean, Sunny, Moss, and Brook/Brooks.

The Atlantic says more unisex names have arisen from three other naming trends that are perennially popular: The first is the rise of last names as first names, like Harper, Emerson, Lennon and Remington. Place names are another hot driver of baby names The Atlantic has clocked — think of locales like Paris, Dakota and Brooklyn. And finally, two of the most popular unisex names The Atlantic saw — Charlie and Frankie — follow the trend of using nicknames as first names. (Stevie is another popular choice in this vein, like Stevie Nicks.)

Taylor, which could be a first name or a last name, is one of the top gender-neutral names.

Classic Unisex Names

When you look at the really big picture, throughout history there have been many names that flipped from blue to pink and back again — or landed somewhere in the middle. In 2018, Quartz analyzed a few names that have become more and more gender-neutral over the past 100 or so years. They may have started off being associated with either boys or girls, but over time, the other side has managed to even the score. Some popular unisex names Quartz has observed include Alexis, Azariah, Baylor, Emory, Finley, Hayden, Justice, Landry, Skylar and Casey.

Other names are more stable. Data scientist Nathan Yau analyzed SSA charts going back to 1930 and found names that kept the unisex 50-50 split for years, even decades. He also notes the times that a moment in pop-culture history — such as Disney using the name Ariel for the protagonist in The Little Mermaid — tipped the scales one way or another. According to Yau, these are the most typical unisex names that we haven't already mentioned:

Jessie
Marion
Jackie
Alva
Ollie
Jody
Cleo
Kerry
Guadalupe
Carey
Tommie
Hollis
Sammie
Jamie
Kris
Robbie
Tracy
Merrill
Noel
Rene
Johnnie
Ariel
Jan
Devon
Cruz
Michel
Gale
Dana
Kim
Shannon

Those are names that have been used pretty evenly for both boys and girls. Yau also notes the names that have switched the most, ping-ponging back and forth between being used by mostly girls, then mostly boys, and vice versa, which is also work taking a look at if you're fascinated by those sorts of things.

More Options

If you didn't find your unisex name among those listed above, here are additional gender-neutral names.

Adair
Adrian
Archie
Aspen
Aster
Aubrey
Bay
Bailey
Bellamy
Bentley
Birch
Blair
Bryce
Bowie
Campbell
Cassidy
Cedar
Chandler
Clover
Colby
Collins
Courtney
Dallas
Dale
Darcy
Denver
Drew
Easton
Echo
Egypt
Fallon
Francis
Gray
Greer
Harley
Hart
Holland
Honor
Hunter
Indigo
Jagger
James
Jean
Jesse
Juniper
Keaton
Keeley
Kelsey
Kendall
Kirby
Kit
Lane
Lennox
Leslie
Lindsey
London
Loyal
Luxury
Lynn
Lyric
Mackenzie
Marley
Merritt
Micah
Morgan
Murphy
Navy
Oakley
Palmer
Paget
Pat
Peyton
Poe
Presley
Rain
Raleigh
Randy
Reagan
Reef
Reese
Remy
Ricky
Ripley
Rumi
Sailor
Salem
Sandy
Sasha
Seneca
Seven
Shawn
Shea
Shelby
Sidney
Sloan
Stacy
Story
Tanner
Taran
Taylor
Teagan
Terry
True
Waverly
West
Xenith
Zen
Zion
Zuri

Looking for more great baby names? Check out these Good Housekeeping guides:

Marisa LaScala

Senior Parenting & Relationships Editor

Marisa (she/her) has covered all things parenting, from the postpartum period through the empty nest, for Good Housekeeping since 2018; she previously wrote about parents and families at Parents and Working Mother. She lives with her husband and daughter in Brooklyn, where she can be found dominating the audio round at her local bar trivia night or tweeting about movies.