These Gender-Neutral Baby Names Are Super Trendy Right Now
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When the Social Security Administration (SSA) reports on the most popular baby names of each year, it makes two lists: one list for the most popular girls' names, and one list for the most popular boys's names. Increasingly, parents don't care about the distinction — they'll take inspiration from any column.
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. Perhaps in the future, the SSA will only make one list.
For parents who are right on-trend, here are some of the top gender-neutral names in 2025. 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. In other words: Any of them can be a good contender for any baby!
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, 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.
Noah (No. 2 for boys, No. 561 for girls)
Ezra (No. 13 for boys, No. 705 for girls)
Dylan (No. 28 for boys, No. 696 for girls)
Carter (No. 45 for boys, No. 507 for girls)
Logan (No. 46 for boys, No. 391 for girls)
Angel (No. 63 for boys, No. 498 for girls)
Cameron (No. 66 for boys, No. 485 for girls)
Rowan (No. 71 for boys, No. 266 for girls)
Micah (No. 86 for boys, No. 841 for girls)
Ryan (No. 87 for boys, No. 702 for girls)
August (No. 88 for boys, No. 910 for girls)
Parker (No. 97 for boys, No. 104 for girls)
Jordan (No. 98 for boys, No. 499 for girls)
Avery (No. 31 for girls, No. 259 for boys)
Riley (No. 42 for girls, No. 229 for boys)
Emery (No. 70 for girls, No. 823 for boys)
Eden (No. 72 for girls, No. 466 for boys)
Quinn (No. 96 for girls, No. 497 for boys)
There are slight changes from the year before. Last year, Kai and Nova also made the list, but Kai has fallen out of the most popular girls' names in favor of twists like Kailani, and Nova is no longer a top boys' name. Jordan dropped out of the top 100 but is still on both lists, and Micah and August are new this year.
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.
Amari
Arbor
Artemis
Ash
Azriel
Basil
Blake
Ellis
Everest
Jett
Koda
Lowen
Lux
Marlowe
Onyx
Park
Phoenix
Ridley
River
Robin
Rory
Sage
Scout
Shiloh
Spencer
Sutton
Tatum
Vesper
Wren
Zephyr
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 Emerson, Lennon and Remington, all of which show up on the SSA's list of the most popular boys' names and the most popular girls' names. The same is true of certain place names — think Milan, Denver and Dakota — since city- and state-inspired names are on the rise, and work for any gender.
And finally, one huge trend that came out of this year's crop of baby names is the rise of names that end in -ie. Many of these are traditionally boy names, but are given to girls with an -ie suffix — but really, it's anyone's game. Think of "dad" names, like Andie, Billie, Charlie, Frankie and Stevie.
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.
If you didn't find your unisex name among those listed above, here are additional gender-neutral names.
Adair
Adrian
Alex
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
Check out these Good Housekeeping lists:
Nature Baby Names | Disney Baby Names | Indian/Hindu Boy Names | Indian/Hindu Girl Names | Italian Baby Names | Japanese Baby Names | French Baby Names | Hispanic Boy Names | Hispanic Girl Names | Irish Boy Names | Irish Girl Names | Long Names for Boys | Long Names for Girls | Short Names for Boys | Short Names for Girls | Gender-Neutral Names | Western/Cowboy Baby Names | 1920s Names | 1930s Names | 1940s Names | 1950s Names | 1960s Names
..
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