GENDER-NEUTRAL NAMES FOR BABIES ARE ON THE RISE
YORK» Whether Royal, Charlie NEW or Salem, Skyler, Justice or Oakley, unisex names for babies are on the rise among parents more willing than ever to embrace the possibility of gender fluidity in their children and attempt to head off sexism on their behalf.
“We’re definitely seeing more conversation today around the distinction of a truly gender-neutral name,” said Linda Murray, global editor-in-chief of BabyCenter.com . “This generation is truly interested in gender neutral names.”
The Social Security Administration puts out a top 10 list of popular baby names every year based on its registrations, but it also keeps track of names on the rise in its top 1,000. Name-watchers said crossovers and more neutral names haven’t overtaken the top spots but are more heavily represented in the broader ranking, especially among millennial parents.
Pop culture and family or religious history are important in baby naming, as is the cool factor. But more names are being used for either sex regardless of which gender they originally were associated with.
“We chose a gender-neutral name, Riley, for my daughter,” said Lori Kinkler, a psychologist in San Antonio. “We knew her sex, but gender is fluid and yet to be determined. Of all the difficulties faced by those who live beyond, or across, the binary, we didn’t want name-changing to be one of them. ... I like that she feels she has options and knows she’ll be accepted by us no matter what.” Riley is 3.
Pamela Redmond Satran, cowriter of “The Baby Name Bible,” blogs about baby names and is co-founder of Nameberry.com, which crunches about 50,000 names every which way.
Satran says the interest in embracing potential gender fluidity is “an important reason, but it’s not the only reason. In fact, a lot of people choose unisex names because they think they’re cool or they’re meaningful to themselves but they raise their kids in a very gender-specific way.”
Satran said some gender-neutral names follow other trends, such as choosing traditional last names as first names (hello, Madison) or bits of geography and nature: Lake, Blue, Dakota. And spellings have long signaled gender in names that sound the same: Yves vs. Eve.