225 Gender-Neutral Baby Names for Modern Parents

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.

Names That Ranked Higher for Boys

1. Noah (No. 2 for boys, No. 561 for girls)
2. Ezra (No. 13 for boys, No. 705 for girls)
3. Dylan (No. 28 for boys, No. 696 for girls)
4. Carter (No. 45 for boys, No. 507 for girls)
5. Logan (No. 46 for boys, No. 391 for girls)
6. Angel (No. 63 for boys, No. 498 for girls)
7. Cameron (No. 66 for boys, No. 485 for girls)
8. Rowan (No. 71 for boys, No. 266 for girls)
9. Micah (No. 86 for boys, No. 841 for girls)
10. Ryan (No. 87 for boys, No. 702 for girls)
11. August (No. 88 for boys, No. 910 for girls)
12. Parker (No. 97 for boys, No. 104 for girls)
13. Jordan (No. 98 for boys, No. 499 for girls)

Names That Ranked Higher for Girls

1. Avery (No. 31 for girls, No. 259 for boys)
2. Riley (No. 42 for girls, No. 229 for boys)
3. Emery (No. 70 for girls, No. 823 for boys)
4. Eden (No. 72 for girls, No. 466 for boys)
5. 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.

1. Amari
   
2. Arbor
3. Artemis
4. Ash
5. Azriel
6. Basil
7. Blake
8. Ellis
9. Everest
10. Jett
11. Koda
12. Lowen
13. Lux
14. Marlowe
15. Onyx
16. Park
    
17. Phoenix
18. Ridley
19. River
20. Robin
21. Rory
22. Sage
23. Scout
24. Shiloh
25. Spencer
26. Sutton
27. Tatum
28. Vesper
29. Wren
30. 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.

Taylor and Stevie: two excellent musical acts, two great 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:

1. Jessie
2. Marion
3. Jackie
   
4. Alva
5. Ollie
6. Jody
   
7. Cleo
8. Kerry
9. Guadalupe
10. Carey
11. Tommie
12. Hollis
    
13. Sammie
14. Jamie
15. Kris
16. Robbie
17. Tracy
18. Merrill
19. Noel
20. Rene
21. Johnnie
22. Ariel
23. Jan
24. Devon
    
25. Cruz
    
26. Michel
    
27. Gale
    
28. Dana
    
29. Kim
    
30. 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.

1. Adair
2. Adrian
   
3. Alex
   
4. Archie
   
5. Aspen
   
6. Aster
   
7. Aubrey
8. Bay
   
9. Bailey
   
10. Bellamy
    
11. Bentley
12. Birch
13. Blair
14. Bryce
    
15. Bowie
    
16. Campbell
    
17. Cassidy
    
18. Cedar
    
19. Chandler
20. Clover
21. Colby
22. Collins
23. Courtney
    
24. Dallas
25. Dale
    
26. Darcy
    
27. Denver
    
28. Drew
    
29. Easton
    
30. Echo
    
31. Egypt
    
32. Fallon
33. Francis
    
34. Gray
35. Greer
36. Harley
37. Hart
38. Holland
39. Honor
40. Hunter
    
41. Indigo
42. Jagger
    
43. James
    
44. Jean
45. Jesse
    
46. Juniper
    
47. Keaton
    
48. Keeley
    
49. Kelsey
50. Kendall
51. Kirby
    
52. Kit
53. Lane
    
54. Lennox
55. Leslie
    
56. Lindsey
    
57. London
    
58. Loyal
    
59. Luxury
    
60. Lynn
    
61. Lyric
    
62. Mackenzie
    
63. Marley
    
64. Merritt
    
65. Micah
    
66. Morgan
67. Murphy
    
68. Navy
69. Oakley
70. Palmer
    
71. Paget
    
72. Pat
73. Peyton
74. Poe
    
75. Presley
76. Rain
    
77. Raleigh
78. Randy
    
79. Reagan
80. Reef
    
81. Reese
82. Remy
83. Ricky
    
84. Ripley
    
85. Rumi
    
86. Sailor
    
87. Salem
88. Sandy
89. Sasha
    
90. Seneca
91. Seven
    
92. Shawn
    
93. Shea
94. Shelby
95. Sidney
    
96. Sloan
    
97. Stacy
    
98. Story
99. Tanner
100. Taran
     
101. Taylor
102. Teagan
     
103. Terry
104. True
105. Waverly
     
106. West
     
107. Xenith
     
108. Zen
     
109. Zion
     
110. 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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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; previously, she wrote about parents and families at Parents and Working Mother. She lives with her toy-collecting husband and daughter in Brooklyn, where she can be found helping out her team at bar trivia or posting about movies on Twitter and Bluesky.