Sister and Brother Names
To clear up any misunderstanding, let me say straight off that these are not literally sister and brother names — you would decidedly NOT want to name your children Oliver and Olivia or Seren and Soren.
What we’re talking about are names themselves that are closely related, male and female versions of names with similar sounds and feels, too close to bestow on actual siblings but offering parents boys’ and girls’ choices of what are virtually if not literally the same names.
We’ve written a lot recently about unisex names — the same name used for both genders, like Rory or Emerson — and we’ve also touched on the recent phenomenon of boys’ names that have risen to popularity on the coattails of their trendy sisters: Emmett from Emma, for instance, or Everett from the Eve contingent.
That can work the other way too, with a fashionable boys’ name inspiring the rise of a similar-sounding sister name. Â In fact, does it really matter which gender’s popularity comes first? Â We see a lot of trendy names these days with both female and male counterparts, so that if you’re attracted to a certain sound or style, you can use whichever version of the name fits your baby’s gender.
Some of these pairs, like Alexa and Alexander or Felicity and Felix, are connected in a conventional way: the female name is literally an offshoot of the male name.
But others don’t share an origin and developed separately, only to be connected at this point in baby name history by their similar feel and the desire on the part of parents for baby name parity, even if they’re not interested in using unisex names.
We focused on popular names here, most of them in the U.S. Top 400, but you’ll find similar male-female pairs all the way down the list.
The one downside with these names is that, for the most part, the pairs won’t work as literal sister and brother names. Â So if you name your daughter Eliza, you can’t name her little brother Elijah.
Alexis or Alexa – Alexander or Alex
Eva or Evelyn – Evan or Everett
Isabella or Isla – Isaac or Isaiah
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mrsmur725 Says:
EssJay Says:
How on Earth is Finley considered a girls’ name?
Aurra Says:
@mrsmur Have you considered using a name with the same menaing as your son’s?
This list isn’t for actual brother and sister names- it’s just male and female names that relate to each other. You’ll be hard pressed to actually find a brother and sister duo named Oliver and Olivia.
LexieM Says:
I think this list is interesting for people who really love one gender specific name and find they are having a baby of the other gender. IE. I love Grace but am having a boy so Grayson might be a good alternative with it’s similar feel and sound.
However I agree with @Aurra the list isn’t a “brother-sister” list, and although that is what is say’s in the title I don’t think it really was intended to be either. Let’s face it I’m sure someone, somewhere has named their children Oliver and Olivia but I doubt that’s a frequent occurrence.
pam Says:
You’re absolutely right Lexie. I did say that but I guess not everyone got the message and the headline might have been misleading
Lo Says:
Looking at my family tree I have an ancestor Elias who’s daughter is Elizabeth and in turn her son is Elias. I’ve always thought it was nice and wondered if the similarity in sound was intentional.
Poppy528 Says:
It’s funny how much I like one half of these pairs so much but dislike the other half so intensely! Ada yes, Aidan ick; Felicity bleh, Felix yay. I’ve always thought Gray was the better male form of Grace (I think it’s more gender neutral and attractive than either).
I think all these male names (except for the very biblical) are in danger of crossing the gender gap and being used more commonly for girls (cute names like Cory and Millie make it just so easy to “steal” Corbin and Miller for the ladies).
Mischa Says:
Unfortunately, there are some parents who name their twins, Oliver and Olivia. Just wish they could have read this post before making their decision.
bex.marie Says:
Is Seren the female version of Soren, or is it cause they sound similar?
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We just found out baby #2 is a girl!! Our first is a boy and while we wanted to make sure their names are cohesive we didn’t want them so similar that they could get confusing (Julia and Julian, Oliver and Olivia etc) just a personal preference…