Comments on: Unisex Names: Toward a Gender-Free Ideal?

By: betasinlove

betasinlove — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 22:56:55 +0000

All of these names look nicely unisex to me. London, especially, is a name I’ve encountered very often on both both boys and girls and no one has ever batted an eyelash. I think everyone seems to forget that a name is never going to perfectly describe your child. You know almost nothing about what your child will be like, personality or even looks-wise while you’re expecting and even for a good while after birth. You also don’t know whow they’ll feel about femininity or masculinity, nor whether they will identify with the gender everyone plops on them at birth. Unisex names give children more choice and options as they grow up and into their personalities. It’s perfectly possible for a little girl named Parker or Dylan to love painting her nails, doing ballet, or baking cookies, and those are all wonderful things for someone to do…but they’re not tied to gender, the same way these names aren’t.

By: mckaylalove

mckaylalove — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 10:06:05 +0000

Maybe it’s because I’m young and as a general rule young people are more open minded and less conventional, but I think all the names on the list could be unisex and I think it’s cool when a person has a unisex name. I actually love Elliot, Rory, Parker, Charlie (I know several little girls named Charlie) and Avery for girls and Dakota, Marlowe, Corin and Ellis for boys in particular.
But yeah, I think they all work.

By: Elliveve

Elliveve — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 23:55:53 +0000

Alex- Boy

Angel- Girl

Avery- Girl

Bay- Girl

Blake- Boy

Brett- Boy

Cameron- Boy

Charlie- Boy

Corin- Girl

Dakota- Girl

Devon- Boy

Dune- Boy

Dylan- Boy

Ellington- Boy

Elliot- Boy

Ellis- Girl

Emerson- Boy

Emery- Girl

Garnet- Girl

Gray/Grey- Boy

Grayson/Greyson (but not Gracyn)- Boy

Jaden- Boy

Jalen- Girl

Landry- Dirty clothing

London- Girl

Lou- Boy

Luca- Boy

Marlowe- Girl

Merritt- Boy

Micah- Boy

Nico- Boy

Parish- Boy

Parker- Boy

Payton/Peyton- Girl

Reilly/Riley- Boy

Remy- Girl

Rio- Boy

River- Boy

Rory- Boy

Rowan- Boy

Sage- Girl

Salem- Boy

Sam- Boy

Sasha- Girl

Sawyer-Boy

Sayer- Boy

Seneca- Girl

Sky- Girl

Skyler- Girl

Storm- Girl

Story- Girl

Teagan- Girl

Tiernan- Boy

Tenzin- Boy

Timber- Boy

True- Boy

Winslow- Boy

By: TaylorBlueSkye

TaylorBlueSkye — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 16:40:59 +0000

I love unisex names because I can picture them on any personality. I can easily see a very girly, pretty Blake (see Blake Lively), her name doesn’t take away her femininity. But it’s hard for me to picture a boyish (doesn’t like to wear girls clothes, prefers soccer over ballet) Isabella.

By: Jenna5128

Jenna5128 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 17:13:40 +0000

First of all I love the idea of unisex names. My second love is names that surprise people. I also dislike my given name but respect the amount of love and care my mother took in selecting it for me and would therefore never change it. –so those are the biases I come to the conversation with.

I think for others to wholesale reject a name someone has chosen as being “a girl’s name” or “a boy’s name” is often short sighted, because name usage changes over time. It’s fluid. Does it disrupt our enjoyment of “Gone with the Wind” to see Scarlett pining for her man Ashley? Did people find “The Great Gatsby” hard to follow because Jordan Baker was a woman?

Or the people here who consider “Seneca” a girl’s name –um, what about the Roman stoic philosopher who tutored Nero? He was a male. And that was his surname, so that opens a whole other kettle of fish.

Besides all that –it’s usually the prospective parents who have done the most research about their beloved name. It’s just silly to say all names hold a gender. Yes, Elizabeth will probably always be a woman, but history shows names aren’t ascribed permanent gender.

By: PenPencilCrayon

PenPencilCrayon — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 20:23:45 +0000

The idea that any name is gender specific is only an indication of a person’s inability for change and the plan to label a child without considering the personality. The world changes and so does everything in it. Name your child whatever your heart desires regardless of traditions or “respect” for a culture or country. In the end, they’re all just verbal sounds we created.

By: Aiveen989

Aiveen989 — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 16:36:14 +0000

Alex-Unisex but is at the top of my girls list right now.

Angel-Unisex but i’ve only ever heard of a boy angel.

Avery-Unisex, I love both Avery for a boy and girl.

Bay- Girl, I would say.

Blake- Boy.

Brett- Boy.

Cameron- Unisex, but I think its quite masculine.

Charlie- Boy, although Charlie can be cute for girls too.

Corin- Boy.

Dakota- Girl, mainly because of Dakota Fanning.

Devon- Boy.

Dune- Boy.

Dylan- Unisex. I prefare Dylan for a girl because I think Dylan for a boy is too common.

Ellington- First I’ve heard this name, but I’d say boy probably.

Elliot- My number One boys name,

Ellis- boy.

Emerson- Boy.

Emery- never heard this one either, probably boy.

Garnet- boy.

Gray/Grey- boy.

Grayson/Greyson (but not Gracyn)- boy.

Jaden- boy.

Jalen- boy.

Landry- boy.

London- girl.

Lou- Unisex. I think it sounds more like a nickname for Louise(girl) and Louis/Lewis(boy)

Luca- boy.

Marlowe- not too sure.

Merritt- boy.

Micah- boy.

Nico- boy.

Parish- boy

Parker- boy, beacuse of desperate housewives.

Payton/Peyton- girl, because of dance moms.

Reilly/Riley- Unisex

Remy- boy.

Rio- boy.

River- boy.

Rory- boy.

Rowan- boy.

Sage- girl.

Salem- boy (sabrina the teenage witch)

Sam- Unisex

Sasha- Girl.

Sawyer- boy.

Sayer- boy.

Seneca- girl.

Sky- Girl.

Skyler- Girl.

Storm- boy.

Story- boy.

Teagan- girl.

Tiernan- boy.

Tenzin- boy.

Timber- boy.

True-boy.

Winslow-boy

Just my opinion:D

By: Scrambledmegs

Scrambledmegs — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 17:51:47 +0000

@amberdaydream really hit the nail on the head when saying “I think that fact that some (not all) people strike a boy name off their list when it gets too popular for girls is sexist in a way.” In fact, everything they mentioned eloquently summarized a lot of my beliefs and opinions. I also agree with @CKA’s statement “What I think is sad, is the almost irrational paranoia of the parents of boys who run away from those names somehow fearing it will weaken their boy.” I wouldn’t call any of this feminism and I don’t think women who name their daughters Addison and Blake are doing it to be feminists. Maybe they like the sound of the name, maybe their husband’s name is Adam, or maybe their maiden name is Blake. There are a lot of terrible names out there, but those two are wonderful. Who am I to think someone named their own child inappropriately? I can have an opinion, but I would never be so rude as to share that with the person. There’s nothing constructive in that opinion.

@SugarPlumFairy, one particular American “boy” I can point to named Madison is the San Francisco Giants starting pitcher, Madison Bumgarner. A few years and a World Series win later, I’m pretty sure no one criticizes him for sharing his name with thousands of little girls.

Touching on what @amcook said, “I feel like if it was me I wouldn’t want people assuming I was a girl or boy on paper and then being surprised to see the opposite. This applies for school, jobs, life in general.” I’ve said this a million times and I’ll say it again, assumptions shouldn’t be made. We’re taught that making assumptions is stupid and wrong, why would it be any different in separating based on sex? “Because that’s the way it’s always been” is a terrible reason to do anything. I believe it’s about time we change. I have a lot of friends in the LGBT community and know that a person’s sex is not always the same as their gender. To me, sex and gender shouldn’t be identifiers. I don’t think it matters. It isn’t about careers or society, it’s about people. (If you haven’t seen it, journalist Lisa Ling has a show, called Our America with Lisa Ling, which has a wonderful episode called Transgender Lives. But then again, even these people change their names to fit a societal gender stereotype.) A few masculine lesbians I work with have come up with clever nicknames to cover up their overtly feminine monikers, which simply don’t suit. They’re also often confused for being male because of the way they dress and act. I find it rude that they should have to qualify and limit by definition how they choose to dress and act. I also had an extremely masculine college professor named Lauren who I could’ve sworn was a man for the first few weeks of class. I never asked, but often wondered if that happened to her often or if I only felt that way because I’ve known males named Lauren. Nothing in life is black and white, and I believe that gender is not so clearly defined. So why define it with a name? It feels so limited to me. In a sea of so many spectacular name options, why hold ourselves back from finding the most perfect moniker for us and our progeny?

I’m extremely progressive, so I can acknowledge that my opinions (and that of people I know) don’t reflect what the statistics show. I’m in no way trying to banish every Liliana or Isabella from being their feminine, wonderful selves. I’m sure several drag queens and trans women will adopt frilly names such as these because they were named Steven and Matthew. We shouldn’t have to change our names to fit how we feel or are perceived. We should be accepted regardless. We put a lot of pressure on names as definitions of people, but in my opinion the people will define how the name is perceived.

By: linelei

linelei — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 15:12:21 +0000

I really appreciate Amber’s comments; unisex names are not for me about reaching some androgynous ideal in which no one HAS a gender; it is more about the freedom to be who you are without parents forcing children into stereotyped gender roles. Your child may be super “masculine” or “feminine”, but if their names are limiting and they do not fit the stereotypes, it limits their individual expression. Equality is not the same as homogeneity.

That being said, I think others here also make good points that this is more of a surface change right now, and may not reflect true changes in parents’ attitudes and ways of parenting. The fear of naming boys something “girly” is a great example of how far we still have to go.

On a personal level, I prefer soft, unisex-tupe names for boys, while I tend to like frillier girl names. Perhaps this is because I don’t want to fall into the trap of giving my girl a more “boyish” name to give her an edge up in this still male-dominated world. I mean this personally; I have great respect for unisex names on either gender and don’t automatically assume this is the intention when a girl haa such a name.

By: templekat

templekat — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 02:32:41 +0000

@amberdaydream…Well said. People are going to scream ‘sexist’ no matter what. Suggesting a female should look, act, or be named something feminine or a male, masculine, is sexist in itself, isn’t it?

And so many names started out as surnames – who decided they should be male? Avery, as an example? Not all people who give their girls unisex or masculine names are trying to make some statement about gender identity or equality. I may not like all the names people give their children, but if there is real feeling behind the name, more power to them.

Also, the English language is a mixture of words from so many cultures and languages – Gender flipping on words and names is going to happen. Spanish, for example, has feminine and masculine words, hence ‘la/las’ and ‘el/los’. In Spanish, Angel is masculine. So many of us are already saying how it’s feminine. What makes it so? Do we really have to go back to word origin to make these determinations so people feel comfortable using these names? Why don’t all those people who have boys and are screaming injustice start giving their sons ‘girl’ names to get the ball rolling? Where does it start? Where does it end?