Unisex Names for Girls

Wynn is an attractive Welsh name, originally male but now also used for girls outside of Wales. The authentic feminine version would be Gwen, which derives from the same very productive gwyn element, making it a relative of all Welsh names ending -wyn or -wen, as well as the Irish Fin- names. 

 Wynn is a soft and gentle yet sturdy choice which lends itself to sweet nickname Winnie or Wynnie.

Wynn

Regal Kingsley seems like an all-boy name, but a growing number of parents have bestowed this name on a girl. Credit the ever-trendier -ley suffix.

Kingsley Wilson is a MAGA influencer and a communications official in the second Trump administration.

Kingsley

Given to children of both sexes as far back as colonial times, this carries a lot of baggage. However, parents continue to take the risk. Actress America Ferrera may be have inspired some families to choose the name. Ferrera's Honduras-born mother shares her unusual name.

America

Music legend David Bowie lends his adopted surname considerable charisma to this stylish <a href="https://nameberry.com/list/472/scottish-names-for-girls">Scottish name for girls</a> and boys. Born David Robert Jones, he changed his name to avoid confusion with The Monkees' Davy Jones. 

Another famous reference: Jim Bowie, an American hero of the Alamo, and the bowie knife's namesake. 

With girls answering to musically-inspired surnames like Marley and Lennon, Bowie has slowly started to appear on girls' birth certificates, too. Actor Jackson Rathbone has a daughter called Presley Bowie, and Dale DeHaan and Anna Wood named their daughter Bowie Rose.

Bowie

Majesty

Lane is a unisex name equally accessible to boys and girls. Breezy, cool and contemporary, it might equally put in mind country lanes and banks of wildflowers. 
 
As a word name, Lane means "small roadway or path", however, it could easily be used as a nickname or diminutive of Delaney, ("dark river"), Elaine ("shining torch"), or similar. Currently as a given name, it is used nearly 14 times more often on boys than it is on girls, however, the Layne spelling is used more evenly, the Laine form leans feminine, and Lainey is a Top 1000 choice for girls. 
 
As a common surname, Lane is attached to such celebrities as Diane and Nathan, while as a given name, it it used in the English translated version of the novel Concerning My Daughter by Hye-Jin Kim.

Lane

More often used as a boys' name, parents have also been choosing Austin for their little girls - as the 176 female Austins born in the US in 2022 demonstrate. May we suggest the literary version "Austen" for girls, as a well-deserved homage to the famed English author Jane Austen?

Austin

Some parents are choosing this popular boys name for their daughters (in the US there were well over 100 female Ryders born last year). Is it the connection to Winona that makes this feel somewhat more feminine than some other <a href="https://nameberry.com/boys-names">boys’ names</a>?

Ryder

An imaginative choice with an uptempo Cory/Rory/Tori sound, perfect for the child of a writer &mdash; or anyone with a good story to tell. Story has been finding some appreciation among celebs like Minnie Driver and others as a middle name. This is just one of the literary word names that have recently entered the realm of possibility, such as Fable, Sonnet and Poem.


Story

Loyalty is one of the Modern Virtue Names rising precipitously for babies in recent years, used last year for nearly 300 children, about 85 percent of them girls. Loyalty may also owe some of its popularity to trendy sibling name Royalty.

Loyalty

This attractive Scottish surname choice, has a certain amount of glamour thanks to feisty British-born red-haired forties Academy Award winner Greer Garson, who was born Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson--Greer was her Irish mother's maiden name).
Greer was chosen much more recently by Kelsey Grammer for his daughter and by Brooke Shields in the Grier form. As a surname, it's associated with feminist writer/activist Germaine Greer.
 Greer makes a good, strong, sophisticated and distinctive middle-name prospect.

Greer

Beckett

Kenya is fairly commonly heard as a girl's name, but its capital city makes a much more exceptional choice. The name comes from the Maasai phrase "Enkare Nairobi," which translates to "cold water." Nairobi is popularly known as the Green City.
 
Nairobi has grown in usage following the release of Netflix's Money Heist where manager Nairobi is played by Ágata Jiménez. American parents are picking up on this African place-name, with over 200 girls receiving the name each year in the 2020s.

Nairobi

Rio is one of Japan's most popular girls' names, constantly sitting in that country's Top 10. Of course, Rio may also stem from the Portuguese and Spanish word for river, and the Brazilian city Rio de Janeiro. A truly international name for a cosmopolitan baby!

In the US, Rio is gender neutral but tips decidedly toward the male side, with about 500 baby boys named Rio last year versus 100 baby girls.

An attractive North Carolina unisex place name, Raleigh's soft sound is particularly appropriate for a girl. 

Raleigh

This once-trendy name has been fading for both boys and girls. A Top 10 name from 1992 to 2000, it is now at Number 38 and falling.  It was the surname of the tenth U.S. president.

Tyler

In Norse mythology, the valkyries decided the fate of men in battle and conveyed the spirits of the fallen to Valhalla, to dwell with the god Odin. Often associated with ravens, swans, and horses, over time the valkyries have been portrayed as strong, female figures, callous and monstrous creatures, and sometimes both at the same time.
 
 Derived from Old Norse, Valkyrie is comprised of the word valr, used to describe those slain in battle, and kjósa meaning "to choose", which come together to reflect their role in guiding dead warriors. 
 
As a given name, Valkyrie is a new consideration that only began to appear in in the US data in the early 90s, following the release of Paulo Coelho's novel, The Valkyries. It was quietly used until 2016 when the Marvel Franchise confirmed the casting for movie Thor Ragnarok in which Tessa Thompson stars as Valkyrie. 
 
Since then, the name has nearly tripled in use with around 150 girls receiving the name in 2022, making it a bold but increasingly familiar choice, that currently ranks similarly in the US to Nelly, Storm, Tabitha, and Yael. 
 
If Valkyrie does interest you, you could also consider looking at the given names of the valkyries in various manuscripts of Norse mythology, such as Brynhildr, Eir, 
Herja, Mist, and Sigrún.

Valkyrie

Wesley, the long-standing classic boy name that has never dipped below the Top 200, is popular again — this time for boys and girls. The shared sounds with Leslie — which was once a masculine name itself — give Wesley real potential on baby girls. Some parents have feminized the name, leading to variations such as Weslie, Wesleigh, and Weslee, one notable example being Weslie Renae, daughter of dancers Allison Holker and Stephen "tWitch" Boss.
 
The proportion of girls named Wesley remains small however, with just over 100 girls given the name each year, meaning Wesley doesn't come close to meeting our criteria for (statistically) unisex names - yet.

Wesley

Walker is an outdoorsy, Old Western-style name that leapt into the US Top 100 for boys back in 2022. Now, like a number of occupational names before it (think Sawyer, Palmer, and Parker), Walker is being used for an increasing number of girls. 
 
Rarely used as a feminine name before 2018, Walker is now used seven times more than it was a decade ago, with 120 girls receiving the name in 2023. Preppy, cool, and tough, Walker has a stylish-cowboy feel to it and could also work as a nod to the writer of The Color Purple, Alice Walker.
 
American television host Courtney Hansen used the name Walker as one of her daughter's middle names in 2014 — as a tribute to her mother's maiden name.

Walker

A name used in the Caribbean, taken from the Rastafarian term that translates best to "positive and powerful."  Rastas often greet each other by saying, "Are you feeling Irie today?"

Irie

 are an ever-widening pool, with more and more names jumping back and forth across gender lines and new 

Unisex names for girls encompass names that originated as male names but migrated to the girls' side and truly 

 that work as well for girls as for boys. 

 also include new nature, place, and word names that have no traditional gender association.

top unisex names in the US for baby girls

, led by Avery and Riley, along with gender-neutral names that have been rising in use for girls. We culled the Nameberry Top 2000 along with names on the US list below the Top 1000 for these choices.

 includes Quinn, Peyton, Charlie, Taylor, Parker, Eden, Emerson, and Remi. Many of the unisex names here also make the list of most popular unisex names for boys.

Names new to this list include boy names that have recently started being used for girls, including Gianni, Arlo, and Ezra. Other new gender neutral names for girls include 

If you'd like to give your daughter a gender-neutral name, here is our long list of widely-used possibilities.

Unisex names for girls are gender neutral names that work well for baby girls, with the top unisex names used for baby girls, with meanings, origins, and popularity. (Page 12)