Typically female names for boys

Riley -- one of the most popular unisex names -- is trendier now for girls though for boys it's a classic, ALWAYS ranking in the US Top 1000.

Now that it's no longer fashionable for girls, Robin is rising for boys again. Robin Hood, Robin Williams, Christopher Robin, and Robin the Boy Wonder are all male namesakes, after all. It reentered the US Top 1000 boys names in 2015 for the first time since 1999 and continues to bounce around the lower end of the Top 1000.

Best known as a feminine diminutive, Romy is used now for boys too; has a lot of energy and bounce. Can be a short form of Roman or Romeo or a name in its own right. Remy is another related choice, or you might want to go all the way to Romulus.

Rihanna put Rose on the map for baby boys when she used it as the middle name for her son Riot. If James is a modern favorite middle name for girls, why not Rose for boys?

Botanical choice that can work for either gender. Simple and straightforward. Caveats: rue means "regret" in English, and "street" in French.

This spice name is typically used for girls, but we see no reason it couldn't join the growing list of gender-neutral nature names.

Fits many criteria sought by modern parents: it's short and strong, with intimations of wisdom as well as fragrant herbal properties. At this point, Sage is given about a third of the time to boys.

A word name that has sailed onto birth certificates of both genders, especially since Liv Tyler used it for her son. For boys, Saylor and Sailor are used about equally, but were together given to about 100 baby boys last year....and 1000 baby girls.

A sweet Scottish short form of Alexander which is feeling newly appealing now the era of Sandra is far behind us. Sandy would also work well as a nickname for a child with pale red or dark blond hair.

As a masculine name Saro has three origins:

The name of the longest river in the British Isles rose to the US Top 25 for girls in the 1970s and the Top 100 for boys, but has fallen off the Top 1000 for both genders. At the latest count, the name Shannon was given to about 200 babies in the US, about a third of those boys. As a favorite Irish name, Shannon has now been supplanted by newcomers such as Saoirse and Seanan.

Southern name still occasionally heard in a male context (author Shelby Foote and the son of singer/sitcom star Reba McEntire), but it's much more associated with girls.

Despite its poetic associations, almost as dated as Sheldon, and more feminine.

In an earlier time Shirley was used primarily for boys, but the tide turned with the publication of Charlotte Bronte's novel Shirley in 1849, the story of a character whose parents had selected the name for a boy child, then decided to use it anyway when he turned out to be a she.

Sky is an ambigender nature name that was first legitimized as the character of Sky Masterson in the 1950 musical Guys and Dolls, played in the film version by Marlon Brando. It's a name we appreciate for its clear, wide-open feel, less hippyish than others like Rainbow and Starlight, and makes an appealing middle name possibility.

This Americanized spelling of the Dutch name is now used nearly exclusively for girls in the US.

While Skylar is currently the most popular spelling choice for girls - and the spelling seen most often - the Skyler option is more (statistically) unisex. Given to boy and girls in nearly equal numbers each year, it ranks around the middle of the US Top 1000 and is given to more than 400 boys every year.

An Irish surname-name that's used almost exclusively for girls these days.

Snow is increasing in usage mostly as a girls' name, but hero Jon Snow of Game of Thrones just might nudge it into the boys' column. Currently, there are 12 times as many girls named Snow as boys, but its usage is much higher in middle place.