The very best unisex names

The related Lucas and Luke are both hugely popular boy names in the US and internationally, and now Luca has joined them on boys' popularity lists around the world.

A much more dynamic nickname than Nicky for any of the Nic-names. Nico was chosen by Thandiwe Newton for her daughter.

The menu of usable month names seems to expand every, well, month, with such choices as November, October, and January joining more established names like April, May, June and August. Logical November nicknames include Nova, Novi, or Ember, making this a natural (if adventurous) choice for a baby girl. November is also, obviously, one of the perfect names for November babies.

Quinn is an engaging Celtic surname that is on the rise for both genders. Quinn has started leaning decidedly toward the feminine thanks to a female cheerleader character on the television show Glee. It retains some testosterone from "The Mighty Quinn," the name of a movie, a band, and a Bob Dylan song.

Among a small shower of rain-related names, this pure version can have a cool, refreshing image.

A slim, elegant, silvery surname, Reed could be a banker or a sculptor, and therein lies the appeal of this simple yet distinctive name. The versatile Reed can be seen as a grass-like nature name and a musical name.

Chosen by aviators Charles and Anne Lindbergh for their daughter, Reeve is another single-syllable surname waiting to be borrowed by the girls.

Most of the notable Rivers have been male, but this nature name certainly flows as well for a girl. The name River is still rising for both genders, with about 3500 baby boys receiving the name last year vs. 1900 baby girls.

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.

Sage is an evocatively fragrant herbal name that also connotes wisdom, giving it a double advantage. It entered the Top 1000 at about the same time for both genders in the early 1990s, but it has pulled ahead for the girls. Toni Collette named her daughter Sage Florence.

Santana was most recently heard on a female character on hit television show Glee. Nonetheless, this name ranks higher for boys, which can be credited to Grammy Award-winning musician Carlos Santana.

The energetic Russian nickname name Sasha is being used increasingly on its own, though since the prominence of the First Daughter, more than 90% of the American babies named Sasha are girls. Sacha Baron Cohen bears one of the alternate spellings.

Irish place-name -- it's a river, a town, and an airport -- once popular but now supplanted by such newer immigrants as Saoirse and Seanan.

A common surname in Ireland that projects a complex image for a short-one-syllable name, combining spirit and substance.

Sheridan is one surname-name that hasn't come into style for either gender, though it was lightly used for boys around the turn of the 20th century and girls 100 years later. The name does have an attractive sound and an appealing meaning.

While Sidney in this spelling has a long history as a girls' name, it fell off the Top 1000 from the early 50s until 1990. Then it reemerged as one of the newly chic androgynous names for girls, rising into the Top 300 before falling off the Top 1000 list again in 2016. Sydney is now the more fashionable form.

Among the first wave of word names used in the hippie era, it actually is a legitimate girl's name with a lot of luster.

A name very much in the air, for both boys and girls, often seen in the casts and character lists of movies and TV shows. The Skylar spelling is used more for females.

Tanwyn is a modern Welsh name that can work for either sex depending on the spelling -- wyn is the traditional boys' spelling, while wen as in Tanwen is the girls' version.

Famous bearers include surfer Tanwyn Travers and the hero of a Victorian Welsh legend titled Envy Burns Itself.

Romantic name used throughout Europe, though sure to lead to pronunciation problems here. Though it's never been too widely used in the US, it's quite popular in Switzerland, France, Austria, and Romania.