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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Gender neutral names/nicknames

107 replies

CheesyMother · 02/10/2019 12:11

I’m just wondering if anyone has some ideas of names that can be used for both girls and boys, or where the usual nickname is one that can be for both boys and girls.

So names like Leslie, Evelyn etc but also names like Charles/Charlotte which would both be Charlie, Henry/Harriet which would both be Harry.

Thanks!

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CocoLoco87 · 03/10/2019 07:13

Noa/ Noah
River
Brooke
Phoenix
Taylor
Luca

drspouse · 03/10/2019 07:07

Rowan not Rowland. I know some of each (though a few are adults).

LadyGAgain · 02/10/2019 23:32

Bobby/Bobbi
Alex
Sam

BertrandRussell · 02/10/2019 23:32

“A friend of mine did some stats and there are a few names that are almost 50/50 and not originally one or the other (Rowan, Lesley/ie, Kim, Kit).”
Rowland is still a hugely predominantly a boy’s name. The others are so uncommon that you can’t really draw any conclusions from the 3 or 4 uses..

Joeybee · 02/10/2019 23:25

Gender neutral names I like are:

Remi/Remy
Riley
Jordan
Elliot
Sam (Samantha/Samuel)
Max (Maxwell/Maxine)
Charlie (Charles/Charlotte)
Theo (Theodore/Theodora)
Parker
Robin/Robyn
Sidney/Sydney
River
Alex (Alexander/Alexandra)
Taylor
Aubrey
Blair/Blaire
Sky/Skye

drspouse · 02/10/2019 23:16

I'm not sure that's true Bertrand
A friend of mine did some stats and there are a few names that are almost 50/50 and not originally one or the other (Rowan, Lesley/ie, Kim, Kit). Some have been captured by girls (Evelyn) and some are culture dependent (Robin).

BertrandRussell · 02/10/2019 23:10

No such thing as a gender neutral name- except perhaps Francis/es. All the others are just boys names girls are allowed to borrow.

Ellmau · 02/10/2019 23:04

Jocelyn
Morgan
Rowan
Robin

OpposableThumbs2 · 02/10/2019 20:51

I have a Georgina, generally known as Georgie or George.

GnomeoNameo · 02/10/2019 20:25

Philip or Philippa - Pip
Alexander/ra - Alex or Sandy
Nicholas/Nicola/Nicole - Nicky
Joseph/Johanna/Josephine - Jo
Robert or Roberta - Bobby

Yophia · 02/10/2019 18:21

Taylor
Brooklyn
Sam
Morgan
Ashley
Riley
Jordan
Rory
Elliot ( Ellie )

NorthEndGal · 02/10/2019 16:55

Josie/ Jo/ Joe

Lindsay/ Lyn / Lincoln

Nicola / Nic / Nicholas

Claudine/ Dine / Dean

Victoria/ Vic /Victor

Original poster
CheesyMother · 02/10/2019 16:44

@MissHenty - My son has one of the traditional names already mentioned. His full name is a male name, but we all use the nickname, and I know a lot of girls (and women) who also use the nickname. I like that he’ll have a choice in the future... I agree that people seem much happier to use “male” names for girls rather than vice versa, and that names that were historically used for both sexes (Leslie, Meredith, Evelyn etc) are now far more often used for girls.

And I do hope it won’t be an issue when my children are entering the workplace, but I’m pretty sure that it still will be.

OP posts:
Nofunkingworriesmate · 02/10/2019 16:36

Hopefully by the time she is working we will have smashed this unconscious bias

MissHenty · 02/10/2019 16:35

@CheesyMother do you mind me asking what your son is called? It’s interesting as using boys names on girls is seen as ‘cool’ ....but girls names on boys are def seen as a no no. Presumably the subconscious thought underlying all of this is that boys are better than girls. 🤷‍♀️

Original poster
CheesyMother · 02/10/2019 16:31

It’s just something I’m thinking about as there is quite a lot of research that shows that women experience a lot of discrimination (whether overt or unconscious bias) and so if I have a daughter I’d quite like to use a neutral name. Especially as we accidentally did this for my son...

But most of the names I can think of I’m just not that keen on - either I don’t really like the nickname or I don’t really like the long name... So I just thought I’d see whether anyone else could come up with something that I haven’t considered.

OP posts:
Sparklypurpleunicornsaremyfav · 02/10/2019 16:07

Alistair/alison-ali
Joseph/joanne/Josephine - jo(e)
Gerald/Geraldine - jerry/geri
Nathan/natalie-nat
Patrick/Patricia - pat
Is it for any particular reason?

Gummibaerchen1 · 02/10/2019 14:43

Alex (andra or ander)

Jo (seph or sephine)

Sam (antha or uel)

AdalbertWaffling · 02/10/2019 14:40

Elliot (unisex)
Robin (unisex)
Frances/Francis
George/Georgina/Georgia
Jamie (unisex)

FawnDrench · 02/10/2019 14:32

Robert, Roberta - Bobby
Charles, Charlotte - Chas, Charlie
Leonard, Marlene- Lenny
Stephen, Stephanie - Stevie
Alexander, Sandra - Sandy
Christopher, Christine - Chris
Frank, Francesca - Frankie
Leonard, Leonora - Lee

Yogobo · 02/10/2019 14:24

Not sure if these are the type of thing you're looking for but here's a few unisex names/nicknames...

Jacqueline - Jack/Jackie
I've known male and female people called Stacey
Harriet - Harry
Robin - though seems to be used more for girls now
Andrea/Andrew - Andy/Andie
Lesley/Leslie

Original poster
CheesyMother · 02/10/2019 14:19

Thanks everyone.

@BeanBag7 - of course I can google, but the lists I can find are mainly of actual names and don’t list names like Charlotte, Alfred, Antonia etc. where there is a neutral nickname.

OP posts:
MarshaBradyo · 02/10/2019 13:18

Frankie

AdelaideK · 02/10/2019 13:15

Ashley
Taylor
Morgan
Casey
Jude

bridgetreilly · 02/10/2019 13:14

Alfred/Frederick/Winifred: Freddy
Christopher/Christina: Chris
Alexander/Alexandra: Alex

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