What are your thoughts on these unisex names...

[PickettWhiteFences]

Having a girl but quite keen on a unisex name...here is our list

• Darcy
• Indiana
• Jessie
• Aspen
• Harlow
• Kennedy
• Parker
• Sage
• Quinn
• Sasha

My favourite are probably Darcy, Kennedy and Indiana, DH loves Harlow and Jessie but also Darcy too.

Would love your opinions!

I wanted to call DS Sacha. In French speaking Europe and some other places, it's almost exclusively a boys name. In fact, at the time we were thinking of using it, you couldn't register it for a girl in a couple of countries. Sadly, people had started using it for girls more and more in the UK and America so we decided against it.

I really don't like surnames or places used as names so a lot of your list aren't my thing. And Quinn will only ever look like "quim" to me and every child who likes the Avengers will know the line "mewling quim" eventually.

Love Jessie. What about Jude?

Why do they need to be unisex?

Darcy- Regardless of Mr Darcy, I wouldn't consider this unisex. It's a girls name to me and most of the UK.
Indiana - Same as above. Indiana Jones' names was a nickname, named after his female dog.
Jessie - I would use this only for a boy.

Aspen - I like it but again it's a boys name to me
Harlow - I wouldn't use this name for any child. It's a dump!
Kennedy - Girls name.
Parker - I actually secretly really like Parker!
Sage - a herb. But a girls name if you must.
Quinn - I feel this is probably the most unisex name on your list apart from Sasha
Sasha - see above.

I think a lot of your names aren't that unisex any more. I do like a lot of them but apart from Quinn & Sasha, I'd consider most of them a certain sex.

Thanks for the opinions, Sasha is growing on me now, glad to hear good vibes.

Indiana would be pronounced: Indie-anna. Indi would probably be a nickname.

I didnt realise Kennedy, Jessie or Parker were that dated. Still like them though.

I have a really girly first name (along the grounds of Rose esque type name), and I loathe it because I have always been a tom boy, I know it sounds a bit ridiuclous but I dont want my child to be burdened with a name association with connotations of a certain gender.

I think people are talking a lot of sense when it comes to Harlow. Sounded good in my head but the more I think about it, its a no.

Also I have known a few boy Darcys over the years so interesting too see it known as a female name.

• Darcy - very popular for girls, I don't like it
• Indiana - Jones
• Jessie - fine if short for Jessica, Jessamine or Jessamy. Jessie is an insult for boys
• Aspen - Colorado, Aften is similar and prettier
• Harlow - Harlot with a silent t?
• Kennedy - too closely linked to JFK
• Parker - Coat
• Sage - too covid19
• Quinn - kids will join the ns to make an m
• Sasha - fine

I don't think it sounds ridiculous at all - I understand why you might want to avoid overly girly, frilly, floral names, but I'm not sure that going for a unisex name is the only answer. I think there are lots of girls names that sound strong - they're just a bit harder to find as the current trend seems to by for quite feminine names (Sophia, Ava, Isabelle, Evie, Lily etc.) A few which spring to mind:

Juno
Matilda
Frida
Erin
Trudy
Beatrix
Fern
Thora
Ida
Bridget
Nina
Cleo
Scout
Ruth

Have you ever been to Harlow? It's a concrete jungle new town. Maybe take a look on google street view if you are seriously thinking of using it.

(I'm also curious how Indiana can be mispronounced!)

Oooh, how about Rudy?? German origin, means 'famous wolf's - boy's name, but often nn for Ruth. Really like it.

Darcy

• Indiana
• Jessie
• Aspen
• Harlow
• Kennedy
• Parker
• Sage
• Quinn
• Sasha

Most of these are not really that unisex imo. I have never come across a boy named Darcy, Indiana or Sage.

Darcy and Sage are the only ones I like.

Quinn would be a definite no-no. Sounds too much like Quim which, where I grew up, was slang for ladyparts!

Op. You may think you know how Indiana will be pronounced. Promise you if you are in U.K. it will be all over the place. The problem is the first a.

Totally agree if you are keen to avoid ‘frilly’ girls names go for one of the strong classics which are beautiful. Just because things you may not conform to the far ends of stereotype spectrum doesn’t mean you need to become gender neutral !

@HeronLanyon

Op. You may think you know how Indiana will be pronounced. Promise you if you are in U.K. it will be all over the place. The problem is the first a.

I'm another one confused about how Indiana can be mispronounced, surely it's totally phonetic - what's the problem with the first a?

U.K. and US say it differently. Even BBC news readers during the election kept stumbling and getting wrong !
It is pronounced as if
Indy-Anna - emphasis on that third syllable.
U.K. - there is awful indecision and usually wrongly said as if Indy-ahna and some indecision about where stress lands.

• Darcy - meh. Okay on a girl, bit daft on a boy.
• Indiana - “the dog was called Indiana”
• Jessie - only half a name to me, and pretty dated.
• Aspen - likely to get shortened to Ass.
• Harlow - alright, not my taste, but probably the best on this list. Again, more for a girl than a boy.
• Kennedy - no.
• Parker - makes me think of the chauffeur from Thunderbirds.
• Sage - meh.
• Quinn - everyone will think of quim, especially if they see it written down where the two ns run together.
• Sasha - I know an utter bitch cow called Sasha, so for that reason, no. It also feels like it should be short for something much nicer, such as Alexandra.

• Darcy my favourite
• Indiana bit meh
• Jessie lovely
• Aspen school catering
• Harlow Essex
• Kennedy least favourite
• Parker pen
• Sage covid
• Quinn not keen for a girl
• Sasha pretty

I like Darcy and Harlow, not in the UK so associate it with Jean Harlow rather than the place.
Kennedy, Quinn are quite common surnames where I am but maybe in the UK they would work?
Parker just makes me think of Parker Pens.
I understand not wanting a particularly one thing or another name, she should be free to be whoever she is.
Good luck 🍀

With the exception of Parker, I would see all those names as more girl's names than unisex.

Other suggestions (most of which sound quite American to me):
Marley / Marlow
Aubrey
Bailey
Riley
Cameron
Frankie
Blake
Cody
Ariel
Quincy
Charley
Casey
Cassidy

I don’t think Harlow, Kennedy or Parker work as unisex names. They’re definitely male to me.

How about Devon, Casey, Eden, Mackenzie? I know people of both sexes with these names.

I like Ainsley as a unisex girls name. Know a lovely Australian woman called Ainsley.

@HarryLimeFoxtrot

I don’t think Harlow, Kennedy or Parker work as unisex names. They’re definitely male to me.

How about Devon, Casey, Eden, Mackenzie? I know people of both sexes with these names.

I literally only know women with those three names

My favourites from your list are Darcy, Sage and Quinn.

It's very trendy at the moment to name children surnames : Parker, Kennedy, Hunter etc

Fashionable names could date and become naff in the future

Harlow is synonymous with the Essex town.

• Darcy - dislike, and I've never known a male version, lots of little girls with this name
• Indiana - ok, like in a girl, but I can't see it on a boy.
• Jessie - like, or Jesse
• Aspen - dislike, only because gerbil bedding is called Aspen
• Harlow - ok, never been to the place
• Kennedy - like
• Parker - like
• Sage - ok
• Quinn - hate
• Sasha - like this, and really like it on a male, although I've never met a male Brit with this name unless they had a different background, like Russian?

Shannon is another one that is unisex, I only found out when discovering Shannon Holtzapffel who is a man, a very good-looking man, LOL. Although I know a lovely cool girl with this name of kind of has negative connotations in the UK, I actually prefer it on a male.

Cameron, Billie, Ariel (prefer it on a boy, only because of little mermaid, popular Jewish boys name), Sam, Joss, Blake (sounds v masculine but there is Blake Lively, who has a daughter called James), Alex, Alexis, Avery, Jesse, Indi, Rowan, Riley, Jamie, Robin/Robyn, Brogen/Brogan, Reese, Drew, Kit, Scout, Diesel, Pax (I like actually, meaning Peace in Latin), Lux/e, August, River, Rain/Reign, Eden, Phoenix, Silver is a cool name imo. There was a girl called Red in my school. I know of girls and boys called Blue. Then there's a bit more "out there" celeb kid's names like Arrow, Sparrow, etc.
Place names: Milan, London, Sydney