According to BabyCenter's naming experts, 2015 is shaping up to be the year of unisex baby names. That's right, gender-neutral monikers like Amari, Karter, Phoenix, Quinn and Reese are growing in popularity very quickly.
"Baby names are reflecting a larger cultural shift," BabyCenter's global editor-in-chief Linda Murray said. "Millennials are an open-minded and accepting group, and they don't want their children to feel pressured to conform to stereotypes that might be restrictive. Just as companies have started making more neutral kids' clothes, and taking 'boy' and 'girl' labels off toys, an increasing number of parents are choosing unisex names."
Unisex Baby Names You’ve Never Thought Of
With stars like Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard naming their daughter Lincoln, Jessica Simpson naming her daughter Maxwell and Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively giving their daughter the name James, Hollywood is boosting the trend of giving girls' names traditionally held for boys. But is the same happening in reverse?
Pamela Satran, Nameberry's co-creator told Yahoo Parenting that the trend is now going both ways: "Many parents want to transcend the old-fashioned feminine or masculine roles and image with names that have not traditionally been used for either boys or girls but can be used for both sexes." She includes the names Avery, Parker, Carson, Peyton, Jordan and Emerson on that list.
So just how popular are these names? Well, Sophia and Jackson don't need to worry about being ousted from their number one positions anytime soon. While Amari has seen a 56 per cent increase in popularity with girls and a 22 per cent increase for boys since 2014, it's still number 189 and 199 respectively on the popularity lists.
Unisex names that made it to the top 100 in 2014 include: Riley, London, Easton, Harper and Owen.
Did you give your baby a gender-neutral name?
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