20 Great Unisex Names for Your Baby

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The naming of a child is a big deal. You want to choose a name that fits the personality of a child you’ve yet to meet. It has to sound good, it has to look good and it has to be easy to spell. Okay, so maybe I’m over-exaggerating. I mean, some people name their kids things like Dweezil and Jermajesty and other things that make no sense at all – and by some people I mean most of Hollywood. Sure, the name you give your child is unique and wonderful and completely up to you, but some people choose to go a bit overboard. Others choose classic names they think no one will use only to realize that everyone on the planet pregnant at the same time thought the same thing (I present my Addison, Ava, Carter and Charlotte as an example). But sometimes people want to pick a name for a baby whose sex they do not know; and they want a unisex name (because people don’t have a difficult enough time determining the sex of a baby in all pink or all blue, why not then present them with a name that could go either way?!). Really, though, you name your baby whatever it is you want to name your baby; you carried it, you’re suffering through birth, you do what you want. And if you want to go unisex with baby’s name, let us help you choose. Here are 20 of our favorite unisex names – just don’t get upset with people can’t figure out if it’s a boy or a girl.

Aubrey

In fact, it’s the name I wanted to use for my oldest daughter. But since it’s also the name of a friend of ours, and the middle name I wanted to use “Grace” is very close to his last name, we decided against it, and that’s where Addison Grace came from.

Angel

I have a girlfriend named Angel, who is just lovely and wonderful. I also have a nephew named Angel, who is also lovely and wonderful. It’s a great name no matter who wears it; it’s just lovely.

Bailey

It’s a common name used for both boys and girls. My daughter’s class has three versions of Bailey. Two are girls and one is a boy and all three of them sport a different spelling of the name.

Devon

I have a nephew named Devin – and one of my dentist’s name is Devon; and she’s a woman. It’s a very common name that goes very well with any child, male or female.

Dakota

Of course since 50 Shades was released starring Dakota Johnson, the name has become increasingly popular. People are using it for their girls and their boys, though, so it’s not really anything that’s being discriminated.

Hayden

I love the name Hayden, and know several little boys and little girls with the name. If the name hadn’t become so popular before we had kids, we might or might not have used it on one of ours.

Ryan

I always pictured Ryan being a male name, but it’s a very popular female name, too. It took me a while to understand this one, growing up with millions male Ryan’s and not one female, but I like it for a girl these days.

Taylor

It’s the consummate unisex name, and we like it. It’s a fun name. It’s a lot more popular now than it ever was in the past, but that’s all right when you consider how much fun it really is.

Riley

I never knew a Riley until I grew up and people began having kids. Not a boy, not a girl; I knew absolutely no Riley’s in my entire life. Now my other daughter that three Riley’s in her class, two girls and a boy. It’s a theme in my children’s classes.

Peyton

It’s a boy. No, it’s a girl. No, it’s both. There are plenty of Payton’s and Peyton’s in the world, and they’re probably about half and half if we consider only the Peyton’s I know.

Reese

It started out as a name that seemed for girls, but it’s grown very popular for little boys. Apparently the name is just so popular in general and that people having little boys wanted to use it despite their lack of a little girl. It works, though.

Morgan

Initially it seems very feminine, but Morgan is actually a very masculine name. We like it because it seems to be the epitome of both masculinity and femininity.

Jordan

I said I’d name my child Jordan no matter his or her sex when I was growing up. I did not; at all. And I’m glad. I know at least 5 of them now, and it’s hard to tell them all apart anymore.

Drew

To me, personally, Drew is the name of a boy. In fact, if either of our first two kids had been a boy, we would have used this name. But we had two girls and then we decided we just loved the name Carter when we had the twins, so Drew was out.

Jessie

When I think Jessie, I think Uncle (come on Full House fans) but my kids think Debby Ryan and the Disney Channel. So it goes either way, really.

Avery

I do likes this name, and would have considered it for our twin girl (we were leaning toward Andrew (Drew) and Avery) if we didn’t already have an Ava. It was just too much AV for our house.

Courtney

This is another one that seems much more feminine, but it shows what we know. One of my husband’s lifelong best friends is a male Courtney, and I can’t think of a name more appropriate for his personality – and he’s not at all feminine.

Harper

Another name I like, but decided we would not use thanks to the fact that it was trendy before we gave birth. It can go either way, and we like it for both a boy and a girl. It just sounds like a successful name, don’t you think?

Brylen

This is a new name to me, but in the past two years I’ve heard it all over the place. There are boys and girls both using this name, and it works either way.

Harley

Not to knock the name, but to me it sounds like a motorcycle. To others, it’s a son or a daughter. But it does work each and every way.

Photo illustration by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images

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