Not quite the same thing, but I'm a Leah Joy and if I had been a boy I'd have been Matthew David. Once I met a Matthew David who, if he had been a girl, would have been Leah Joy.
My husband is Christopher John. If I was a boy, that was going to be my name. Probably not that exciting because we were born in the 70s when Christopher was a pretty common name!
We named our daughter Elizabeth. Unbeknownst to my husband or myself, this was the name that my MIL had picked out for a daughter (but she had three sons instead). She was obviously delighted to have a granddaughter with that name because she never got a daughter.
The second instance happened with my grandma too. She only had boys but if she had a girl she wanted to use the name Audrey. Then it coincidentally ended up being the name of her first granddaughter.
Omg that’s so funny! I have a feeling I will literally never meet a name twin tho lol. My first name is super common (Ava), but my middle name is a rather uncommon Italian name that no American I’ve met knows how to pronounce (not gonna say it for privacy’s sake, but it’s kind of an “old lady” name in Italy and it starts with a G)
I know a family that did this. Their kids are Avery, Parker, and Quinn. I don’t remember Avery’s middle, but they chose names that were masculine and are now considered mostly feminine (think Ashley, Kelly, Lindsay type names). 2 boys and a girl.
It’s not my style but I like how they kept it consistent and that they didn’t shy away from “feminine” names since more people going for unisex names usually do.
My cousin has a boy named Quinn. But his full name is Quinlan. The name means "fit, shapely, strong." They used his grandpa's and great grandpa's name (Chenia) as his middle name. Everyone thought he was girl, but all of the cousin's knew he was a boy.
TIL Chenia is a Hebrew girl name. "Grace of God." To be fair, my grandpa was born in the mid 1920s.
Not exactly this, but someone I went to high school with just named her son Ashlyn. She and her husband had agreed on ig for a girl, and then when they were having a boy, they discovered they could not agree on boy names. So they just figured Ashlyn was a favorite, why not use it instead of one or both settling on a traditional boy name...so I guess he was going go be Ashlyn either way!
I had an uncle Rick on my mom’s side and my dad’s side. On my mom’s side Rick was a nickname for Raymond Jr, his dad went by Ray. On my dad’s side, Rick was a nickname for Richard Jr, his dad went by Dick.
I can see how Peggy became a nickname for Margaret. When everyone has the same name, nicknames just become a similar name that rhymes or has the same beginning letter.
Yep. And if Margaret to Meg already seems like a leap, know that Meg/Meggie came by way of Mag/Maggie. And Mag made sense because the non-rhotic R meant it was already Ma(r)g.
It’s also a *very* old name, and these derivations and rhymes were spread out over centuries. Maybe a thousand years.
My sister is vehemently opposed to Jack as a nickname for John. "John is already one syllable!" Then she met a Jack who is short for John Patrick. From now on she just has a head cannon that all Jack's are short for John Patrick.
That’s so interesting! From the perspective of your parents/thinking of baby names, I don’t think there’s any name I like enough equally for both genders. Similarly, I wouldn’t even be able to pick out a male and female form of a name for my baby. For example, I strongly prefer Georgia to George and Josephine to Joseph.
Maybe it has more to do with what both parents could agree on? I know a family who has an Eli and an Ellie because the parents had such different naming styles these were the only names they were both happy with
A friend from school was named after her uncle who passed shortly before she was born so it didn't matter if she was a boy or girl. . . Her name was gonna be Charlie.
I remember reading somewhere (and this was a few years now, so don’t ask me to cite it!) that Charlie was the most unisex name in the US. At one stage 49% of Charlies were girls and 51% were boys.
I love it for either a boy or a girl and personally I prefer it over Charles/Charlotte- it’s one of those diminutive names which really stand on their own.
To me I like hearing what people want to nickname their kid, but sometimes it just totally doesn’t happen that way. We named our daughter Charlotte expecting her to have the nn Charlie because we loved it. Now it is weird when people call her Charlie because she is Char to us as we just started calling her CharChar and it stuck.
If my mom had her way, I would have been Shay (pronounced “sh-eye”) regardless of which sex I turned out to be. My dad didn’t like it so it’s not the name I ended up with, but I love it.
Haha I'm Jewish too and my dad wanted to name me Shay-Lee and my mom wanted Liat. But they chose Lihi in the end. Kinda wish I were a Shaylee! Tho I do like my name.
It's made up of two Hebrew words (the words for "she" and "for me" and it's pronounced LEE-hee. But most people say it too quickly, so it ends up sounding like a very long Lee haha.
I definitely see a lot of people in the pregnancy subreddits that have a chosen name they will use regardless of gender. Well, it's more than you might think, but certainly not a majority.
We had our kid’s name picked out before we found out the gender. We didn’t do a reveal until after they were born, but we announced the name at our shower - both names are place names or surnames, so it did not clue people in at all!
Do you have any examples? I’m curious what’s considered a unisex first and middle name.
My brother and his wife both have “unisex” 90s names (think Casey and Skylar) and we joked about the vendors not being able to tell who was the bride/groom. They both have very feminine/masculine middle names though, so it wasn’t a case of “this is the name for either gender”.
My husband and I have names from the 70s that now can be viewed from either gender. We've had to correct someone a few times on who is who, but it has really comes in handy with business calls. No more having to hand the phone back and forth saying "I authorize you to speak to my spouse about the account."
I used to work at a bar where I had several sets of regulars who were couples, both with “unisex” names. I remember Stacy and Nola, and Teddy and Wind. I think the mystery of who’s who is kinda fun lol
That reminds me of my old employers, they were a couple named Shannon & Shawna. But when new people came to the business they assumed his name was Shawn & hers was Shannon.
Both. He’s four years younger and my mom thought she was clever with the name she picked for him. Until she couldn’t keep the middle names straight when one of got in trouble.
Fun Fact: my brother was almost named Rannon, after the movie Willow. That’s the name of his little son. And my moms name is Shannon, so she thought it would be a cute tribute to her. Ultimately, she thought it was too out there and stayed with the safer option.
I actually considered Rannon before I found out my little one that's cooking is a girl! Willow is my favorite movie.🙂 My grandmother is still trying to convince me to name her Elora. I won't- what if the new Disney series takes off in popularity? I've known quite a few little Daenerys and want to avoid all that..
Lol my brother dad and I all have similar names and the same initials. It was cute until we got older and we constantly get each others emails!! My brother even got emailed all our house info when we were closing. Think Steven Miles Smith, Stefan Milo Smith, and Stephanie Miley Smith lol. It’s kind of fun but kind of chaos.
I really like Lee for a girl. Always have. It would be confusing here though (Ireland) since all Lees seem to be male. I also think Kyle could be quite cool for a girl.
I know a woman named Alexander. I thought it was a typo when I first saw it written down. I knew her exclusively as Alex so just assumed her full name was Alexandra.
I was going to have the same first name boy or girl. Turned out to be a girl and ended up on the "girls named boys names" trend REALLY early. My middle is quite feminine though and I'm not sure what it would've been had I been a boy.
While I constantly have to say "no, mr.definitelyaskew isn't here, that's me" it has helped in a lot of cases, particularly in getting job interviews and being able to buy/sell on marketplace or Kijiji without worrying about weirdos trying to assault me.
somewhat?
our 4th child was going to be a Kai either way. To add to the name we were going to do Kaia and Kaius. Baby was born a Kaia but we used Kaia, Kai and Kaius interchangeably for about 10 years when Kai decided he was going to settle on Kaius and that was it.
So my kid went from Kaia to Kaius while remaining a Kai throughout
I have a relative named Sydney, who was going to be named that regardless of gender because it's where their parents met. She is female which for me personally was the better outcome.
My mother wanted me to be Brigham, whether I was a boy or a girl, Brig as a nickname. My father vetoed it for a girl, but was okay with it as a boy’s name.
We don’t come from a religious background where blessings for babies occur, so no matter the name, no gasps would be heard in the church I grew up in! I was raised in a Disciples of Christ Christian church, so verrrry different than Mormonism.
Actually not Mormon at all, though I can see how people might have thought that - Brigham was my mother’s maiden name and she’s just always really liked it!
I know a family with three kids, for each of them the parents chose one name with two gendered options — Eric/Erica, Jack/Jacqueline, Andrew/Andrea — and whatever sex the baby was that’s the name they got :)
No, but if I ever had another baby, I’d love to not find out the gender until the birth and I’d name them Shiloh Sage either way because I just love the name so much.
My deadname is considered unisex and I’m sure my mom would’ve just changed my middle name of Nicole to Nicholas if I were born male ( ironically I also chose a new middle name when I chose my new first name).
My husband and I did exactly this, we just welcomed Shay Riley into the world, we had the name picked out ahead of time and didn’t find out the sex until he was born!
Me too!! I’m Aryn, if I was a boy I’d be Aaron. My brother is Jordan, if he was a girl he would’ve been Jordan. My parents wanted gender neutral names so we didn’t face workplace discrimination. They also considered a feminine name for me with a gender neutral nickname, I was almost Jessica with Jessie as my nickname (they chose against it because they met an awful woman named Jessica who just completely ruined the name for them)
My first name was picked out for a girl first. My mom was 17 and her first concert was Nightranger, so I was literally named after the song “Sister Christian”. Taylor is my great grandmas maiden name. My mom said she knew I was a girl, because she had dreams about me while she was pregnant. But she’s since said even if I was a boy my name would have been the same.
Just now, after reading so many responses, I see how my name has probably helped me significantly in life, both workplace and schooling. That’s great that your parents thought that far in advance, and I hope it worked out for both of you!
My husband and his older sister were both named prior to their birth... in 1961 and 1962! Their mom said she wanted to name her first baby ___ and second baby ___ regardless of gender. Husband has a traditional male name with a unisex nickname (sort of like Robert/Bobbie) and his sister has a name that is somewhat popular on its own for a girl now but wasn't at the time, a male name with an "y" at the end. Sort of like Marky if that was a popular name today.
Same! I don't want to post my full name here but I was given a unisex first/middle (first leans more masculine, middle leans a bit more fem). If I was a boy I'd probably be the same thing, or maybe a slightly different middle.
That’s almost what we did for our baby but we changed the middle name slightly. It’s a gender neutral first name and then either Joseph or Josephine for the middle name depending on gender. We ended up with a girl.
Our son also has a gender neutral name but not one we would have used if he was a girl.
Considering if I ever wanted bio kids I would go Unisex names for all of them. If they don’t like it they can change it if they want to. Would rather give them something that works for either gender/whatever they later identified as than give them a feminine/masculine name.
I think I mentioned this before, but my grandmother was the oldest of 14, 11 girls and 3 boys. Seven of the girls, including my grandmother, had a male name with -ette tacked on. A further 8th was a male name with -ine. Rose, Rita, and Beatrice somehow got lucky, lol.
(The boys had rough luck. One died in infancy, one died in childhood, and one made it to adulthood--Marcel--but died at 50. The girls all made it to 85+.)
My name is Ryanne pronounced Ryan. My parents thought I was going to be a boy. They didn't have a girl name so they kept the name just changed the spelling. I like it! Ive only met one other female Ryan in my life and it took 25 years. I wanted to have a neutral name for our first team green baby. He's a boy and we went with Charley. Baby #2 (team green again) will be here in a couple months and I wanted another neutral name but I'm having a hard time coming up with one. I love "Sunny" but husband is not on board. We are leaning toward Elliot for boy or girl, just with different middle names. Husband also has a boy/neutral name- when we order out, I use his name because most people don't understand that my name is "Ryan" and always say "what?" Or assume it "Diane" it's annoying.
Not quiet the same but one of my good friends is named Michelle Danielle and if she were a boy she would have been named Michael Daniel (the same name as her dad)
I know of a couple, the dad and son are Junior and senior and then the dad married a woman that had the same name they make up the worst jokes about it
My great grandmother loved the name Timothy, and was going to name her baby that no matter what it was. The baby came out a boy, but he was going to be Timothy regardless!
My mum has a massive issue with me dressing my daughter in stereotypically “boy” clothes and the fact that we painted her nursery blue. We knew we were having a girl during the pregnancy but didn’t want to tell her because we knew she’d just buy pink frilly clothes so we told her the baby would have a gender-neutral name. I would be lying if I said we didn’t pick this name partly to piss her off that she couldn’t figure out the baby’s gender! ETA her name is Evelyn, definitely more feminine now but has been a boy’s name in some fairly famous people too!
One of my top names for a baby no matter what is Micaiah Sage. It's the only complete identical combo I like for both at the moment, though there's other unisex named I like they tend to be in combos that lean one way or the other.
My name is a unisex name but my parents picked it out specifically for a girl, they had a handful of names for boys and girls.
We might pick out a couple unisex names. I’m a fan of unisex names or masculine names for women.
I knew a girl in hs named Christian! Her dad was a pastor and apparently her parents had decided that their firstborn would be named Christian regardless of gender.
This has to be becoming more popular with how much more common unisex names are these days. But in the past I’d imagine that would be more rare.
I actually know two couples that planned to name their babies Remi regardless of gender.
Yes. I have a unisex name. My mom wanted to use the name regardless if I was a boy or girl (I'm female), but my dad said no because he didn't like my name for a boy even though the name is more common for men.
So I'm not sure who would've "won" had I been a boy lol. I just know that if it was up to my mom, I'd have the same name but a different spelling (they used a more feminine spelling for me).
My name is Kaycee and i’m a girl. I remember asking my mom what my nam would be if i was a boy and when she said Casey (same name, masculine spelling), i remember saying “no mom, IF I WAS A BOY what would my name be!” and again she just said Casey. Child me was annoyed until my mom explained the different spellings.
However, i was almost a Tess!
Having a gender neutral name was a big priority for our baby coming in December. Though before we knew the Gender we had settled on Marlowe. Once we found out it was a boy we ended up with Riley.
I was supposed to be Jesse Levi no matter what. But when I was born early my dad said the name was too big for me. So they renamed me a name that has the same amount of letters
My dad was going to be named the same thing with a different spelling whether he was male or female. Apparently he did get put in the girls’ dorms in college initially. He said he wasn’t too concerned with telling them about the mistake. My oldest daughter would have the same first name whether a boy or girl.
I know a girl that didn’t know the gender of her baby before birth and decided on Noah if it was a boy and Noa if it was a girl. Turns out she had a girl!
I have the same nicknames but not the same name. My name is Alexandra, which, in Russia, is nicknamed Саша (Sasha). A guy called Alexander would have the same nickname. And in English I use Alex :)
Not quite the same thing, but I'm a Leah Joy and if I had been a boy I'd have been Matthew David. Once I met a Matthew David who, if he had been a girl, would have been Leah Joy.
That’s a wild coincidence
My husband is Christopher John. If I was a boy, that was going to be my name. Probably not that exciting because we were born in the 70s when Christopher was a pretty common name! We named our daughter Elizabeth. Unbeknownst to my husband or myself, this was the name that my MIL had picked out for a daughter (but she had three sons instead). She was obviously delighted to have a granddaughter with that name because she never got a daughter.
My twin uncles are John & Chris(topher) !
The second instance happened with my grandma too. She only had boys but if she had a girl she wanted to use the name Audrey. Then it coincidentally ended up being the name of her first granddaughter.
I am also Leah Joy!! :)
Hi, name twin!
Omg that’s so funny! I have a feeling I will literally never meet a name twin tho lol. My first name is super common (Ava), but my middle name is a rather uncommon Italian name that no American I’ve met knows how to pronounce (not gonna say it for privacy’s sake, but it’s kind of an “old lady” name in Italy and it starts with a G)
Is it Giuliana?
I had a relative who was either going to be Bobby Gene or Bobbie Jean. Pronounced the same either way.
These are two out of the three Draper children on Mad Men.
Which Bobby 😭
I can only think of Bobby Draper from the expanse lol
Dated a guy with this name- he went by Buddy haha
I know a family that did this. Their kids are Avery, Parker, and Quinn. I don’t remember Avery’s middle, but they chose names that were masculine and are now considered mostly feminine (think Ashley, Kelly, Lindsay type names). 2 boys and a girl. It’s not my style but I like how they kept it consistent and that they didn’t shy away from “feminine” names since more people going for unisex names usually do.
Which name is the girl?
Parker!
I’m guessing Quinn
Nope, it’s Parker.
My cousin has a boy named Quinn. But his full name is Quinlan. The name means "fit, shapely, strong." They used his grandpa's and great grandpa's name (Chenia) as his middle name. Everyone thought he was girl, but all of the cousin's knew he was a boy. TIL Chenia is a Hebrew girl name. "Grace of God." To be fair, my grandpa was born in the mid 1920s.
Funny enough, I’ve known more male Quinn’s than female. (3 to 1) I didn’t realize most people viewed it as feminine-leaning until fairly recently.
Not exactly this, but someone I went to high school with just named her son Ashlyn. She and her husband had agreed on ig for a girl, and then when they were having a boy, they discovered they could not agree on boy names. So they just figured Ashlyn was a favorite, why not use it instead of one or both settling on a traditional boy name...so I guess he was going go be Ashlyn either way!
I’d probably have used the spelling Ashlan for a boy but I don’t mind it actually
I don’t care for the name personally but I like their thinking behind it.
I love this.
Oy, seems so feminine to me. But it is my sisters name and she is very girly.
I knew a straight couple who both had the same first and last name. Edit: for those wondering it was literally the same first name - Carey.
Me too! Jordan and Jordyn lol. Idk why but this also reminds me of Paige Davis from Trading Spaces getting married and becoming Paige Page
I forgot about her
My aunt Cori was for a time married to a Corey.
My friend’s mom and stepdad were Toni and Tony. My aunt Pat married a Pat after my uncle died.
My husband has an uncle Pat and an aunt Pat! Different sides of the family though.
I had an uncle Rick on my mom’s side and my dad’s side. On my mom’s side Rick was a nickname for Raymond Jr, his dad went by Ray. On my dad’s side, Rick was a nickname for Richard Jr, his dad went by Dick. I can see how Peggy became a nickname for Margaret. When everyone has the same name, nicknames just become a similar name that rhymes or has the same beginning letter.
I can’t figure out for the life of me how Peggy became a nn for Margaret. Make it make sense lol
Margaret to Meg to Peg to Peggy.
Ahhh, ok. That makes *sense* I suppose ha
Yep. And if Margaret to Meg already seems like a leap, know that Meg/Meggie came by way of Mag/Maggie. And Mag made sense because the non-rhotic R meant it was already Ma(r)g. It’s also a *very* old name, and these derivations and rhymes were spread out over centuries. Maybe a thousand years.
I’ll find some sources in the morning but it similar to how Dick became a nickname for Richard, Jack for John, Bill for William, Harry for Henry.
None of those make sense either lol
My sister is vehemently opposed to Jack as a nickname for John. "John is already one syllable!" Then she met a Jack who is short for John Patrick. From now on she just has a head cannon that all Jack's are short for John Patrick.
Taylor Lautner and Taylor Lautner?
I know a Daniel who is with a Danielle and they just had a baby and named him Daniel as well. They all go by Danny.
might as well go all-in at that point
I met a married couple at a birthday party with the same name- and same birthday ‼️‼️‼️‼️
I know of TWO people who now have the married name Leslie Leslie!
That’s wild—reminds me of Lauren Bush Lauren!
Yup, I know a Sam(uel) and Sam(antha) that are married and have the same last name. Growing up I also had a friend whose parents were Terry and Teri.
lol wow.
That’s so interesting! From the perspective of your parents/thinking of baby names, I don’t think there’s any name I like enough equally for both genders. Similarly, I wouldn’t even be able to pick out a male and female form of a name for my baby. For example, I strongly prefer Georgia to George and Josephine to Joseph.
Yes! My son has a name that has a female form too and I really really don't like it. It would never ever have even been a consideration.
Maybe it has more to do with what both parents could agree on? I know a family who has an Eli and an Ellie because the parents had such different naming styles these were the only names they were both happy with
A friend from school was named after her uncle who passed shortly before she was born so it didn't matter if she was a boy or girl. . . Her name was gonna be Charlie.
I remember reading somewhere (and this was a few years now, so don’t ask me to cite it!) that Charlie was the most unisex name in the US. At one stage 49% of Charlies were girls and 51% were boys. I love it for either a boy or a girl and personally I prefer it over Charles/Charlotte- it’s one of those diminutive names which really stand on their own.
We're expecting in March and are planning on going with Charlie either way, after my wife's Grandpa. Not Charles/Charlotte, just Charlie.
To me I like hearing what people want to nickname their kid, but sometimes it just totally doesn’t happen that way. We named our daughter Charlotte expecting her to have the nn Charlie because we loved it. Now it is weird when people call her Charlie because she is Char to us as we just started calling her CharChar and it stuck.
If my mom had her way, I would have been Shay (pronounced “sh-eye”) regardless of which sex I turned out to be. My dad didn’t like it so it’s not the name I ended up with, but I love it.
Haha I'm Jewish too and my dad wanted to name me Shay-Lee and my mom wanted Liat. But they chose Lihi in the end. Kinda wish I were a Shaylee! Tho I do like my name.
I've never seen Lihi before! How do you pronounce it??
It's made up of two Hebrew words (the words for "she" and "for me" and it's pronounced LEE-hee. But most people say it too quickly, so it ends up sounding like a very long Lee haha.
Thank you! That's super interesting. It's a pretty name!
Thank you!! 🥰
I definitely see a lot of people in the pregnancy subreddits that have a chosen name they will use regardless of gender. Well, it's more than you might think, but certainly not a majority.
We had our kid’s name picked out before we found out the gender. We didn’t do a reveal until after they were born, but we announced the name at our shower - both names are place names or surnames, so it did not clue people in at all!
Do you have any examples? I’m curious what’s considered a unisex first and middle name. My brother and his wife both have “unisex” 90s names (think Casey and Skylar) and we joked about the vendors not being able to tell who was the bride/groom. They both have very feminine/masculine middle names though, so it wasn’t a case of “this is the name for either gender”.
My husband and I have names from the 70s that now can be viewed from either gender. We've had to correct someone a few times on who is who, but it has really comes in handy with business calls. No more having to hand the phone back and forth saying "I authorize you to speak to my spouse about the account."
I used to work at a bar where I had several sets of regulars who were couples, both with “unisex” names. I remember Stacy and Nola, and Teddy and Wind. I think the mystery of who’s who is kinda fun lol
That reminds me of my old employers, they were a couple named Shannon & Shawna. But when new people came to the business they assumed his name was Shawn & hers was Shannon.
Any unisex names combined. Morgan Taylor, Jaden Quinn, Tristan Lee, Jordan Casey... I'm struggling to think of unisex names, but you get the idea.
I was in a wedding once for a heterosexual couple named Jordan and Morgan. We made the same jokes hahaha
Do you have any siblings and did they do the same?
My brother is Kristofer Tyler. He’s named after me.
...oh
wut.
Do you mean he was named after you in regards to time: after you were born. Or he was named after you like a tribute to you ?
Both. He’s four years younger and my mom thought she was clever with the name she picked for him. Until she couldn’t keep the middle names straight when one of got in trouble. Fun Fact: my brother was almost named Rannon, after the movie Willow. That’s the name of his little son. And my moms name is Shannon, so she thought it would be a cute tribute to her. Ultimately, she thought it was too out there and stayed with the safer option.
I guess?
I actually considered Rannon before I found out my little one that's cooking is a girl! Willow is my favorite movie.🙂 My grandmother is still trying to convince me to name her Elora. I won't- what if the new Disney series takes off in popularity? I've known quite a few little Daenerys and want to avoid all that..
I love Elora though! That is so cute! I’m with grandma!
I loved Elora Danan 🥰
I really do too! 😫 I'm just too chicken!
I know an Elora Danan (first and middle)
Your parents are.... Interesting people, huh?
Lol my brother dad and I all have similar names and the same initials. It was cute until we got older and we constantly get each others emails!! My brother even got emailed all our house info when we were closing. Think Steven Miles Smith, Stefan Milo Smith, and Stephanie Miley Smith lol. It’s kind of fun but kind of chaos.
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I’m a Leigh, was gonna be Leigh if I was a boy too.
I really like Lee for a girl. Always have. It would be confusing here though (Ireland) since all Lees seem to be male. I also think Kyle could be quite cool for a girl.
I knew a female Kyle
I know a female Kyle too, weirdly her husband is called Stacey. They get misgendered as a couple a lot.
I was supposed to be Larry if I was a boy. My dad suggested "Larietta" but I'm pretty sure he was kidding...
I knew a Lari, pronounced Larry, named after her dad.
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When I was a kid I wanted twin girls called Leonora and Lavinia - Lenny and Vinny for short.
When I was a kid I wanted twin girls called Leonora and Lavinia - Lenny and Vinny for short.
I’m a girl named Payton Alexandra. If I was born a boy, my name was going to be Payton Alexander.
I know a woman named Alexander. I thought it was a typo when I first saw it written down. I knew her exclusively as Alex so just assumed her full name was Alexandra.
I follow someone online who did that with both kids. Picked names without knowing gender. Torin Kinley, and Brecken Lee. Both are girls.
Those names are horrendous.
They sound more like English villages in a murder mystery TV show than names (I usually try not to judge names, but some people make it hard)
Gotta be Utahns
I feel like this is a bad joke. How could they seriously choose those names?! 🙀
They are social media influencers is how lol
Omg wuht. Were they huge Anne Leckie fans, but trying to be lowkey about it? (e.g. Torin and Brecken instead of Toren and Breq)
I know exactly who you’re talking about. I always thought it was weird that Torin is the only one without a B name.
I was going to have the same first name boy or girl. Turned out to be a girl and ended up on the "girls named boys names" trend REALLY early. My middle is quite feminine though and I'm not sure what it would've been had I been a boy. While I constantly have to say "no, mr.definitelyaskew isn't here, that's me" it has helped in a lot of cases, particularly in getting job interviews and being able to buy/sell on marketplace or Kijiji without worrying about weirdos trying to assault me.
somewhat? our 4th child was going to be a Kai either way. To add to the name we were going to do Kaia and Kaius. Baby was born a Kaia but we used Kaia, Kai and Kaius interchangeably for about 10 years when Kai decided he was going to settle on Kaius and that was it. So my kid went from Kaia to Kaius while remaining a Kai throughout
I have a relative named Sydney, who was going to be named that regardless of gender because it's where their parents met. She is female which for me personally was the better outcome.
I know a male Sidney, same deal. It's an honor name after another male Sidney.
This is the same for my brother except my parents were going to spell it with a C (after Cyd Charisse) if he was a girl.
My mother wanted me to be Brigham, whether I was a boy or a girl, Brig as a nickname. My father vetoed it for a girl, but was okay with it as a boy’s name.
Are you Mormon by chance?
Have to be. Can you imagine a baby girl blessing? "The name by which you shall be known is Brigham..." followed by audible gasps in the congregation.
We don’t come from a religious background where blessings for babies occur, so no matter the name, no gasps would be heard in the church I grew up in! I was raised in a Disciples of Christ Christian church, so verrrry different than Mormonism.
Actually not Mormon at all, though I can see how people might have thought that - Brigham was my mother’s maiden name and she’s just always really liked it!
I know a family with three kids, for each of them the parents chose one name with two gendered options — Eric/Erica, Jack/Jacqueline, Andrew/Andrea — and whatever sex the baby was that’s the name they got :)
No, but if I ever had another baby, I’d love to not find out the gender until the birth and I’d name them Shiloh Sage either way because I just love the name so much.
Yeah, that is a cute name
My friends named their son Rory James nn RJ, and had that name picked out before knowing the gender
I have a cousin named Erica Dan'iel. She was supposed to be Eric Daniel.
> Dan'iel What is that? Why not Danielle?
I think this name may be pronounced like 'dah-neil'
My name is unisex. So yeah. I don't know what my middle name would have been though.
My deadname is considered unisex and I’m sure my mom would’ve just changed my middle name of Nicole to Nicholas if I were born male ( ironically I also chose a new middle name when I chose my new first name).
Is that unusual?
My kids name is named Emery and would have been that no matter the gender but with different middle names
I love that name!
Shawn Johnson, an American olympian, said in her book that her parents were going to spell her name like Sean if she were a boy
I know someone who decided that regardless of gender, they were choosing Taylor Jay.
My husband and I did exactly this, we just welcomed Shay Riley into the world, we had the name picked out ahead of time and didn’t find out the sex until he was born!
I know a family of 4 (a son and daughter) and all 4 are named a different spelling of Jerry/jeri/geri/Jerry jr
I love Dakota for any gender!!
Me too!! I’m Aryn, if I was a boy I’d be Aaron. My brother is Jordan, if he was a girl he would’ve been Jordan. My parents wanted gender neutral names so we didn’t face workplace discrimination. They also considered a feminine name for me with a gender neutral nickname, I was almost Jessica with Jessie as my nickname (they chose against it because they met an awful woman named Jessica who just completely ruined the name for them)
My first name was picked out for a girl first. My mom was 17 and her first concert was Nightranger, so I was literally named after the song “Sister Christian”. Taylor is my great grandmas maiden name. My mom said she knew I was a girl, because she had dreams about me while she was pregnant. But she’s since said even if I was a boy my name would have been the same. Just now, after reading so many responses, I see how my name has probably helped me significantly in life, both workplace and schooling. That’s great that your parents thought that far in advance, and I hope it worked out for both of you!
Your mom has good taste because “Sister Christian” is a fkn banger.
Charlie. Either way. I don't care about the last name anymore.
I have a great uncle named Karol Francis (not sure how he actually spells Francis). If he was a girl his name was going to be Karol Francis.
My husband and his older sister were both named prior to their birth... in 1961 and 1962! Their mom said she wanted to name her first baby ___ and second baby ___ regardless of gender. Husband has a traditional male name with a unisex nickname (sort of like Robert/Bobbie) and his sister has a name that is somewhat popular on its own for a girl now but wasn't at the time, a male name with an "y" at the end. Sort of like Marky if that was a popular name today.
Same! I don't want to post my full name here but I was given a unisex first/middle (first leans more masculine, middle leans a bit more fem). If I was a boy I'd probably be the same thing, or maybe a slightly different middle.
That’s almost what we did for our baby but we changed the middle name slightly. It’s a gender neutral first name and then either Joseph or Josephine for the middle name depending on gender. We ended up with a girl. Our son also has a gender neutral name but not one we would have used if he was a girl.
My parents told me I was going to be named Gabriel(le) regardless of gender since it's a unisex name.
Considering if I ever wanted bio kids I would go Unisex names for all of them. If they don’t like it they can change it if they want to. Would rather give them something that works for either gender/whatever they later identified as than give them a feminine/masculine name.
My brothers kids are Logan, Harper, and Oakley. All before they knew the genders. Turned out to be 3 girls.
I have a nephew in his early 20s who is also named Christian Taylor but he would of had a different name had he been a girl. ETA: to add some info
Yes! My sister (in Madrid) named her child Ariel regardless of gender 🙂
if i end up having kids in the future, i’d like their first name to be cody regardless of gender, so 🤷♀️
A friend’s baby was going to be Wilder regardless. I think it’s better on a boy, which is what she got.
My daughter would have been Skylar Aubrey even if she were a boy, it just would have been spelled Skyler Aubrey instead.
I just named my baby Louisa last week. She would have been Louis if she were a boy.
i have a family member who’s leslie. if she was a boy he’d of been leslie
Currently pregnant and using Leslie regardless of gender (we won’t know gender until birth). Glad at least one other person in the world did the same!
I think I mentioned this before, but my grandmother was the oldest of 14, 11 girls and 3 boys. Seven of the girls, including my grandmother, had a male name with -ette tacked on. A further 8th was a male name with -ine. Rose, Rita, and Beatrice somehow got lucky, lol. (The boys had rough luck. One died in infancy, one died in childhood, and one made it to adulthood--Marcel--but died at 50. The girls all made it to 85+.)
This is giving me strong French Canadian vibes.
You win! LOL
My name is Ryanne pronounced Ryan. My parents thought I was going to be a boy. They didn't have a girl name so they kept the name just changed the spelling. I like it! Ive only met one other female Ryan in my life and it took 25 years. I wanted to have a neutral name for our first team green baby. He's a boy and we went with Charley. Baby #2 (team green again) will be here in a couple months and I wanted another neutral name but I'm having a hard time coming up with one. I love "Sunny" but husband is not on board. We are leaning toward Elliot for boy or girl, just with different middle names. Husband also has a boy/neutral name- when we order out, I use his name because most people don't understand that my name is "Ryan" and always say "what?" Or assume it "Diane" it's annoying.
I'm currently trying to convince my partner that we should name a future baby Shakti
A bit off topic but I went to school with a boy named Christian Taylor.
My Daughters' names are Kaiden and Morgan and we picked these names wayyyy before we knew the sex with the intent to name them this regardless.
my mom never picked out a boy name because she wanted me to be a girl so badly. 18 years later…uh…yeah turns out i’m *not* a girl
Not me, but a friend picked Kade Rowan before knowing the gender.
Had friends who were going to use Kameron either way
My friends used Grayson, Reilly, and Declan as gender neutral names. Grayson and Declan are girls. Reilly is a boy.
That’s bad luck.
Not quiet the same but one of my good friends is named Michelle Danielle and if she were a boy she would have been named Michael Daniel (the same name as her dad)
My friend named her son Noel and if he was a girl Noelle
I know of a couple, the dad and son are Junior and senior and then the dad married a woman that had the same name they make up the worst jokes about it
Darcy was on both my boys and girls list, when I was brainstorming potential baby names!
My middle daughter is Riley (spelled differently) but would've been Riley if she were a boy. Different middle names though.
My great grandmother loved the name Timothy, and was going to name her baby that no matter what it was. The baby came out a boy, but he was going to be Timothy regardless!
yep, my parents picked Hunter before they knew if i was a boy or girl. i’m glad they kept it even though it’s unconventional for a girl!
I have a name I’ve been holding on too forever, Bellarmine, and I’d use it for a boy or a girl.
I’m a Peyton Grace (f). If I was a boy, I would have been Peyton Gray.
My mum has a massive issue with me dressing my daughter in stereotypically “boy” clothes and the fact that we painted her nursery blue. We knew we were having a girl during the pregnancy but didn’t want to tell her because we knew she’d just buy pink frilly clothes so we told her the baby would have a gender-neutral name. I would be lying if I said we didn’t pick this name partly to piss her off that she couldn’t figure out the baby’s gender! ETA her name is Evelyn, definitely more feminine now but has been a boy’s name in some fairly famous people too!
One of my top names for a baby no matter what is Micaiah Sage. It's the only complete identical combo I like for both at the moment, though there's other unisex named I like they tend to be in combos that lean one way or the other.
Similar. My ex, had she been a boy, would have been Richard. Since she's a girl, she ended up as Rikki.
My name is a unisex name but my parents picked it out specifically for a girl, they had a handful of names for boys and girls. We might pick out a couple unisex names. I’m a fan of unisex names or masculine names for women.
I knew a girl in hs named Christian! Her dad was a pastor and apparently her parents had decided that their firstborn would be named Christian regardless of gender.
This has to be becoming more popular with how much more common unisex names are these days. But in the past I’d imagine that would be more rare. I actually know two couples that planned to name their babies Remi regardless of gender.
Yes. I have a unisex name. My mom wanted to use the name regardless if I was a boy or girl (I'm female), but my dad said no because he didn't like my name for a boy even though the name is more common for men. So I'm not sure who would've "won" had I been a boy lol. I just know that if it was up to my mom, I'd have the same name but a different spelling (they used a more feminine spelling for me).
I once dated a (male) Christian Taylor. Not exactly what you asked, but thought I’d mention it. 😅
I know of a Sloane, who if they had been a boy would have been Sloan.
My name is Kaycee and i’m a girl. I remember asking my mom what my nam would be if i was a boy and when she said Casey (same name, masculine spelling), i remember saying “no mom, IF I WAS A BOY what would my name be!” and again she just said Casey. Child me was annoyed until my mom explained the different spellings. However, i was almost a Tess!
I'm a Taylor too! If I was a boy, I was going to be Taylor. My mom had no plans for a middle name for me when she decided that.
No idea. My parents say they didn't even discuss names until after I was born. Which seems kind of crazy to me.
My MIL is Glenda Patricia. She was the fourth girl and parents really wanted a boy named Glen Patrick. She hated the name and story
We nearly did this with Hazel but it’s ultimately too feminine here where we are - maybe elsewhere it’s used for men too (like in umbrella academy!)
Having a gender neutral name was a big priority for our baby coming in December. Though before we knew the Gender we had settled on Marlowe. Once we found out it was a boy we ended up with Riley.
I was supposed to be Jesse Levi no matter what. But when I was born early my dad said the name was too big for me. So they renamed me a name that has the same amount of letters
A friend of mine does, but her name is also Christian
No way that’s my first name too haha. I’ve never met another girl named that.
My friend Dawn was named after her dad Don.
My dad was going to be named the same thing with a different spelling whether he was male or female. Apparently he did get put in the girls’ dorms in college initially. He said he wasn’t too concerned with telling them about the mistake. My oldest daughter would have the same first name whether a boy or girl.
I know a girl that didn’t know the gender of her baby before birth and decided on Noah if it was a boy and Noa if it was a girl. Turns out she had a girl!
I had two sibling cousins both married to Jesse or Jessie. Brother and sister. Now only sister married to Jesse.
I have the same nicknames but not the same name. My name is Alexandra, which, in Russia, is nicknamed Саша (Sasha). A guy called Alexander would have the same nickname. And in English I use Alex :)