What makes a name “unisex,” or androgynous? In the United States, the incredibly helpful baby names data published annually by the Social Security Administration provides the needed insight.
A reasonable measure of whether a name is unisex or not is whether the same name appears in the Top 1000 names of the year as reported by Social Security. If a name does appear in both the boys’ and girls’ columns, it can be fairly described as unisex to some degree. Since Social Security ranks the Top 1000 names according to popularity, we are able to see exactly how popular a name may be, both for boys and girls. Then, by giving a weighted average to each name, we can rank unisex names in their actual order of popularity.
At last count, based on the most recent data, there were 68 unisex names in America’s top 1000 names. This is an increase over the number of unisex names in the previous decade, which was below 60. So the incidence of unisex names, consciously or not, is on the rise. Furthermore, several of America’s top names fit into the androgynous category.
The top twenty American unisex names for 2009 are as follows:
1. Riley 11. Cameron
2. Peyton 12. Logan
3. Jordan 13. Morgan
4. Jayden 14. Dakota
5. Alexis 15. Kayden
6. Angel 16. Dylan
7. Hayden 17. Parker
8. Avery 18. Ryan
9. Taylor 19. Reese
10. Payton 20. London
Clearly, some of America’s favorite names are androgynous, including top names such as Riley, Jordan, Jayden, Cameron, Dylan, and Ryan. As it happens, most of the names are favored much more by one gender than the other, so the unisex quality of a name may not be readily apparent in day-to-day terms. Hayden and Dakota, however, are fairly well-balanced between the sexes, with Dakota split nearly 50-50 between girls and boys.
Of the top ten names, Jordan, Jayden, Hayden, and Angel are currently favored more by boys, while the remaining six are more heavily female. But some, such as Riley, Peyton, Jordan, and Jayden are chosen in sufficient numbers by both genders that it would be hazardous to guess at the gender of any individual with one of these names without prior knowledge. The same can be said, to a lesser degree, of the remaining top 20 unisex names.
2009 was the year that saw Jordan lose the # 1 spot for unisex names for the first time in at least ten years. For more than a decade, Jordan reigned supreme as America’s best-loved unisex name. Now, the more trendy Riley has taken its place, and the hugely popular Peyton has grabbed the number two spot.
One interesting sidelight is that several of the newest, most trendy American names also happen to be unisex. This group includes upstarts like Harper, Rylan, Finley, River, Reece, and Armani. Time will tell where these new names land on the gender scale.
Perhaps at no time in history have so many new names been entering the American vocabulary in such large numbers as today. Spurred on by the trend towards unique names, which shows no sign of slowing down, newly-coined names seem to sprout overnight. Many of these names, freshly-minted and with no real history, tend to be claimed by both girls and boys (or rather their parents), awaiting the time when one side or the other wins the tug-of-war. At that time, a name frequently finds its permanent home on one side of the fence or the other. And just as frequently, when one unisex name fades from the scene, another one swiftly appears to take its place.
Author bio: Maureen Duffy is a freelance writer who has written about fashion, parenting, kid’s clothing, and jewelry.
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