Unisex Baby Names That Switched Sides Over Time

Some names that were mostly given to boys a generation ago are now mostly given to girls. Parents often know this in a vague way — "Avery is a girl's name now, isn't it?" — but the Social Security records let us put a real number on it. The picture is more mixed than the usual story, and it matters if you are naming a brother or sister.

All the percentages below are the share of babies with that name who were girls, out of every baby given that name that year.

Names that moved almost all the way to girls

• Avery — 18% girls in 1980, 57% in 2000, 82% in 2025.
• Addison — 15% girls in 1980, 69% in 2000, 98% in 2010 and 2025.
• Emery — 11% girls in 1980, 55% in 2000, 91% in 2025.
• Quinn — 21% girls in 1990, 51% in 2010, 80% in 2025.
• Harper — 74% girls in 2000 and 99% in 2025. (It was a very rare name before 2000, with only a few dozen babies a year, so the earlier numbers are too small to read much into.)

Madison is the sharpest example on this list. In 1980 the few Madisons recorded (32 babies) were all boys. By 1990, 91% were girls, and from 2010 on it has been essentially a girl's name.

Names that are moving toward girls right now

This is the group worth knowing about if you are choosing a boy's name today:

• Parker — 3% girls in 1990, 8% in 2000, 12% in 2010, then 42% in 2025.
• Blake — around 3–5% girls from 1980 through 2010, then 49% in 2025.
• Charlie — 18% girls in 1990, 32% in 2010, 47% in 2025. (It peaked at 54% girls in 2020, so it has moved back a little.)
• Riley — 23% girls in 1990, 60% in 2010, 73% in 2025.

Blake is the sharpest recent change: for thirty years it was a boy's name with only a small share of girls, and in 2025 it was close to an even split.

When each name crossed the halfway line

Another way to see the change is to ask when a name first had more girls than boys. Counting only years when at least 50 babies got the name, Madison crossed in 1985, Harper in 1995, Addison and Emery in 1996, Avery in 1998, Riley in 2003 and Quinn in 2010. Every one of them stayed on the girls' side after that, apart from Emery's one-year dip back to 47% girls in 1997.

Charlie is different. Girls outnumbered boys in 2016 (51%) and the share reached 54% in 2020, but by 2025 it was back down to 47%. Blake did something similar more recently: 53% girls in 2024, then 49% in 2025. Parker has never had more girls than boys. Its highest share is 42%, in 2025.

Names that went the other way

The trend is not only in one direction.

• Morgan was 92% girls in 2000 and 65% in 2025.
• Taylor was 84–86% girls in 2000 and 2010, and 66% in 2025.
• Rowan was about half girls in 2000 and 19% girls in 2025 — it has become mostly a boy's name as it has grown more popular.

Names that have stayed put

Some names that people think of as unisex have barely moved. Logan has been between 4% and 12% girls in every year we checked from 1980 to 2025. Cameron has stayed between 5% and 12%. Jordan has stayed mostly boys, at 16–32% girls.

Why this matters when you are naming siblings

A name's mix can shift quickly, so what feels like a boy's name to you may read as a girl's name to your child's classmates, or the other way around. That is not a reason to avoid any of these names — plenty of parents pick a unisex name on purpose. But it helps to go in knowing the numbers:

• If you want the name to read clearly as a boy's or a girl's name, check where it sits today, not where it sat when you were growing up. An Avery born in 2025 is about four times as likely to be a girl as a boy.
• For a brother and sister, think about the pair. Two names that both lean the same way can make it unclear which child is which when people only hear the names. Our sibling name pages can point out when a suggested name clearly reads as a boy's or girl's name next to the one you already have.
• For twins, the same thing applies with more force, because twins are introduced together all the time.

On NamePairings, a name is labeled unisex when the smaller side is at least 20% of the babies given that name in the latest year. That means Parker and Blake count as unisex on the site today, while Logan and Cameron do not.

Figures are from the US Social Security Administration's national baby-name files for 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2025. The files include a name for a sex only when at least five babies of that sex got it that year, so shares for very rare names can jump around.