Baby Names Are Becoming Less Gendered

The treasured tradition that is choosing a name for your soon-to-be-born child has long been a painstaking task. Whether you’re naming them after a dead relative or just going straight from the store-bought book, it has to be good. This is the name that will cause most of their childhood trauma and/or be featured solely on their debut album.

me, 18, has entire list of baby names i would name my children

— baby girl (@aquamoonz) March 27, 2018

When you’re freaking out about not getting your period and start thinking about baby names and shit

— Lexx 🌿 (@Lexxx_____) March 27, 2018

If anyone needs southern baby names I have compiled a list of my favorites!!
•LuLaRoe
•Mason Jar
•Fish
•AR-15
•Chevron
•Curlz MT
•Comfort Colors
•ItWorks

— jess 🌥 (@lilsleepyviolet) March 28, 2018

In a new study,Quartzanalyzed public data from the Social Security Administration to find that the genders associated with names have become increasingly neutral. Focusing on the name “Charlie,” they found it was almost exclusively a boy’s name in 1910, with about 5% of Charlies being girls. Today, 51% of Charlies are female.

The study organized names with numeric scores, between 0 and 1. If the name is exclusively for one gender, it’s given a 1. A name that is perfectly gender neutral is given a 0. The smaller the number, the more gender neutral the name is.

In 1920, the average score for names was .97, which meant they were mostly gender specific. As of 2016, the most recent year pulled from SSA data, the score is .946. It’s not a drastic difference, but it does indicate a steady decline of gendered names.

Ok ok ok. I just realised Rachel from friends said ‘James’ for a girl’s name years before Blake lively did it. Coincidence?! Probably.

— Mufasa (@emilyrosebran) February 7, 2018

So, bust out that Walgreens checkout book, consult your psychic, or draw inspiration from your favorite fictional character. We’re much less limited to the gender-specific monikers of our ancestors, which is great for a new generation that embraces gender fluidity.