Most parents wait to know if the baby will be a boy or a girl to think and name it. But this does not have to be the case, if you opt for any of the unisex names for the baby, the issue is already solved even before you know its gender.
Neither masculine nor feminine: names that can be used in both cases, although parents often have doubts as to whether it “fits” better for a boy or a girl, or if they are too strange names and they will be misunderstood or object of ridicule by the rest of the children.
There are different types of unisex names , applicable to both males and females. The most “genuine” are those that originally and in the same language are written and pronounced the same and designate both boys and girls. Two very common examples in Catalan are Montserrat and Pau.
Some are written or sound the same, although in different languages they apply to boys (Andrea in Italian, but Andrea, feminine, in Spanish) or girls (Gabrielle in French, but Gabriel, masculine, in Spanish). In this case in the respective languages they are clearly assigned to a gender, but used in those other languages they sound “strange” to us.
There are names that are not unisex, but that obey fashions and are used as such since in certain countries there is no legislation in this regard, as is the case in the United States and names such as Leslie or Blake.
Here you have a list with many more unisex names, especially those that come from indigenous languages such as Mayan, Aztec, Mapuche … (it is common in these languages that the names designate both men and women), although there are also names that they come from surnames or some classics of Latin and Greek …
Among the names of Egyptian origin , if we take a look at both those for girls and for men we will see how many, to our ears, could be perfectly applicable to the other gender.
Unisex names that are in fashion
Cristian or Christian is a very fashionable unisex name today especially in Anglo-Saxon countries. Others are used more for girls: Ashley, Brittany or Britney, Taylor, Madison …
Among the names of indigenous origin we have: Iktan which means ‘ingenious’ in Mayan; Chalichen, of Mapuche origin, which means ‘greeting’.
Pau can be translated as “Paz” or “Pablo” in Spanish, and Montserrat (Montse) comes from “monte serrado”, in reference to the mountain of Catalonia.
Maya, of Greek origin, refers to the terms “maia: mother, grandmother, nurse” and in Hindi the Sanskrit “illusion”. From the Hebrew come Noah, which means ‘rest, peace’. And Ariel which means ‘lion of God’.
The unisex names that are currently all the rage in many countries are:
1. Paris
2. Alex
3. Emo
4. Jessie
5. Andrea
6. Josmar
7. Joss
8. Ariel
9. Darly
10. Akira
Perhaps it will be more common for these types of names to spread to other countries and each place will establish its own new unisex names . So that more than one will have to lift the face of the form where the name appears to see the face and check if it is a boy or a girl.
In any case, parents should at least check how that name sounds in our language (if it is of foreign origin), how it combines with surnames (that the mixture does not easily lead to hurtful nicknames) and look for its meaning. Because the name will be part of our child throughout his life and can influence his personality or behavior depending on how he and others perceive it.
In the registries, unisex names for the baby are also more and more frequent, and more than not you will be surprised by the nickname chosen by the parents for a boy or a girl. At least the ones we have seen are not offensive or degrading names with which some parents have no qualms about “marking” their children for life.
Via | Univision
In Babies and more | Tips to get the baby name right, The most popular baby names in the United States (2008) and (2005), Forbidden names in the world
