Unisex Baby Names 1995-2005

2005 Unisex Baby Names

In 1995 in the United States, 77 names ranked in the Top 1000 in popularity for both boys and girls, according to baby name data from the Social Security Administration. Of those 77 unisex baby names, 67 were “unique,” while 10 were variants, such as Devon, Devin, or Devan.

By 2005, the number of unisex, or androgynous, names appearing on male and female Top 1000 lists had shrunk to 64, including 53 unique names. That’s a drop of about 20% in unisex names over the decade.

The drop is surprising for a couple of reasons. For one thing, people often assume that as more “made-up” names (such as Rylee) enter the language, or as more “placenames” become baby names (think Dakota), more of these names are unisex. That may be true, but there simply aren’t that many “made-up” unisex names in the Top 1000, for either 1995 or 2005.

What did change between 1995 and 2005 were the names themselves. Of the 77 unisex names in 1995, fully 50% (38 names) lost their unisex identity by 2005. Discounting those situations where both names fell out of favor, the name more often moved to the male side of the table rather than the female, contrary to conventional wisdom about unisex names.

Some notable names that shook off their female challengers by 2005 include Alex, Adrian, Blake, and Carson. The female popularity ranking for those four names dropped out of the Top 1000 by 2005. On the flip side, the unisex names Dana, Erin, Leslie, and Madison muscled their male counterparts out of the Top 1000 over the same period.

By 2005, 23 new names joined the old guard of unisex names. Two names previously popular as single gender names that are now seeing growth as a unisex name are Dylan and Hayden.

What to make of these numbers? Certain names seem to be stubbornly unisex, with neither side admitting defeat and slinking away. Most of  America’s Top Ten Unisex Baby Names fall into this category. But, as people have noted before, over time there is a tendency for most unisex names to end up female. Of the names that were unisex in both 1995 and 2005, and where a trend is clear, 13 are trending to the female side, while just 8 are trending to the male side. But on the contrary, names from 1995 that lost their unisex appeal tended to become more male!

What’s clear is that new names come onto this list all the time, and often, older male names from previous generations find rebirth as unisex names. Addison and Parker are both traditional male names that disappeared from the Top 1000 in the mid-20th century, only to reappear as unisex names towards the end of the century.  

Who can say which way a name will ultimately go? The traditional male name Drew beat back female challengers over the last decade, despite the example of actress Drew Barrymore. On the other hand, the traditional male name Reese is as popular today for boys as it was in the 1880’s, but a new generation of girls, perhaps inspired by actress Reese Witherspoon, is trying to make Reese their own, and the name is currently twice as popular with girls as boys.

Maybe it’s the Academy Award that makes all the difference.

For the most recent information about unisex baby names, see our main unisex baby names page.