Genderless Names

Lee, Taylor, Dale, Peyton. It is all the rage these days to give your baby a gender-neutral name. This can be because you want your child to stand out among other classmates and later in business. However, it can also cause confusion.

Choosing the name for your new baby is one of the most exciting and yet controversial part of the process. Often parents will experience many unsolicited suggestions, especially from the grandparents-to-be.

Traditionally, names are based on cultural or religious influences. With a shift toward unisex names, this can reflect society’s switch toward equality and open-mindedness. Critics offer that it can cause the child with a neutral name to become confused about their own sexuality.

For a very long time names were stereotypical with male children given strong or masculine names and females more delicate or feminine. Names can help children develop their individuality. The gamut ranges from using one passed down through family lineage, publications that offer a miriad of choices, or simply putting together letters (or parts of other names) to create a unique moniker.

Pros

If you want to start envisioning your little bundle of joy before he or she comes forth, or if you want to wait to see its gender until after birth, but still want to select the right name, then gender-neutral is the way to go. You are ready with choices no matter the sex of the child-to-be.

It provides an opportunity for your child to avoid preconceived notions about who they are or what they want to become. It is thought that this allows the child to become their authentic self with less influence. Another concept is that their name without gender references could help them explore beyond what would be conventionally accepted.

In situations where there are only written communications, the individual won’t be categorized prior to the actual meet and greet. For females, having a name that actually gives them an edge by allowing them to prove their proficiency without being judged on gender.

More options are becoming available to parents without repercussions from family, friends, and society.

Cons

As mentioned previously, the primary concern is confusion over one’s own sexuality as the child matures into adulthood.

Some of the gender-neutral names still tend to connote one sex over another like Lynn or Kelly. As a parent, you need to be able to help your child through any embarrassment or teasing particularly in the school years. Names could include Alex the Boy, or Sam the Girl. On the other hand, middle school years will render almost any name into a taunt. For instance, your favorite author might be Dumas but if you name your child that, think of the mispronunciation and the giggles.

It could result in your child being assigned to an opposite-gender team, although in some cases, that may be what is preferred.

You will need to continually explain your choices to some family members.

If the name is incredibly popular at the time, you face the same issue that has occurred over the past decades like Mary A versus Mary B.

While you would hope your child would feel special with a neutral name, it could backfire. A good option is a middle name. It would provide options later in life. Or you could just wait out the controversies until unisex names become the norm and then all the concerns will be gone.

In the end, give your kid any name you darn well please.