Kids who defy gender stereotypes – and how best to parent them – is a hot topic these days.  The New York Times recently featured a story on boys in tutus and girls with Mohawks on its front page.  And when the J. Crew catalog carried a photo spread of its fashion director painting her 4-year-old son’s toenails pink, it sparked an outpouring of both criticism and support.

　　Whatever your feeling about pedicures for boys, names that push the gender envelope are among the hottest baby name trends.  The most recent statistics on names making the biggest leaps up the popularity ladder show names that break with both feminine and masculine conventions leading the lists.

　　For both sexes, these include truly unisex names such as Quinn and Karter and names long favored for one sex jumping gender lines (Charlie going to the girls’ side and Terry to the boys’).   There are also girlish spins on boys’ names and vice versa, such as Danna and Jayleen for girls and Rhys and Emmett for boys.

　　And then there are the names that are used almost exclusively for one gender but carry qualities usually associated with the other: I’m thinking of the hard-edged Kinley or Kenzie for girls and the soft-sounding Greyson and Jasper for boys.

　　Here, 20 gender-bending names that crowd the tops of the fastest-rising lists for both girls and boys, in order of how many places they’ve moved up the ladder.

　　Girls

　　Quinn

　　Kinley

　　Kenley

　　Charlie

　　Hadley

　　Danna/Dana

　　Kinsley

　　Finley

　　Jayleen

　　Alessandra

　　Paris

　　Paisley

　　Londyn

　　Kenzie

　　Journey

　　Mikaela

　　Aubree

　　Tatum

　　Ainsley

　　Ryleigh

　　Boys

　　Bentley

　　Kellan/Kellen

　　Knox

　　Karter

　　Easton

　　Rhys

　　Greyson/Grayson

　　Brycen

　　Jax

　　Ryland

　　Cullen

　　Karson

　　Armani

　　Cason

　　Terry

　　Emmett

　　Jayce

　　Beckett

　　Jasper

　　Jamison/Jameson