by Benilde Little 　　There weren’t that many names that I considered giving my first-born. Even though I had amniocentesis, we didn’t find out the gender. My husband didn’t want to know and so I let him have his way. I really wanted a girl, but knew I’d be happy with...

　　Gender-bending baby names are crossing conventional boundaries that define male and female names. Down at the very bottom of the Social Security extended list of baby names, among the hundreds of names given to only five babies in that particular year, are a few dozen names that have radically crossed...

　　By Clare Bristow 　　This week’s news includes a wealth of names from Canada, lots of celebrity boy names, and naming stories from the worlds of rugby and baseball. 　　Names around the world: Octavian and EmilieThere’s a lot of online fanfare about the release of new name data, but have you...

　　By Clare Bristow 　　This week’s news includes thoughts from teenagers about their names – popular and otherwise – fashionable cosmopolitan names, and some awesome alliteration. 　　Popular names: Emma and Sophia 　　Emma and Sophia are all grown up! Ok, not all of them – as we know, they were the first...

　　By Clare Bristow 　　This week’s news includes biblical rarities, celebrities’ unisex choices, classic names with meaning, and French names galore. 　　Neglected names from the Bible 　　It’s no secret that biblical names with an Old Testament (or Torah) feel are big right now. The top 100 is full of them, especially...

　　By Clare Bristow 　　This week’s news includes gender-neutral names for boys, lots of creative nicknames, and inspiration from revolutionaries, Norse myth, and the internet. 　　Unisex names for boys 　　Sometimes it feels like when a name crosses genders, it tends to go more from the boys to the girls than the...

　　Many unisex baby names are not truly unisex, meaning they’re used predominantly for one sex and only rarely for the other. 　　I’m thinking of names like Addison and Madison, which started as boys’ names but are now used nearly exclusively for girls, and names like James, in the Top 10...

　　This week’s baby name news includes the latest trends in Ireland, girls with traditional male names, and the new Big Bang baby 　　Banned baby names: Liam and MarseilleYou’ve probably heard the saying that when a dog bites a man, it’s not news, but when a man bites a dog, that’s...

　　Irish baby names only continue to get more popular in the US, with Liam, an Irish short form of William, at Number 2 on the boys’ list, all forms of Aiden continuing to be widely-used, and surname-names Riley and Kennedy popular for girls. 　　Other new Irish names increasing in style and...

　　By Clare Bristow 　　This week’s news includes names from this year’s biggest movies, inspiration from cities, soccer players and mythical heroes, and the perennial question: when to reveal the name? 　　Names from the movies: Solo and ShuriIf you’re a movie-goer, you might have already clocked some great names in cinemas...

　　There’s no two ways about it: unisex baby names are red hot right now! 　　The latest Top 100 lists for both boys and girls are peppered with gender neutral names, from once-unisex options now all but abandoned for one gender, like Evelyn and Madison, to names that are increasingly leaning...

　　By Eve Newman 　　What actually makes a name female or male? Most names seem to have been assigned a strict gender based on previous usage, but recently more and more we are seeing boy names used for girls and girl names used for boys.  You could say this is the...

　　By Clare Green 　　This week’s news includes boys with gemstone names, girls named after a car, sweet British nicknames, and lot of men named Paul. 　　Gendered jewel namesWhat’s your favorite gemstone name for a boy? Maybe you like traditional Jasper, or a modern unisex choice like Jet or Onyx…or Amber?...