Boyish Nicknames for Girls

Once the teenaged babysitter, now more likely to be the mom who hires her. The names many variations include Nickee, Nickie, Nickey, Nicky, Niki, Nikkee, Nikkey, Nikki, Nikkie, Nikky, and Niky.

Vintage nickname for Roberta or Barbara, most famously borne by Roberta "Bobbie" in Edith Nesbit's classic The Railway Children.

Charli may be the new Charlie, which is the cooler Charlotte. British singer-songwriter Charli (born Charlotte) XCX, creator of the hit album Brat, and TikTok star Charli D'Amelio popularized the Charli spelling.

Sam as a name standing on its own was given to only 18 girls in 2021, versus over 400 boys. But as a short form it's appealing and down-to-earth for both sexes, and heard far more often: There were over 2500 baby girls named Samantha in the US in one recent year and more than 8500 boys named Samuel, so you will hear the name Sam a lot more often than you might guess judging by the numbers for this short form. Like the wildly popular Charlie, Sam is a nickname that works equally well as a girls' name as a boys'. All forms considered, Sam is still one of the most popular names that start with S.

Freddie, especially with the ie ending, is one of the old-school boy-names-for-girls that came into vogue at the turn of the last century. Freddie, all on its own, ranked among the Top 1000 girl names until 1958, but in 2021 it was given to just 8 baby girls. Maybe that makes it prime for a comeback, ala Billie?

Though every Spanish student knows that the male classic is pronounced HY-me, for girls this is a straight homonym for Jamie, a favorite ambisexual 1970s nickname name. Another way to think of it is as a variation of the French "J'aime" (I love).

Androgynous nickname for Veronica, Rhonda or Rona.

One of the sweet simple unisex names balanced enough to stand on its own. Ali can either be used as a shortening of Al- beginning names and is also an Arabic name in its own right.

Chris is one of the longest-running and still most appealing unisex short forms, still used nearly equally for boys and girls. Though no longer fashionable, Chris still feels crisp and appropriate for both sexes.

Charlie in all its forms has been a popular gender neutral name since the early 2000s and is now given almost equally to girls and boys. While it did once lean more (statistically) masculine, it has been used on girls too since the before the 20th century.

Unlike Sam or even Max, Gus -- short for Augusta or Gusta -- feels a bit too butch to work for a girl.

One of the earliest of the relaxed, unisex names, now relegated to oldies rock stations.

Using the 'ie' ending makes Johnny slightly more feminine, which must have been what Melissa Etheridge was thinking when she named one of her twins Johnnie Rose.

Now that Theodora (and Dorothea) are back, the adorable Teddi might work again for a baby girl.

Artie is usually short for Arthur, but with boyish nicknames like Billie and Frankie rising, it could make for a sweet retro nickname for a girl too – perhaps short for Artemis or Arlette.

Duke has recently been seen on the TV show Better Things as the name of the youngest of three sisters, the other two being named Max and Frankie.

Teddy or Teddie is an adorable short form of Theodora or Edwina, made more feminine by the -ie ending. Extremely cutesy for a full name, but feels increasingly wearable in this era of nicknames as given names. Television personality Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave is a famous bearer of another spelling variation.

Gussie is fussy — try Gus.

Cool a few decades ago, along with Lori and Tori -- but no more.

Has followed mother name Maureen off the radar screen.