gender neutral names I personally like

Flynn, a charming Irish surname, is still used only quietly, despite its easygoing, casual cowboy charm, unlike Finn which is a star of this genre. Flynn was the choice of Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr for their baby boy, and is also the middle name -- used as his first -- of a son of Miranda's fellow supermodel Elle Macpherson, of Gary Oldman's son Gulliver and Marley Shelton's daughter West.

A winning last-name-first Celtic choice, Flynn is still mostly used for boys, such as the son of Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr. Though Flynn is definitely one of the Irish surname names, from Quinn to Flannery to Makenna, that makes one of the trendy boy names for girls".

Gale for boys is more a storm name than a short form of Abigail. Since Gale has resurfaced as the name of Liam Hemsworth's daring character in The Hunger Games, it has new force for boys.

When Gail was popular, half a century ago, Gale was a plausible choice. Gale does put a slightly more masculine spin on the name, but it's dated in any version.

Many will associate this name with Galen of Pergamon, the second-century physician considered to be the founding father of medicine. A more recent reference is Star Wars character Galen Erso. The name still projects a gentle, scholarly image, while sharing sounds with more popular names like Aiden and Nathan. Bonus: it's also an anagram of Angel.

The final n makes this choice infinitely more modern than Gail.

One of the jewel names in use a hundred years ago, for both boys and girls, due for revival along with sisters Ruby and Pearl. But interestingly, Garnet means pomegranate, the fruit who shares a deep red color with the jewel.

One of the jewel names in use a hundred years ago, due for revival along with sisters Ruby and Pearl.

Luxe baby name that could easily fit in among children named Onyx and Emerald. Goldie is a rising choice for girls.

Middle name possibility for a nature-loving family -- Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke used it for their son's middle name.

Best in the middle.

Harper got its start as a celebrity baby name when Paul Simon chose it for his now-grown son. Since then, other famous parents have followed suit: musician Tim Finn and actor Cecilia Peck both have sons called Harper.

You might think of Harper as the hottest name of the last decade, jumping from obscurity to the Top 10, where it remained until last year.

The charming vintage nature and color name Hazel has become popular for girls, but more than 30 baby boys were named Hazel in the US last year. In the olden days, Hazel was much more common for boys. It could shorten to cool nickname Haze or Hayes. The hero of Richard Adams' Watership Down series is a buck rabbit named Hazel.

Hazel has a pleasantly hazy, brownish-green-eyed, old-fashioned image that more and more parents are choosing to share. Former Old Lady name Hazel reentered the popularity lists in 1998 and now is near the top of the charts.

Heiress has been recorded as a baby name since 2004, but the male version, Heir, took longer to catch up. It debuted in 2019 with just five uses but appears to be rising quickly. One factor that will likely help its case: star power. Nick Cannon named one of his twin sons, born in 2021, Zillion Heir (that's right, Zillionaire), drawing attention to this new addition to the class of money-related names. In 2022, it was chosen by parents for 13 baby boys.