Rankings

Most Gender-Neutral Baby Names

Names used nearly equally for boys and girls, with at least 5,000 total uses for each.

Landry
#1 name
50
names ranked

Data updated Jun 2026

The verdict

Landry tops most gender-neutral baby names at 99.4% -- it takes just 56.5% to crack this 50-name list, a 1.8x spread from #1 to #50.

99.4%
Landry, #1
56.5%
Jody, #50 (the cutoff)
1.8x
spread, top to bottom

Same ranked rows that render the table below -- row 1 here is row 1 there.

Landry tops the most gender-neutral baby names list with a balance % of 99.4%.

According to Social Security Administration data, Landry leads the most gender-neutral baby names ranking at 99.4%, ahead of Palmer (98.7%) and Emerson (98.4%). This ranking covers 50 names total, sorted by balance % from SSA birth-registration files.

  • Landry #1 by balance %
  • Palmer #2
  • 50 names ranked

What This Ranking Tells Us

Gender-neutral names represent a growing trend in American naming. A 100% balance score means the name is used exactly equally for boys and girls. These names have at least 5,000 recorded uses for each sex to ensure statistical significance. Many gender-neutral names originated as surnames (Emerson, Kerry, Landry) or place names (Jordan, Dakota). The trend has accelerated in recent years as parents increasingly choose names that do not signal gender.

What the Data Says About This Ranking

This ranking lists 50 names drawn from the Social Security Administration's baby-name archive, filtered and sorted by balance %. The #1 entry is Landry with a balance % of 99.4%, followed by Palmer at 98.7% and Emerson at 98.4%. The bottom of the list, Jody (56.5%), helps define the cutoff qualifying a name for inclusion here. Every name in this ranking meets the SSA's five-occurrence minimum threshold for public disclosure, so private rare names are excluded from consideration.

Across all 50 ranked entries, the average balance % is 76.0%, giving a statistical center of gravity for what "popular" means in this specific ranking context. Gender-neutral names represent a growing trend in American naming. Rankings of this type are sensitive to how the underlying data is cut: a top-50 list reflects different signals than a top-500 list, and combining spelling variants (Sophia + Sofia) versus keeping them separate, as the SSA does, produces materially different orderings. The rankings displayed here use the SSA's raw spelling-specific data without combining variants.

Because the SSA updates its baby-name files annually (typically each May), this ranking can shift year over year as new birth cohorts are added and historical revisions are applied. Names that appear to be rising or falling should be interpreted against the five-year-minimum sample sizes SSA requires; short-term movement on a single-year basis can be noisy. Source: Social Security Administration, Baby Names Data (cumulative since 1880). This page summarizes publicly released SSA data and is provided for research and informational purposes only; it is not intended as personal naming advice or a recommendation of any specific name for a given child.

Most Gender-Neutral Baby Names

Ranked by balance %, each row links to the full name profile

  1. 1
    Landry 99.4%
  2. 2
    Palmer 98.7%
  3. 3
    Emerson 98.4%
  4. 4
    Kerry 97.4%
  5. 5
    Robbie 94.8%
  6. 6
    Justice 94.3%
  7. 7
    Kris 94.2%
  8. 8
    Elisha 91.7%
  9. 9
    Briar 90.6%
  10. 10
    Azariah 88.8%
  11. 11
    Jaylin 88.6%
  12. 12
    Frankie 87.9%
  13. 13
    Arden 87.8%
  14. 14
    Jackie 86.5%
  15. 15
    Campbell 85.1%
  16. 16
    Finley 84.6%
  17. 17
    Lavon 81.9%
  18. 18
    Alva 78.9%
  19. 19
    Armani 78.1%
  20. 20
    Harley 76.6%
  21. 21
    Santana 76.3%
  22. 22
    Leighton 75.8%
  23. 23
    Carey 75.5%
  24. 24
    Mckinley 74.7%
  25. 25
    Oakley 74.1%
  26. 26
    Riley 74.0%
  27. 27
    Devyn 72.1%
  28. 28
    Quinn 70.5%
  29. 29
    Stevie 70.1%
  30. 30
    Jaime 70.0%
  31. 31
    Shea 67.9%
  32. 32
    Casey 66.9%
  33. 33
    Lavern 66.9%
  34. 34
    Pat 66.6%
  35. 35
    Amari 66.5%
  36. 36
    Skyler 66.2%
  37. 37
    Remy 66.2%
  38. 38
    Jessie 65.5%
  39. 39
    Phoenix 65.4%
  40. 40
    Blair 64.5%
  41. 41
    Lennon 63.6%
  42. 42
    Gale 62.5%
  43. 43
    Shiloh 62.3%
  44. 44
    Scottie 61.1%
  45. 45
    Shay 61.1%
  46. 46
    Peyton 59.4%
  47. 47
    Ivory 58.9%
  48. 48
    Sutton 58.0%
  49. 49
    Emory 56.9%
  50. 50
    Jody 56.5%

Source Social Security Administration, Baby Names Data (cumulative since 1880) · 2026-06-08

The bar to make this list

Where the #50 cutoff (Jody, 56.5%) sits among qualifying cross-sex name pairs

56% Top 19% higher than 81% of 257 qualifying cross-sex name pairs

0%–991%: 86 qualifying cross-sex name pairs (33%). This entry sits in this band. 10%–1001%: 41 qualifying cross-sex name pairs (16%). Above this entry. 20%–1011%: 31 qualifying cross-sex name pairs (12%). Above this entry. 30%–1021%: 24 qualifying cross-sex name pairs (9%). Above this entry. 40%–1031%: 20 qualifying cross-sex name pairs (8%). Above this entry. 50%–1041%: 10 qualifying cross-sex name pairs (4%). Above this entry. 60%–1051%: 15 qualifying cross-sex name pairs (6%). Above this entry. 70%–1061%: 13 qualifying cross-sex name pairs (5%). Above this entry. 80%–1071%: 8 qualifying cross-sex name pairs (3%). Above this entry. 89%–1080%: 9 qualifying cross-sex name pairs (4%). Above this entry. #50 cutoff 0% 1080% every name pair with 5,000+ births on each side, bucketed by value

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more qualifying cross-sex name pairs. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source Social Security Administration, Baby Names Data (cumulative since 1880) · 2026-06-08

Source: Social Security Administration, Baby Names Data (cumulative since 1880) - U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications (ssa.gov).

Source: SSA Baby Names Methodology, names with fewer than 5 annual occurrences are excluded to protect privacy.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes a name gender-neutral?

A truly gender-neutral name is used in roughly equal numbers for both sexes over time. Many names that seem gender-neutral actually lean heavily one direction, for example, Ashley was originally a boy name but is now 95%+ female. The names on this list maintain a balance of at least 80-99% between the sexes, making them genuinely ambiguous.

Are gender-neutral names becoming more popular?

Yes. The percentage of babies receiving gender-neutral names has increased steadily since the 1990s. Parents cite reasons including avoiding gender bias in hiring and academic settings, allowing children to define their own identity, and aesthetic preference. However, some names that start neutral tend to drift toward one sex over time.

Why do some names shift from gender-neutral to gendered?

This is called the gender shift phenomenon. When a traditionally male name begins gaining popularity for girls (Lindsay, Ashley, Whitney), parents of boys tend to abandon it within a generation. The reverse rarely happens, names that become popular for boys almost never shift to girls. Researchers believe this reflects asymmetric gender norms.

Nearby Rankings

Top 2020s Boys Top 2020s Girls Rising Girl Names Rising Boy Names All-Time Popular

Compare top two: Landry vs Palmer → or pick any two names →

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Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from the U.S. Social Security Administration. See our methodology for details.

According to the Social Security Administration, as of June 2026 this ranking is computed directly from the agency's public-use baby-name files, which document 105,966 distinct names across 2,181,032 national year-by-name records spanning 1880-2025.

What to do with this ranking

  • Landry leads this list at 99.4%, 1.8x the #50 entry (Jody, 56.5%) -- a comparatively even spread across the list.
  • See Landry's full history -- year-by-year SSA data, decade breakdown, and state popularity. Landry's profile
  • Want to weigh two names from this list against each other? Compare names

Every name in this ranking meets the SSA's five-occurrence minimum threshold for public disclosure.

Cite this page

NameAlmanac Editorial. "Most Gender-Neutral Baby Names: Landry Is #1." NameAlmanac. Accessed via https://namealmanac.com/rankings/most-gender-neutral. Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Name Almanac is rendered directly from the Social Security Administration's public baby-name files, no number is typed in by an editor. This balance % ranking is computed directly from the SSA's raw name files, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.