by KAHLA PRESTON
Snog, Marry, Avoid host and former pop star Jenny Frost gave birth to twin girls last week. And the names that the British celebrity chose for new daughters are… Nico and Blake.
At first glance, you’d be forgiven for thinking there was a mix-up in the birth certificates department and that a pair of baby boys somewhere in England are going to be heading off into the big wide world with the names, Mary and Nevaeh.
Not the case.
Jenny is the latest celebrity mother who, probably following months of deliberation, has embraced unisex names for her daughters.
Of course, giving traditionally male names to girls isn’t unheard of. Alex, Sam, Jordan and Andy have been popular for decades. And obviously Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Hayden Panettiere and Taylor Swift’s parents also liked the idea for their daughters.
Yet baby name websites are suggesting that the trend has experienced a resurgence in the last couple of years, with a far wider range of boy names being used for girls.
Last year, Jessica Simpson gave her first daughter a double masculine name, Maxwell Drew. In 2011 the Beckhams called their daughter Harper, a name that is also male in origin.
Meanwhile, singer/songwriter Michelle Branch has a daughter called Owen, Brooke Shields’ eldest daughter is Rowan Francis, and Teri Hatcher has an Emerson.
But wait – the gender-bending fun doesn’t end there. Kelsey Grammer and his ex-wife have a Mason, Ziggy Marley (Bob’s oldest son) called his daughter Judah, CSI: Miami’s Brendan Fehr opted for James, and Martha Stewart has a baby granddaughter named Jude.
Names like Quinn and Rory are also reportedly on the rise, perhaps inspired by female characters of the same names in Glee and Gilmore Girls.
So what conclusion can we draw from all this?
It seems parents are simply being more adventurous in their baby naming. Perhaps we’ll see super-blokey names like Darren, Kevin, Ralph and Barry cross over into baby girl names sometime soon…. or not.
What are your favourite unisex names? Have you given one to your child? Do you think there are boys names that don’t work for girls?
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