Names that changed sex
581 American names have crossed from one sex to the other since 1880 — 669 crossings in all, because some of them went over and came back. Ashley was a boy’s name until 1964.
From boys to girls
The common direction, and the one that goes furthest. A name that moves this way tends to keep going: Ashley, Lauren and Madison all ended up given to almost nobody but girls, and none of them has come back.
| Name | Crossed | Before | Went as far as | In 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashley | 1964 62y | 46% | 100% | 99% |
| Kelly | 1957 69y | 36% | 95% | 79% |
| Lauren | 1945 81y | 41% | 100% | 100% |
| Taylor | 1990 36y | 46% | 87% | 66% |
| Madison | 1985 41y | 50% | 100% | 100% |
| Leslie | 1946 80y | 46% | 97% | 92% |
| Shannon | 1937 89y | 48% | 94% | 65% |
| Robin | 1940 86y | 44% | 94% | 51% |
| Allison | 1943 83y | 45% | 100% | 100% |
| Tracy | 1954 72y | 50% | 92% | 75% |
| Courtney | 1962 64y | 42% | 98% | 67% |
| Jessie and back 1 time | 2010 16y | 48% | 72% | 72% |
| Morgan | 1980 46y | 47% | 92% | 65% |
| Marion and back 2 times | 2013 13y | 50% | 76% | 63% |
| Riley | 2003 23y | 50% | 81% | 73% |
| Dana | 1935 12y | 43% | 69% | 55% |
| Avery | 1998 28y | 44% | 82% | 82% |
| Lynn | 1942 84y | 48% | 91% | 82% |
| Michele | 1926 97y | 34% | 100% | 100% |
| Kim and back 1 time | 1955 71y | 48% | 94% | 85% |
| Holly | 1926 100y | 43% | 100% | 100% |
| Sydney | 1940 86y | 49% | 99% | 98% |
| Stacy | 1952 74y | 48% | 97% | 89% |
| Jackie and back 1 time | 1956 41y | 47% | 77% | 59% |
| Lindsey | 1971 55y | 48% | 100% | 100% |
Every figure is the percentage of that year’s babies of the name who were girls. Crossed is the first year on the new side and how many counted years it has held since.
From girls to boys
The rarer direction, and it is a different story rather than the same one reversed. Some of these are the early century emptying out — Bobby was a girls’ name until 1913 and Ronnie until 1927. The recent ones are mostly a name going home: Jean, Joan, Jaime and Angel are ordinary boys’ names in French, Catalan and Spanish, and what crossed was not the name but which country’s version of it American parents were using.
| Name | Crossed | Before | Went as far as | In 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joan | 2000 26y | 58% | 24% | 49% |
| Jean | 1990 36y | 57% | 18% | 33% |
| Angel and back 1 time | 1986 40y | 53% | 10% | 10% |
| Jamie | 2021 5y | 53% | 38% | 38% |
| Bobby | 1913 113y | 63% | 0% | 6% |
| Ronnie | 1927 99y | 56% | 2% | 36% |
| Jaime and back 1 time | 1987 39y | 50% | 6% | 8% |
| Ashton and back 1 time | 1998 28y | 50% | 4% | 5% |
| Kerry and back 1 time | 2003 23y | 52% | 14% | 29% |
| Devon and back 1 time | 1983 43y | 52% | 9% | 17% |
| Jody | 1994 32y | 52% | 23% | 29% |
| Freddie | 1899 127y | 51% | 0% | 11% |
| Jan and back 1 time | 1984 42y | 56% | 0% | 10% |
| Dominique | 2011 15y | 54% | 30% | 30% |
| Rowan and back 1 time | 2003 23y | 50% | 19% | 19% |
| Donnie | 1928 98y | 50% | 0% | 0% |
| Pat and back 1 time | 1960 29y | 51% | 0% | 19% |
| Ollie | 1964 59y | 51% | 17% | 28% |
| Amari | 2005 21y | 52% | 29% | 29% |
| Gael | 2001 25y | 69% | 0% | 0% |
| Merle and back 1 time | 1912 95y | 57% | 0% | 13% |
| Robbie | 1961 65y | 50% | 13% | 43% |
| Kameron | 1975 51y | 65% | 3% | 5% |
| Toby | 1946 80y | 52% | 6% | 30% |
| Phoenix | 1994 32y | 53% | 32% | 36% |
Every figure is the percentage of that year’s babies of the name who were girls. Crossed is the first year on the new side and how many counted years it has held since.
Names in the balance in 2025
Not names that changed hands but names being given to both at once, last year, with at least two hundred babies to divide.
Girls first. The bar is the girls’ share of the year’s babies of that name.
The most evenly split of all time
Over the whole record rather than one year — which is a weaker claim, because a name can reach a dead heat by being two names in sequence rather than by being shared. Emerson comes out at 50.4% girls across 146 years and has not had an even year since 2004: every year since has been between 57% and 70% girls.
What counts as changing sex
Three rules, and all three are there to stop the list filling up with names held by nine children.
- A year counts only if at least 25 babies got the name that year.
- The new side has to hold for 5 such years, so one odd year is not a crossing.
- It has to reach 60/40 inside those years. Marion spent a century within a few points of even; without this it would be recorded as changing sex a dozen times, which is not what happened to Marion.
A crossing in the last 5 years cannot be shown to have held, so it is not listed. The data ends in 2025; the names have not.
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025. Sex here is the sex on the birth registration, which is what the SSA files record and all they record. Browse every name.