Remember just a few short years ago, when celebrities were still naming their kids after places? From the Beckham’s naming their first child Brooklyn, to Kim Bassinger and Alec Baldwin’s supermodel offspring Ireland, we all thought this was a celeb baby naming trend that would never die. Until now, that is. For a new fad is sweeping celebland! Time magazine has dubbed 2015 “the year of the gender neutral baby name” with multiple super stars
jumping on the bandwagon. The shift is apparently due to the fact that millennials are more open minded as a generation, and they don’t want their children to feel restricted to gender norms. Here are a few of our favourite non-gender specific celeb baby names so far.
James Reynolds
Just when we thought the legendary star pairing that is Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds could not get any more adorable and perfect, earlier this year they went ahead and had a baby.
Ryan announced on the Today Show that they’d decided to name her James: “It’s Butternut Summer Squash. No, it’s out there. It’s James. Everyone knows.” The name had been their rumoured choice for a while, but the notoriously private couple had managed to keep it under wraps for three months. Although this may seem an unusual choice for a girls name, other celebs have already beaten the couple to the punch. Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt has a daughted called Autumn James, and former Buffy actor James Marsden’s little girl is called Mary James.
Alexis Stewart
Way ahead of the times, American TV personality, businesswoman and writer Martha Stewart named her daughter Alexis in 1965. Although this name is considered by many to be unisex, more countries prefer to use it as a boys name rather than a girls. Alexis is now a fully grown woman, who has followed the trend and named her own daughter Jude; also a traditionally masculine moniker.
Maxwell Johnson
Older sister to the equally creatively named Ace Knute Johnson, Maxwell is the 3-year-old daughter of singer Jessica Simpson and retired American footballer Eric Johnson. Both youngsters are named after family members of the couple, so in a way they are actually pretty conventional choices.
Wyatt Kutcher
That 70s Show fans rejoiced when Jackie Burkhart (Mila Kunis) and Michael Kelso (Ashton Kutcher) got married and had a baby in real life. Ashton announced his new daughter’s name on his website in October last year, stating:Â “Mila and I would like to welcome Wyatt Isabelle Kutcher to the world. May your life be filled with wonder, love, laughter, health, happiness, curiousity, and privacy.” Awwwwhhhhhhh.
However, they aren’t the first celeb couple to go with Wyatt. Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell chose the name for their son in 1986, and Sheryl Crow has an 8-year-old boy with the same title. Although, the Kutcher’s seem to be the first celebs to use it as a girl’s name.
Ripley Lawley Schmidt
Daughter of plus size model Robyn Lawley and her lawyer partner Everest Schmidt, 6-month-old Ripley is named after Sigourney Weaver’s character in the Alien film franchise. Robyn said of their unusual, but awesome name choice: “I picked Ripley because I’m a big Ridley Scott Alien fan. I want a strong female so yeah.”
Robyn has also declared she will be raising her daughter in a forward thinking gender neutral environment, opting for unisex clothes and toys: “In all honesty, I think we separate the genders too greatly by the toys and hobbies” she said in an interview with Brands Magazine earlier this year.
Frankie Barrymore Kopelman
After struggling to find a name to go with their 2-year-old daughter’s quirky moniker of Olive, Drew Barrymore and husband Will Kopelman settled on Frankie for their second child. Why Frankie? They just liked it. Here’s a picture of Drew and her youngest mid-snuggle.
Sasha Hemsworth
There seems to be plenty of parents willing to use traditionally masculine names for their daughters, but not many the other way around. Fortunately, Chris Hemsworth and his wife Elsa Pataky clearly disagree and last year gave one of their twin boys the name Sasha. In Russia, Sasha is short for Alexander and means “mans defender”. You can’t get tougher than that!
So, what do you think? Are gender neutral baby names the way of the future? Or just another phase?
