How popular is the baby name True in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name True.

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Popularity of the baby name True


Posts that mention the name True

Celebrity baby name: True

American actor Forest Whitaker
Forest Whitaker

Actor Forest Whitaker and his late ex-wife, Keisha Nash, were the parents of four children:

  • Ocean, b. 1990 (Forest’s son from a previous relationship)
  • Autumn, b. 1991 (Keisha’s daughter from a previous relationship)
  • Sonnet, b. 1996 (daughter)
  • True, b. 1998 (daughter)

Their youngest, True Whitaker, was interviewed several days after the birth of Khloé Kardashian’s daughter True (in April of 2018). In the interview, she told the story behind her name:

Whitaker discovered that her parents originally planned to name her Truth before deciding on True, which was inspired by Lauryn Hill‘s version of “Can’t Take My Eyes off of You” by Frankie Valli. “I remember to this day my mother singing the lyrics ‘You’re just too good to be True’ to me in my little cradle.”

True Whitaker’s birth did not noticeably affect the usage of the baby name True in the late ’90s, but the birth of her older sister did give the rare name Sonnet a boost in 1997.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Forest Whitaker by David Shankbone under CC BY 2.0.

The most gender-neutral baby names in the U.S. in 2024

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In 2024, close to 2,700 names appeared in the U.S. baby name data both as girl names and as boy names.

Which of these names were the most gender-neutral overall?

To create a useful set of rankings, I focused on names given to at least 150 babies in total. I sorted these names by how evenly they were given to babies of both genders, and the following came out on top:

Female usageMale usage
1. Charlie50.3% (2,109 girls)49.7% (2,084 boys)
2. Arden49.5% (237 girls)50.5% (242 boys)
3. Justice50.6% (206 girls)49.4% (201 boys)
4. Akari50.7% (107 girls)49.3% (104 boys)
5. Kit50.8% (188 girls)49.2% (182 boys)
6. Huntley51.0% (102 girls)49.0% (98 boys)
7. Alexis48.7% (604 girls)51.3% (636 boys)
8. Kacey51.6% (225 girls)48.4% (211 boys)
9. Divine48.3% (97 girls)51.7% (104 boys)
10. Jael51.7% (148 girls)48.3% (138 boys)
11. Jelani48.1% (87 girls)51.9% (94 boys)
12. Ashtyn47.9% (81 girls)52.1% (88 boys)
13. Jules47.9% (81 girls)52.1% (88 boys)
14. Campbell52.1% (273 girls)47.9% (251 boys)
15. Iman52.3% (92 girls)47.7% (84 boys)
16. Dakota52.3% (1,155 girls)47.7% (1,053 boys)
17. Hollis47.5% (188 girls)52.5% (208 boys)
18. True47.5% (206 girls)52.5% (228 boys)
19. Blake52.6% (1,457 girls)47.4% (1,311 boys)
20. Brighton53.0% (88 girls)47.0% (78 boys)
21. Robin53.1% (351 girls)46.9% (310 boys)
22. Jamie46.3% (391 girls)53.7% (453 boys)
23. Joan46.1% (188 girls)53.9% (220 boys)
24. Sidney46.1% (117 girls)53.9% (137 boys)
25. Chandler46.0% (297 girls)54.0% (348 boys)

More than half of the above appeared on the 2023 list as well.

None of last year’s fifty-fifty splits were popular enough to make the cut, but Lou — given to 70 girls and 70 boys — came close.

Source: SSA

Image: Adapted from Gallery 1 by Sarah Howells under CC BY-SA 3.0.

The most gender-neutral baby names in the U.S. in 2023

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In 2023, more than 2,700 names appeared in the U.S. baby name data both as girl names and as boy names.

Which of these names were the most gender-neutral overall?

To create a useful set of rankings, I (first) excluded any name not given to at least 150 babies in total, then (second) sorted the remaining names by how evenly they were given to babies of each gender.

Here are the 25 names that came out on top:

Female usageMale usage
1. Blake49.63% (1,346 girls)50.37% (1,366 boys)
2. Akari50.46% (110 girls)49.54% (108 boys)
3. Campbell50.47% (215 girls)49.53% (211 boys)
4. Brighton50.60% (85 girls)49.40% (83 boys)
5. Marlo49.26% (100 girls)50.74% (103 boys)
6. Azariah50.77% (527 girls)49.23% (511 boys)
7. Bellamy48.74% (330 girls)51.26% (347 boys)
8. Justice48.70% (243 girls)51.30% (256 boys)
9. Ramsey48.68% (92 girls)51.32% (97 boys)
10. Arie51.34% (96 girls)48.66% (91 boys)
11. Finley48.57% (1,106 girls)51.43% (1,171 boys)
12. Ashtyn48.54% (100 girls)51.46% (106 boys)
13. Alexis51.51% (681 girls)48.49% (641 boys)
14. Wynn48.48% (80 girls)51.52% (85 boys)
15. Charlie51.66% (2,235 girls)48.34% (2,091 boys)
16. Kacey47.75% (191 girls)52.25% (209 boys)
17. Robin52.37% (354 girls)47.63% (322 boys)
18. True47.54% (203 girls)52.46% (224 boys)
19. Perry47.47% (122 girls)52.53% (135 boys)
20. Honor47.37% (99 girls)52.63% (110 boys)
21. Arden52.67% (237 girls)47.33% (213 boys)
22. Jael47.31% (132 girls)52.69% (147 boys)
23. Tatum46.83% (1,314 girls)53.17% (1,492 boys)
24. Aris46.49% (86 girls)53.51% (99 boys)
25. Divine53.55% (113 girls)46.45% (98 boys)

I did experiment with other cut-off points (e.g., 50 babies, 100 babies, 200 babies), but I thought 150 offered the best result — an interesting mix of names, backed up by numbers high enough to be meaningful.

Nearly all of the (more than seventy) baby names that were even fifty-fifty splits last year were bestowed just a handful of times.

Source: SSA

Image: Adapted from Gallery 1 by Sarah Howells under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Top unisex baby names of 2022

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Which unisex baby names were the most popular in 2022?

To figure this out, I did two things. First, I identified all the gender-neutral names in the latest batch of U.S. baby name data. (To qualify as gender-neutral, a name must be given to girls at least one-third of the time and to boys at least one-third of the time.) Second, I sorted those hundreds of gender-neutral names by total usage: male plus female.

The following names came out on top:

  1. Parker
  2. River
  3. Charlie
  4. Blake
  5. Emerson
  6. Finley
  7. Phoenix
  8. Remington
  9. Tatum
  10. Rory
  11. Dakota
  12. Ari
  13. Shiloh
  14. Alexis
  15. Armani
  16. Remy
  17. Salem
  18. Legacy
  19. Skyler
  20. Denver

The first four names — Parker, River, Charlie, and Blake — were also the top four in 2021.

The five names that entered the top 20 were Shiloh, Salem, Legacy, Skyler, and Denver. Four of the five qualified as unisex in 2021, but ranked lower on the list. Legacy, on the other hand, was slightly over two-thirds male in 2021.

The five names that dropped out of the top 20 were Hayden, Amari, Oakley, Reign, and Milan. All five failed to qualify as unisex in 2022. Hayden, Amari and Milan were given to too many boys; Oakley and Reign were given to too many girls.

Here are those top 20 names again, this time with total counts and gender percentages:

Number of babies*Percentage girlsPercentage boys
Parker6,24338.49%61.51%
River5,37935.55%64.45%
Charlie4,42052.53%47.47%
Blake3,01447.81%52.19%
Emerson2,97557.61%42.39%
Finley2,57152.74%47.26%
Phoenix2,33543.08%56.92%
Remington2,21735.14%64.86%
Tatum2,20252.32%47.68%
Rory2,18143.83%56.17%
Dakota2,13756.34%43.66%
Ari1,73641.24%58.76%
Shiloh1,54359.82%40.18%
Alexis1,53356.69%43.31%
Armani1,49646.86%53.14%
Remy1,41135.08%64.92%
Salem1,08763.75%36.25%
Legacy1,00065.00%35.00%
Skyler97358.38%41.62%
Denver96333.33%66.67%
*Male and female usage added together

So which names came next on the list?

The following, ranked 21st through 35th, all fell within both the girls’ top 1,000 and the boys’ top 1,000 in 2022:

  • Briar, 924 total babies
  • Azariah, 903
  • Drew, 896
  • Amiri, 880
  • Bellamy, 847
  • Ocean, 842
  • Jamie, 841
  • Sevyn, 792
  • Dior, 745
  • Chandler, 719
  • Tru, 710
  • Murphy, 709
  • Layne, 702
  • Justice, 643
  • Robin, 637

And here are the rest of the unisex names that had a combined usage of at least 200 babies (in descending order):

Quincy, Kingsley, Jessie, Sol, Khari, Ira, Landry, Joey, Campbell, Kacey, Arden, True, Yael, Jaylin, Shea, Harlem, Joan, Kodi, Hollis, Sidney, Shai, Jireh, Ripley, Laken, Bowie, Kit, Ever, Montana, Kasey, Kadence, Yuri, Jael, Azari, Gentry, Rain, Storm, Perry, Honor, Denim, Isa, Divine, Merritt, Dominique, Camdyn, Jelani, Cove, Ashtyn, Jean, Armoni, Jules, Brighton, Channing

Kacey was one of the few names that happened to hit 50/50 usage — exactly 202 baby girls and 202 baby boys — in 2022. Movie-fueled Marvel was another 50/50 name.

Source: SSA

Image: Adapted from Gallery 1 by Sarah Howells under CC BY-SA 3.0.