Baby name expert explains why it’s harder to pick boy names than girl names

When it comes to picking the right name for your future baby, ask any parent-to-be and they’ll tell you coming up with a shortlist for boys is harder than girls. 

For some people, a boys’ name might come instantly, but for a lot of people it’s a hard decision and even a baby name expert agrees. 

Collen Slagen, known on TikTok as namingbebe, shared a video about baby names and she explained why boys names are harder to pick. 

Watch the video above. 

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“Boy names are harder than girl names, OK, it’s just a fact,” she started. 

“Here’s the logic: with girl names, people are just willing to get more creative and adventurous.

“For boys, what I always hear is I want something classic but not too popular, but the classics often stay popular, because people aren’t willing to get as crazy with boy names.” 

She said parents-to-be want something that ‘feels classic’ but is less popular, and her advice is to dip into vintage names or to get creative with a nickname. 

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“Historically, people have been less willing to get adventurous with boy names,” Slagen told TODAY.com.

She feels a lot of people do play it safe when it comes to boys’ names, which is why so many just get reused over time. 

But for girls, there’s a bit more creativity and more of an ability to go for a different category of naming. 

“With girls, you’re able to venture into these different style categories that you still feel like maybe a girl could embrace, like creative names, romantic names, art scene names, indie names,” she added. 

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Slagen shared a list of boy names that are not as popular at the moment in the TikTok video, which included Andrew, Alexander and Adam. 

Next she mentioned Benjamin, which is very popular right now, but other options she loves are Francis, and Isaac – which she feels has an edgy side to it. 

Other names she feels suit the trend for boys include Noah, Peter, Phillip, Robert – with the nickname Bobby, and Samuel – with the nickname Sammy. 

Rounding out the list she had Simon, Thomas, William and Zachary. 

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People in the comments on her TikTok had a lot to say about the names, and especially fact that so many boys names just feel too popular now. 

“All I know is I CANNOT meet one more Henry,” read one comment. 

Another commented, “Shhhh! Don’t let the people know about Peter!”

“This is a GREAT list. Boy names are way harder and girls keep taking the boy names too to make it even harder,” added another person. 

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