A professional baby namer predicts using "surnames as first names" will be a popular 2024 trend - and gender neutral monikers will continue to be popular.<br /><br />Steph Coffield, 40, is a consultant for parents to be and said more people are choosing one name pre-birth, which works for a girl or boy.<br /><br />The stay-at-home mum from St Paul, Minnesota, USA, says Cameron and Carter for boys will continue to be popular, as well as Maddison and Spencer for girls.<br /><br />But she reckons parents will become "more adventurous" with their choices, and predicts Fisher, Huxley and Ridley will be big in 2024.<br /><br />She says these names also conform to the growing gender neutral trend which she thinks will continue next year.<br /><br />The mum-of-three said: "I'm seeing a lot of whimsical, gender neutral surnames being given as first names.<br /><br />"We're seeing girls' names becoming more masculine and boys' names becoming softer too.<br /><br />"Some parents will come to me asking for one that works for a boy and a girl ahead of time, then they can stick with it, whatever the gender."<br /><br />Some increasingly popular surname-style first names include Carter, Campbell and Cameron.<br /><br />Steph explained these are particularly popular examples as "everyone loves a C name."<br /><br />Surname-based predictions for 2024 include Adley and Dawson as well as Fisher, Huxley and Ridley - following in the footsteps of Cooper and Spencer, now often seen for girls.<br /><br />Steph said gender neutral titles for both women and men will still be popular as society continues to embrace gender fluidity.<br /><br />She said: "The way things are going, with more acceptance of non-binary people, parents aren't afraid to give boys softer more feminine names.<br /><br />"We're already there with girls being more masculine and that will continue."<br /><br />'Masculine-sounding' titles predicted to be popular for girls in 2024 include Collins, Juniper and Sloane.<br /><br />More 'feminine-sounding' names for boys in 2024 are predicted to include Colter and Waylon - western-style names, but "softer".<br /><br />Another trend which Steph reckons will be a hit for 2024 are "classic" names that everyone knows, but that have fallen out of circulation.<br /><br />These include titles like Harrison, Nathaniel and Vincent for boys, and Annie, Cecelia and Margaret for girls.<br /><br />She added: "I'm seeing this more and more - parents want a classic name, but one that's out of the top 100.<br /><br />"They want a name that feels familiar and that everyone has heard, but they don't want their child to have five other kids in their class with the same name."
