List of nonbinary identities

This alphabetical list of some of the more common nonbinary identities lists many gender identities that are nonbinary. That is, those other than just female and male identities, which are the binary genders. This list gives names for nonbinary identities in English-speaking cultures, as well as those that are part of other cultures. (For the latter, please never use a word for your gender that belongs only to a culture or ethnic group that is not yours.) Some of these words for nonbinary identities have been used in writing for thousands of years. Meanwhile, some of these words were created more recently. This page lists fewer of the older gender-variant identities than the new ones, because it can be harder to say whether it's accurate to put those in the category of "nonbinary." See also List of uncommon nonbinary identities.

A

 * agender. Some who call themselves agender have no gender identity (genderless). Others who call themselves agender have a gender identity, which isn't female or male, but neutral. Notable agender people include rapper Angel Haze, astrophysicist Amita Kuttner, model Juno Mitchell, and poet Bogi Takács.
 * androgyne. This ancient word is used for a wide variety of gender nonconforming and nonbinary identities and gender expressions, and has been used as an umbrella term for them. Androgyne can mean intersex, but not all androgynes are intersex. Victorian and Edwardian era people who called themselves androgynes believed their gender-nonconforming natures originated in hidden intersex characteristics in their brain or body. This was the view of a notable androgyne, autobiographer Jennie June (b. 1874). Some notable contemporary androgynes include writer Raphael Carter.

B

 * bigender, or bi-gender. A bigender person feels they have two gender identities, at the same time, or at different times. A bigender person may move between their gender expressions based on their situation or their feelings. These two genders might be female and male, or they might be a different pair of genders. Bigender was in use before 1997.
 * butch. Butch is a queer masculine identity. It originated in working-class lesbian bar culture in the 1940s and 50s. Leslie Feinberg, who was a butch of the 1950s onward and a trans person, defines butch as a category of gender identity, neither male nor female. From the mid-20th century, there has been a tradition of roles of queer butch-femme couples. Butch-femme couples are not a rule, especially not after cultural changes in lesbian culture in the 1970s. Butch-femme couples are not an imitation of heterosexuality. Masculinity or butchness is neither the same as nor an imitation of manhood. As one trans man interviewed by sociologist Henry Rubin put it, the butch lesbian women he knew "were much more butch than me. But I was much more male than they were." Though butch most often means a lesbian woman, not all are. Queer theorist and butch Jack Halberstam defines its indefinability: "The butch is neither cis-gender nor simply transgender [...] Butch is always a misnomer-- not male, not female, masculine but not male, female but not feminine". Butch is a diverse category. Some people choose to call themselves butch. In the 2019 Worldwide Gender Census, 0.93% (105 people) of the 11,242 respondents called their identity butch, or some form of it, such as soft butch. Notable people who call themselves butch as an identity outside the gender binary include writer Ivan E. Coyote, comedian Kelli Dunham, and social worker Sonalee Rashatwar.

D

 * demiboy. A gender identity that expresses both male identity and Agender identity, or both male and genderless.
 * demigender. An umbrella term for nonbinary identities that have a partial connection to a certain gender.
 * demigirl. A gender identity that expresses both female identity and Agender identity, or both female and genderless.

E

 * enby. Created in 2013 by a non-binary person named vector (revolutionator). Based on an initialism of "non-binary," "NB". A common noun for a person with a nonbinary identity. This is the nonbinary equivalent of the common nouns "boy" or "girl." Plural: enbies.

F

 * fa'afafine. In Samoa, the Fa'afafine are people who were assigned male at birth, have a feminine gender expression, and don't think of themselves as female or male.
 * femme. Femme originated as a queer feminine identity in 1950s working-class lesbian bar culture. Traditionally, femme was the counterpart of the butch role. Today, queer people who choose to call themselves femme do not necessarily seek a butch-femme relationship. Femme does not simply mean a conventionally feminine woman, and is instead a culturally transgressive identity. Surveys show that a significant percentage of nonbinary and genderqueer people identify as femme. In the 2019 Worldwide Gender Census, 1.35% of the 11,242 respondents identified as some form of femme. Some notable people who identify as femme outside the binary include author Kate Bornstein, journalist Sassafras Lowrey, disability rights activist Sharon daVanport, and multimedia artist Dev Blair.

G



 * genderfluid, or gender-fluid. A gender identity that often changes, so that a person may feel one day like a boy, and another day like a girl. However, genderfluidity is not limited to being only male and female. Fluid gender.
 * genderflux. A gender identity that often changes in intensity, so that a person may feel one day as though they have almost no gender, or none at all, and another day they feel very gendered.
 * genderless. Having no gender identity. Syn. agender.
 * gender neutral. 1. That which has nothing to do with gender, or is inclusive of any gender. 2. Having no gender identity; agender. 3. Having a gender identity that is neutral: not female, not male, not a mix; compare neutrois.
 * genderqueer is a non-normative gender identity or expression. This can be an umbrella term, or a specific identity.
 * gendervoid. Coined by Baaphomett in 2014. "A gender consisting of the void (also/originally used to mean the same thing as genderless)."

H

 * hijra. In south Asian countries including India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, the Hijra are people who were assigned male at birth, who have a feminine gender expression. This is a very ancient tradition. Today, Hijra are legally recognized as a gender other than female or male.

M

 * māhū. In Hawaii, in the Kanaka Maoli society, the māhū is a nonbinary role, made of people who may have been assigned either male or female at birth. This tradition existed before Western invaders, and survives today.
 * maverique. Coined by Vesper H. (queerascat) in 2014. A specific nonbinary gender identity "characterized by autonomy and inner conviction regarding a sense of self that is entirely independent of male/masculinity, female/femininity or anything which derives from the two while still being neither without gender nor of a neutral gender."

N

 * neutrois. Coined by a neutrois person named H. A. Burnham in 1995. Having one non-binary gender identity that is neutral. Not female, not male, and not a mix. Some neutrois people are transsexual, experience gender dysphoria, and want to get a physical transition.
 * nonbinary is an umbrella term for all who don't identify as just female or male. Though there are innumarble kinds of nonbinary identities, some people identify as "nonbinary" only.
 * non-gendered. Having no gender. An identity popularized by non-gendered activist Christie Elan-Cane since at least 2000.

P

 * polygender. Having several gender identities, particularly four or more of them. This can mean at different times, or at the same time.
 * pangender (from Greek πᾶν/pân "all, the whole"). A pangender person is a person who considers themselves as a member of all genders.

Q

 * queer. A reclaimed slur for the LGBT+ community, and an umbrella term for identities that are not heterosexual and/or not cisgender. Some people use this as the name for their nonbinary gender identity.

T

 * transfeminine. A transgender person who transitions in a feminine direction, but who doesn't necessarily identify as female. They may have a nonbinary identity.
 * transgender is an umbrella term that refers to people whose identity differs from their assigned gender at birth. Some nonbinary people also use this word to talk about their identity.
 * transmasculine. A transgender person who transitions in a masculine direction, but who doesn't necessarily identify as male. They may have a nonbinary identity.
 * Two-spirit. "Berdache" was an old word used by European-American anthropologists. It was an umbrella term for all traditional gender and sexual identities in hundreds of cultures throughout North and South America that were outside of Western ideas of gender and sex roles. In 1990, an Indigenous lesbian and gay international gathering chose to internationally replace "berdache" with "Two-Spirit" as a preferable umbrella term for these identities. Two-Spirit should only be used in reference to people who are Native American.

X



 * xenogender. Coined by Baaphomett in 2014. "A gender that cannot be contained by human understandings of gender; more concerned with crafting other methods of gender categorization and hierarchy such as those relating to animals, plants, or other creatures/things." An umbrella term for many nonbinary gender identities defined in reference to very different ideas than female or male.
 * X-gender (Ｘジェンダー, ekkusujendā). In Japan, this is a common transgender identity that isn't female or male, much as the words "genderqueer" and "nonbinary" has come to be in the English-speaking world, to such a degree that "X-gender" is typically used as the Japanese translation for these. The term "X-gender" began to be used in Kansai, in Osaka and Kyoto, during the latter 1990s, when it appeared in writings published by queer organizations in those regions. Notable X-gender people include manga artist Yuu Watase (渡瀬 悠宇), who created the comics Fushigi Yūgi and Ceres, Celestial Legend.