Laszlo

The Hungarian classic Laszlo, with its zippy ‘z’ middle and energetic ‘o’ ending, has become something of a hipster option, beginning to be considered by cutting-edge parents.

A name with a royal heritage in its native country in the Ladislaus form, it is still in the Hungarian Top 20.

Laszlo is probably most familiar to Americans via the noble Paul Henreid character in Casablanca, who was Czech; there have been other fictional Laszlos in Real Genius and the Doctor Who series, and Laszlo is the name of the Ralph Fiennes character in The English Patient.

Real life namesakes include painter Moholy-Nagy and acclaimed cinematographer Kovacs. Two well-known actors who were born with the name Laszlo are Peter Lorre and Leslie Howard.

The spelling of the name can be streamlined to Lazlo.