Boys’ Names: The Happy Ending
Maybe contemplating the name Rufus sparked my revelation. Or it might have hit me when I encountered an Otis. Whatever the inspiration, I suddenly realized that my most-loved boys’ names end in the letter s. Yep, almost all of them.
Amias? One of my all-time underappreciated favorites.
Amadeus and Miles? Music to my ears.
Augustus, Octavius, Cassius, and Aurelius? Love, love, love, and love.
What is it about s-ending names that hold such appeal?
It’s true, I prefer their soft, sybillant ending to the harder –er ending that’s so popular right now for boys’ names. Besides being more gentle, it feels a bit more surprising, intrinsically distinctive.
Many of my favorite classic boys’ names end in s: Thomas, James, Louis, Charles, and Nicholas. And trendier choices of decades past, from Chris and Curtis to Dennis and Douglas to Ross and Russ to Jess and Wes, helped whet the overall appetite for s-ending names.
Some of the names that end in s are fairly fashionable today. These include:
- Atticus
- Dallas
- Elias (my favorite of all the male El- names)
- Elvis
- Gus
- Harris
- Jonas
- Lucas
- Magnus
- Marcus
- Moses
- Phineas
- Rhys
- Silas (thanks to Weeds)
- Travis
Because I’m around names all the time, I prefer those that are a little further off the beaten track. For instance:
- Angus
- Bas
- Boris
- Caius
- Cassius
- Cyrus
- Cornelius (though I would never saddle a child with it)
- Darius
- Davis (much prefer to David)
- Erasmus
- Fergus (the truth is I don’t like this, but Linda does)
- Ignatius
- Josias
- Jules
- Justus
- Lazarus
- Linus
- Lucius
- Morris
- Osias
- Otis
- Perseus
- Piers
- Quintus
- Romulus
- Rufus
- Seamus
- Thaddeus
- Thelonious
- Tobias
- Ulysses
- Zacharias (much better than Zachary)
And then there are the names that don’t exactly end in s, but might as well.
- Ace
- Blaise
- Boaz
- Chase
- Horace (I love this name, but appreciate that it would be very difficult for a child)
- Max
- Vince
- Wallace
You get the idea. Of course, not every s-ending name is a winner. A few I wouldn’t recommend:
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26 Responses to “Boys’ Names: The Happy Ending”
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Kayt Says:
smismar Says:
What about Amos? If it weren’t for the all-too-obvious nickname, it would be at the top of my Boy list.
smismar Says:
Oh, and I also love Douglas, Jonas, Tobias, and Elias. If I hadn’t already used Sylvia, Silas would also be on my list.
leah_9 Says:
Also, Andreas and Matthias, two of my personal favorites.
Lola Says:
I love ‘s’ enders as well! Rufus tops our boy list but I adore almost all of those ‘s’ boys. Ignatius is my other top favorite. Not only honoring for me, he could be Nate on a day to day basis, if he wasn’t up to “Iggy” (which I do love too). I really adore the slight soft feel of ‘s’ enders!
phaedraP Says:
Purvis! LOL.
I also like the name Arliss, though it’s fairly obscure.
A friend asked me whether it would be okay to name his son Judas. Um, NO.
Sellons Says:
In today’s society I feel truly empathetic for the child named Sextus. With how we are with our cell-phones “Sexting” aka sexy texting is a common trend. Sext-us ….. that kid would get really badly teased during his teen years.
Christina Says:
So many ‘s’ ending names that I like! But my married name doesn’t work so well with any of them! (rhymes with “Gears”) Silas has been a fave for many years, wanted a bibical name that wasn’t so popular, & now it’s out, as is Atticus & Elias. Hoping some of our family/friends use these great names!
jillian Says:
I can’t believe Titus isn’t mentioned yet!
Charlotte Vera Says:
Aww, I like Giles! Thaddeus is on my list of favourites, and Charles and Marcus are both reserved as possible future middle spots. I’m also quite fond of Gaius (GUY-us), but would never use it as a first name because of the inevitable teasing (GAY-us).
spotlightstarlit Says:
I love Jonas and Amias
kari Says:
…unless your last name starts with S. Then you get an unfortunate running-together-of-sounds that doesn’t work at all. Too bad because Rhys and Silas are two of my favorites.
Jennie Says:
Same here, Kari. My last name starts with S. However, my husband’s first name ends in ‘s’ and it actually doesn’t sound bad (so does his middle name for that matter, and for some reason, it all works out). I’m trying to use that as a precedent to convince him to let me use Charles. He still doesn’t like it. Sigh.
Lisa Says:
…and of course there is Jesus, which is kind of hard to pull off if you aren’t Latino.
Pam Says:
or, of course, God.
Zipporah Says:
BOAZ! That’s such a cool name!
eglantine Says:
Why no to Mars? I like it!
I also like Giles – not sure I understand the pronunciation problem in the US (I’m in Aus). And surely Buffy made it librarian cool.
Emmy Jo Says:
S enders are the best! Our son is Julius, and we also considered Miles, Jonas, Elias, Thomas, Demetrius, and Andreas.
belatrix Says:
I named my son Cyrus, but Lazarus was the second runner-up
Freddy Says:
Mmmm, Lazarus in the NL is someone who is drunk….And Mars a chocolate bar…
My son is called Jonas, so totally agree with the S-ending. But for a second, it rules out some wonderful choices… I’m not to keen on rhyming sib sets, so no Jonas and Elias and Mattias and Boaz, although these are some of my faves.
Hans is my sons second name, after my father in law, and my husband. But then, he has two more names…
pam Says:
Smismar, sorry so late to reply, but Amos was a huge oversight — and one of my total favorites! Can’t believe I forgot….
And true, Freddy, the worst thing about choosing one s-ending name is that it rules out so many others.
Lydia Says:
I think the S ending names are the best too but alas my last name starts with an S so they’re all ruled out for me. Shame
Kate Says:
My son’s names are Myles & Angus.My husband & I adore these names & the meaning of them.
iris1973 Says:
I’ve noticed my favorites are very percussive and tend to end on “t” – Beckett, Bennett, Crockett (admittedly, Crockett and Bennett are family names, but I still love the sound).
iris1973 Says:
oh, and Elliott! (hit post reply before I was really finished.)
Let_it_grow Says:
What about Francis? Not super cool these days, but we’re considering it as a mn to honor a great grandfather
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My son is James, and sometimes, I think that having boys that all ended in S would be a subtle but interesting way to link sibling names. I love Rhys and Linus the most, but I also like Angus, Charles, and Jonas.