Modern Hero Names

Made famous by F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Fitzgerald Kennedy; still works best as a middle name.

Guthrie, one of the most attractive Scottish names that's also a surname, has a particularly romantic, windswept aura, with a touch of the buckaroo thrown in.

Loose, lean, and lanky cowboy-sounding names have become a recent trend, but how about the name of a real one--the Singing Cowboy Gene. Autry might be thought of as a masculine spin on the fashionable Audrey or a fresher version of Austin or Auden.

Some other cowboy surnames from the Golden Age of movie and TV westerns: Boone, Boyd, Cody, Corrigan, Gibson, Hart, Holt, Houston, McCoy and Renaldo.

A favorite Muslim name, Kareem first appeared on the US Top 1000 list in 1972 (jumping in at Number 405!), coinciding with the early career of basketball great turned writer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Lewis Alcindor). It has continued to chart every year since.

Derived from the Arabic karuma, meaning "to be generous", the name encourages charitable and honorabe behaviour. Also transcribed as Karim, it is significant in Islamic tradition, al-Karīm being one of the 99 names of Allah.

Screen legend Marlon's surname has loads more swagger than his first. A little Brando might have to endure references to his famous namesake, though his peers may just assume its linked to popular Brandon, with the stylish -o ending of Milo, Arlo, and Hugo.

Noam is an underused modern Hebrew name with any number of attractive attributes attached to its meaning; it doesn't have the biblical weight of Noah, but could make a more distinctive alternative to that popular choice. Noam is a Top 10 boys' name in Israel.

The name of a heavenly planet and the Roman goddess of beauty and love was an intimidating no-no until tennis champ Venus Williams put an athletic, modern spin on it.

Parents who love the great English novelist Jane Austen may choose this spelling of the popular name Austin to honor the author of Emma and Pride and Prejudice.

You know who Beyonce is. One of the most famous people in the world. When she was born, her name was truly unique; it was a riff on her mom's maiden name, Biyence, with an accent over the final E.

Daenerys is yet another girls' name invented by "Game of Thrones" author George R. R. Martin that is beginning to gain some traction in real life. Daenerys was used for 67 baby girls in 2013 while one of the character's titles, Khaleesi, was given to 241 baby girls. And the name Arya, also from the hyper-popular series, is one of the fastest growing girls' names in the country.

Very popular surname choice — it's in the Boys' Top 100 — beginning to catch on for girls. First female association: novelist Carson McCullers.

Basketball legend Kobe Bryant, whose name was inspired by a Japanese steak house, brought this energetic and appealing name into -- and out of -- the mix. Bryant's tragic death in a helicopter crash in 2020 increased the popularity of his name, as fans and admirers named their children Kobe in honor of the star.

Many will associate Rihanna with the Barbados-born singer, known mononymously by her middle name. During her early years of fame, when "Umbrella" was on the radio and "Take a Bow" was playing through the iPod Shuffle, the name shot up the charts in the US, UK, France, and Puerto Rico. Though the name did fall out of the charts as rapidly as it entered and while some parents might feel it is way too tied to the mid-2000s, Rihanna was given to 165 babies in 2023.

West is the most fashionable of what you might call the direction names, with North and East (or Easton and Easter) coming up behind, and South not yet on the map.

One "bald" name we can get behind, thanks to pioneering African-American author James Baldwin – though the name is now also associated with the Baldwin brothers, particularly Alec.

Presidential surname adopted as a first by numbers of midcentury African-American parents.

An African family name ripe for adoption in honor of Nelson Mandela, the South African activist imprisoned for almost thirty years for his antiapartheid activities.

It's far cooler to drop the first syllable and go for Elle.

Wilde is a bold choice that equally fits in to a number of contemporary name trends. It's a daring, outdoorsy word name; a surname-style choice; a literary honor name; and a sound-alike for more popular choices such as Wilder, Wiley, Wyatt, and Wells. Best associated with the inimitable Irish author, poet and playwright Oscar Wilde, known for his wit, flamboyance, and literary talent, it was given to 12 boys in a recent year.

Zsa Zsa is a zippy Hungarian nickname name, sometimes used independently, linked for decades with the Hungarian-born actress Zsa Zsa Gabor--who was born Sari.