Names That Mean Beside

With its rugged, country charm and confident sounds, Waylon is among the wave of Old Western names that parents are choosing.

The popular single-named alternative singer (born Bek) has given this cool nature-meets-surname name a new lease of life. Another notable bearer is Beck Weathers, a Texan pathologist who survived the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, which was covered in the book and film Into Thin Air.

Country singer Waylon Jennings bestowed a kind of outlaw image on his name, and parents have been loving the suave cowboy name Waylon in recent years — enough to crack to Top 100 in 2021. Alternative spelling Waylen is beginning to climb as well, entering the Top 1000 for the first time in 2022.

Although the single-named singer is male, this might be a girl's nickname name or a sleek nature name that's perfect in the middle.

Way out.

The surname of the late great American jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck could make a cool, jazz-inspired name for a baby boy.