Animal Names for Boys

Calum is a form of the boy name Callum, popular in the British Isles and carrying a peaceful meaning.

Calum

Brewer is a surname turned first name that comes from the occupational name for someone who brews beer. Definitely a cool guy name, and one of the fastest-rising boys' names of 2025, when it broke into the Top 1000.

Brewer

Dylan has become a go-to name for boys in the last generation, thanks to poet Dylan Thomas, musician Bob Dylan, and fictional characters like Dylan McKay of Beverly Hills, 90210. Spelling variations include Dillon and Dilan. Alternately, Dilan is a feminine Turkish name meaning "love." Due to the ultra-popularity of Dylan, Dilan will likely be misspelled frequently.

Dilan

Douglas, and more particularly its nickname, Doug, had a real romantic swagger in the 1950s and 1960s dating back to swashbuckling Douglas Fairbanks, but today is more likely to conjure up your mom's prom date. Originally a Celtic river name, it became attached to a powerful Scottish clan, renowned for their strength and courage. In its earliest incarnation, Douglas was used equally for girls and boys.
 Douglas has been on the popularity list for as long as US records have been kept, for a considerable period in the Top 100, often used to honor World War II General Douglas MacArthur.

Douglas

This name, with its great meaning, has seen a notable rise for boys since the mid-2010s. It debuted on the US charts for girls in 2021, while for boys, it was one of the fastest rising choices of 2024, when it entered to Top 1000 for the first time having climbed more than 280 places. 

Azai

Brock is a rock solid name, with a touch of preppy sophistication. It ranked solidly in the 200s-300s from 1975 until 2014, but has since tumbled a bit.
 Among Brocks who lived up to their name are Brock Peters (actually born George), who played Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird; Brock Pemberton, a founder of the Tony Awards; and Brock Chisholm, the first director-general of the World Health Organization.
 Brock is the traditional name given to a badger in folk tales.

Brock

Parents who like Ben and Benjamin but find those forms too popular sometimes consider Benedict as a more distinctive choice. Unlike the Old Testament Benjamin, Benedict is the name of the saint who formed the Benedictine Order and of fifteen popes,including a recent one. 
 Shakespeare used a variant form--Benedick--for the character in Much Ado About Nothing. Other options are Bennett and Benno.
Benedict Cumberbatch is a British stage, film and TV actor, who has been seen as Stephen Hawking, William Pitt, Dr. Frankenstein, Frankenstein's monster, and currently as Sherlock Holmes in the BBC series.
 Just one caveat: There is the link to that infamous traitor Benedict Arnold.

Benedict

Emery is one of the newly popular Em- names that has great potential, though right now for girls more than boys: it received a boost in 2009, a year after Angie Harmon and Jason Sehorn used it for one of their daughters. 

Emery ranks on the Top 1000 for both boys and girls, but all the way up in the Top 100 for girls and down in the 700s for boys. Many <a href="https://nameberry.com/blog/baby-name-trends-em-names-beyond-emily-and-emma">related names</a> are also trending for baby boys, from Emerson to Emrys to Amory to Emmett.

Emery

Alberto is the Italian, Spanish and Portuguese variation of Albert and lends a more unusual and fashionable edge to this name which is still a grandpa name to many.

Alberto

Alfredo, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese variation of Alfred, is most familiar as the romantic lead in Verdi's evergreen opera La Traviata. On a less romantic note, Alfredo is also the name of a pasta sauce.

Alfredo

Dane is a more masculine Dana alternative, with added style edge. Dane has been on the US Top 1000 for more than seventy years, having entered the list in 1945.
 Dane makes a great middle name, as evidenced by January Jones' use of it for son Xander Dane.

Dane

Succinct and sharp, Ira is one of the shortest Old Testament names, belonging to one of King David's thirty 'mighty warriors.' It was widely used in the US from the 1880s to the early 1930s (it was Number 57 on the Social Security list in 1881), but fell off completely in 1993, only to return in 2016. Currently, it is in the latter half of the US Top 1000, given to around 260 boys each year.
 
Beyond its Hebrew origins, Ira is also a unisex Sanskrit and Hindi name. Literally meaning "wind" in Sanskrit, it is the name of the wind-god in Hinduism. Elsewhere, it is used as a feminine name, a short form of Russian Irina, a Basque nature name, and Sanskrit choice meaning "earth".
 
Although Ira is a retirement-account acronym in the US, it's back on the table for those seeking a short biblical name for their sons. A musical namesake is lyricist Ira Gershwin (born Israel), a literary one is Ira Levin, while Ira Sachs is a film director. There are also two prominent Iras hosting NPR radio shows.
 
Across the pond in the UK, however, Ira likely receives less use currently as the initials IRA are associated with the Irish Republican Army, which could make it feel like a political choice.

A simple one-syllable name that has been on the popularity list since the mid-1980s, Drake is most associated today with the single-named rapper (born Aubrey). The name peaked at Number 197 in 2010 and has since been on a slow decline, but it still can be counted among the stylish contemporary <a href="https://nameberry.com/search/boys-names/d">boy names starting with D</a>.

Drake

Flynn, a charming Irish surname, is still used only quietly, despite its easygoing, casual cowboy charm, unlike Finn which is a star of this genre. Flynn was the choice of Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr for their baby boy, and is also the middle name -- used as his first -- of a son of Miranda's fellow supermodel Elle Macpherson, of Gary Oldman's son Gulliver and Marley Shelton's daughter West.
 Flynn Rider (born Eugene Fitzherbert) is the dashing animated hero of the Disney film "Tangled." On TV's "Breaking Bad", Flynn was what young Walter Jr. tried to rename himself. The name was long associated with the swashbuckling Errol Flynn, inspiration of the phrase "in like Flynn." Some may connect this name to controversial former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn
 Flynn entered the U.S. Top 1000 in 2011, and is a highly popular choice in Australia and New Zealand.

Flynn

Bjorn is one of the most recognizable <a href="https://nameberry.com/baby-names/173/scandinavian-names">Scandinavian names</a>, thanks in large part to tennis great Björn Borg, winner of five consecutive Wimbledon singles titles and six French opens and something of a rock star figure.
 
Bjorn has been in use since the days of the Vikings and derives from the Old Norse word for "bear". In Scandinavian countries, it is also spelled Björn and Bjørn.
 
After its boost in popularity when Borg ruled the courts, there have also been other notable Bjorns in various fields in Sweden, Norway and Germany, ranging from the first king of Norway to a member of the pop group ABBA.
 
And if you do pick this name for your son, your baby Bjorn can be carried around in a Baby Bjorn.

Bjorn

Ignacio, like Horacio, makes its gray-bearded English equivalent name sound positively dashing. While the Ig- beginning summons up such associations as ignoble and ignorant, the era for Ignacio and Ignatius and Iggy may be nigh.

Ignacio

Avi, the short form of many Hebrew names, is often used on its own in Israel. It entered the US Top 1000 for the first time in 2015.

A less-popular spelling of on-the-rise Cason.

Cayson

This name from the Shona language is a new entrant to the Top 1000 in the US.

Dakari

Alvin has a sturdy, no-frills sound that belies its somewhat whimsical meaning. Interesting potential namesakes include British rocker Alvin Stardust, and US footballer Alvin Williams, and African-American dance legend (and activist) Alvin Ailey.