Boy Cat Names That Start With L

  1. Lennon
    • Origin:

      Irish
    • Meaning:

      "lover"
    • Description:

      A growing number of high-profile (and other) parents are choosing to honor their musical idols, such as Hendrix, Presley, Jagger, and now Lennon. Lennon first came to notice when Liam Gallagher and Patsy Kensit used it for their son in 1999, and singer-musician Adam Pascal followed their lead in two years later. Thanks in part to female singer and actress Lennon Stella, it's now more popular for girls than for boys.
  2. Loki
    • Origin:

      Norse mythological name
    • Meaning:

      "lock"
    • Description:

      Loki is the shape-shifting, gender-bending god of mischief in Norse mythology. Taking several animal forms, from a salmon to a seal to a fly, Loki is alternately friend and foe of the gods.
  3. Ludo
    • Origin:

      German
    • Meaning:

      "famous"
    • Description:

      This cool and quirky short form of the suave Ludovic could be an even-more-adventurous spin on Nico and Hugo.
  4. Luther
    • Origin:

      German
    • Meaning:

      "army people"
    • Description:

      Once restricted to evangelical Protestants honoring the ecclesiastical reformer and theologian Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant revolution. In more recent times it has been favored by parents wishing to honor civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr. Luther was a Top 100 name at the turn of the last century, but fell off the list in the early 1990s.
      Luther Burbank was an eminent botanist and Luther Vandross was a popular R&B artist. It's the name of a main character on the Disney series Zeke and Luther. The name was given a shot of contemporary energy via Idris Elba's dynamic performance in the eponymous BBC crime drama.
  5. Lenny
    • Origin:

      Diminutive of Leonard
    • Meaning:

      "brave lion"
    • Description:

      Nickname of yesteryear now saddled with all manner of unattractive associations. Any Leonard of today would be called Leo, or maybe Leon or Leonard (or much more fashionably, Leonardo).
  6. Lynx
    • Origin:

      Animal name
    • Description:

      One of the fierce new animal names new to name lists, helped by its strong x-ending.
  7. Lucky
    • Origin:

      English word name
    • Meaning:

      "having good fortune"
    • Description:

      Recently chosen by singer Elle King for her son. Lucky is a name that could see a considerable rise in the near future, as word names continue to heat up.
  8. Lloyd
    • Origin:

      Welsh
    • Meaning:

      "gray"
    • Description:

      This Welsh surname was taken up as a first in the English-speaking world in the early twentieth century, originally as a nickname for someone gray-haired. The original Welsh name was Llwyd, and pronounced LHOO-eed. Beau Bridges was christened Lloyd after his actor father.
  9. Lupin
    • Origin:

      Flower, animal, and literary name, from Latin
    • Meaning:

      "pertaining to the wolf"
    • Description:

      Lupin is an unusual flower name with roots in Old French, from the Latin lupinus, meaning "pertaining to the wolf". In the literary world, it's the surname of Remus Lupin, a popular character in the Harry Potter franchise and a werewolf.
  10. Locke
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "enclosure or fortified place"
    • Description:

      Usually adding an e to the end of a name makes it more feminine, but Locke is at most recent count used only for baby boys. Still, this stylishly strong one-syllable name is theoretically gender-neutral.
  11. Lux
    • Origin:

      Latin
    • Meaning:

      "light"
    • Description:

      Lux, one of the light-filled names that include Lucy and Lucian, broke onto the scene as a girls' name but now it's decidedly gender neutral. In fact, at the last count there were slightly more boys named Lux than girls: 140 to 120. But that's pretty close, making this a truly nonbinary name.
  12. Leviathan
    • Origin:

      Hebrew
    • Meaning:

      "twisted, coiled; in modern Hebrew - whale"
    • Description:

      Leviathan was a name given to 76 boys in the USA in 2021. It makes a rather unusual Biblical choice, being the name not of a man or angel, but of a sea monster. In literature and popular culture, the term Leviathan has since come to be used as a synonym for any gargantuan, monstrous creature or object (think of the bag in VEEP).
  13. Lester
    • Origin:

      English place-name; phonetic form of Leicester
    • Description:

      Lester is one of the British surname names that were popular in the US in the early decades of the twentieth century: it was in the Top 100 through 1931, reaching a high of Number 52 in 1906. But dropping of the list in the late 1990s, along with Hester and Sylvester, we don't see much hope for a return visit.
  14. Lark
    • Origin:

      Bird name
    • Description:

      In one recent year there were 60 baby girls in the US named Lark....and only eight baby boys. But there's no reason this bird name can't also be masculine, especially given that Robin is making a comeback for boys and Sparrow is a notable starbaby boy (he's Nicole Richie and Joel Madden's son).
  15. Larry
    • Origin:

      Diminutive of Lawrence, English from Latin
    • Meaning:

      "from Laurentium or bay laurel"
    • Description:

      Your friendly next-door neighbor...not your baby. Although Larry was once one of the most popular boys' names starting with L, that title now belongs to Liam.
  16. Lemon
    • Origin:

      American fruit name
    • Description:

      Lemon is one of the more unique names related to fruit, compared with sisters Clementine and Apple. That may be because lemon is also a word that's slang for a clunker, something that doesn't work very well. No baby wants to feel like a Lemon, so this is one of those unusual names that is best avoided.
  17. Love
    • Origin:

      English word name or Swedish variation of Louis
    • Meaning:

      "renowned warrior"
    • Description:

      In the Anglophone world, Love is more likely to be perceived as an English word name than the Swedish form of Louis.
  18. Lucretius
    • Origin:

      Latin clan name
    • Meaning:

      "wealth"
    • Description:

      Lucretius is the name of the Roman philosopher who invented Epicureanism. But even in these days of old Roman name revival, Lucretius sounds a bit long-white-beardish, though it can be enlivened with the nickname Luc.
  19. Lion
    • Loup
      • Origin:

        French
      • Meaning:

        "wolf"
      • Description:

        A rare French name derived from Latin lupus "wolf". It is most often found in the compound name Jean-Loup, as in Jean-Loup Chrétien, an astronaut and the first Frenchman in space.