By Pamela Redmond · Updated November 2026
Across 67 pages
of 67
Variation of Bodhi or Bode, Sanskrit, German
"enlightenment, awakening; order, command"
Bodie has been in the US Top 1000 since 2014 and may be an attempt to anglicize either the popular Sanskrit name Bodhi or the Germanic name Bode. Drawing inspiration from Jodie and Brodie, it could…
English
"son of Ben"
Benson has outgrown its long association with a wisecracking TV butler with a fresh new association: singer songwriter Benson Boone. Parents may see it as an alternate route to nickname Ben, very…
Word name
"young horse"
Colt is the kind of unconventionally macho name that is so trendy right now, because of or in spite of its association with horses and guns. A rent study of voter names by political party found that…
Word name; also diminutive of Cassius
"hollow"
With the popular 'ash' sound and a contemporary feel, Cash is a widely used name in the US. Used occasionally before the 2000s, Cash really took off in 2003, following the death of American musical…
"ruler of the elves"
Avery is a unisex name that is used four times as often today for girls as for boys. But while Avery's popularity is starting to soften for girls, it continues to get stronger for boys -- in keeping…
English form of Jeremiah, Hebrew
"appointed by God"
This one-time trendy form of Jeremiah hovered just outside the Top 25 throughout the 1970s and 80s. Though off its peak, it's still in the Top 300 in the US for baby boys, and might be considered a…
"red-haired"
The Reid spelling is the most popular by half, probably because it feels more like a name than Reed, which looks more like a word. It's used occasionally for girls but this name is firmly in the…
"hollow valley"
Holden is a classic case of a name that jumped out of a book and onto birth certificates--though it took quite a while. Parents who loved J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye are flocking to the…
"priest's estate"
Britney Spears put this old-fashioned surname name back on the map when she chose it as her son Sean's middle name, which the family uses as his first. One of the most popular names of its genre,…
"place with good clay"
Clayton is one of those names that feels like it could be recently popular but does in fact have a long history of use. It has made the US Top 400 every year since the records began, and though more…
"place on a riverbank"
Remington Steele was the perfect name for an upper-crust action hero on 1980s television. Now, Remington is catching fire along with a new generation of predatory baby boy names such as Hunter,…
"fair-haired, dark"
Blake -- an early unisex option -- dropped out of the Top 100 in 2017 for the first time since 1988, but remains a sophisticated choice. And yes, both conflicting meanings of Blake are accurate. It…
"helpful, pillow"
In the early 1990s, Cody was in the Top 25 most popular boys' names in the USA; but it has been in decline since then. It retains a greater degree of popularity in the UK, however. Cody might be…
"from the southern homestead"
Swanky sound via New York's ritzy Sutton Place. It fits with current popular boys’ names , due to its two syllables and -on ending. It debuted in the US Top 1000 for boys in 2015, though it is…
"one who looks after horses"
Earthy but sophisticated, Marshall is an occupational surname, and despite the sounds, it isn't military or martial in any way. Rather, it stems from the Norman French for someone caring for horses.…
"at the river crossing"
Wade has never been outside the US Top 1000 for boys - there's a reason for that. It has a clean spelling, fresh sound and is neither too trendy (unlike Kade or Cade) or too old-school (like Richard…
"of the highest quality"
A name with some sterling qualities, most associated with the British currency and silver markets, though it could easily be seen as a virtue-adjacent choice, like Merit, Chosen, or Hero. It has been…
English variation of Bridges
Having only entered the US Top 1000 in 2012, Briggs is yet another ends-in-s surname name for boys currently on the rise, along the lines of Brooks and Hayes.
"free landholder"
A doubly Presidential name, via Pierce and Roosevelt, Franklin was given an initial boost via the fame of Benjamin Franklin. It also has a literary tie to the main character of the Wilkie Collins…
"house steward, dispenser of provisions"
Spencer is a name that has everything: it's both distinguished sounding and accessible, dignified but Spencer Tracy-like friendly. Picked by several celebrities (a couple of times even for a girl),…
