By Pamela Redmond · Updated September 2026
Across 5 pages
of 5
Italian place-name
Straightforward but very unusual choice, deriving from a place-name in Italy. Renon is a city in South Tyrol. Its German name is Ritten, possibly associated with either the German word for a knight…
Slavic
"care, great, famous"
Radim is a handsome Slavic name derived from the elements "rad" (care) and "mer" (great, famous).
Variation of Roger, German
"famous warrior"
Hodge is a medieval English nickname for Roger, which was brought to England after the Norman Conquest of 1066. Roger isn't ready for a comeback yet, but we'd love to see the resurgence of Hodge,…
Germanic
"people; famous"
A Germanic name used in early medieval Europe that today could be cool route to nicknames Theo and Teddy.
English combination of Lula and Belle
"famous beauty"
Cutesy combination of Lula and Belle. Lula is a short form of names starting with the "Lu" sound, which may derive from Germanic hlud "famous", and Belle is French for "beautiful".
"famous wealth"
An audacious sounding ancient name belonging to an 8th-century Swiss saint, an abbot of Saint Gall.
German
"famous"
This cool and quirky short form of the suave Ludovic could be an even-more-adventurous spin on Nico and Hugo.
Slovene variation of Ludwig, German
Scandinavian variation of Ludwig, German
Unlikely to catch on in the Anglophone world, where parent name Ludwig still conjures up images of Beethoven. But Ludvig actually ranks among the top boy names in Norway and Sweden, while German form…
Greek
"famous courter"
In Greek legend Clytemnestra was the wife of Agamemnon, mother of Orestes and Electra. She took a lover while her husband was away fighting in the Trojan War, and upon his return she had him killed…
Dutch, German
"famous counsel"
A German and Dutch name related to Ramiro via Raginmar and Reinmer. It is also found as a surname.
"famous commander"
This name of a famous Booth Tarkington novel is alien in today's world.
English
"famous army"
English form of the Ancient Germanic name Chlodochar, modernized as Lothar. This was the name of a 9th-century Frankish king, the son of Louis I, who ruled the region called Lorraine. The name and…
Yoruba
Associated with famed percussionist Mongo Santamaria, but it's too close to the word mongrel to ever have widespread success in this country.
Diminutive of Rowan or Rowena, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
"rowan tree, little redhead; white spear, famous friend"
Ro- names are on the rise — think Roman, Rory, and Rowan — but straightforward and streamlined Row (and Rowe, Roe, and Ro) takes this trend to the next level. The pared-down single syllable gives Row…
Short form of Orlando or Roland, German
"famous throughout the land"
Orlo is a name nobody ever heard of until the surprise popularity of the unrelated but similar-sounding Arlo. If Arlo can be a hit, why not Orlo? Why not indeed. Some sources identify Orlo not as a…
English and Scottish variation of Ludwig
Euro-cool. Heard more in Scotland than in England or the US, Ludovic Lesly is a character in the Sir Walter Scott novel Quentin Durward and Sir Ludovic Kennedy was a noted Scottish broadcaster and…
English and French
Variant of Lulabelle
Lothar is cloddish, till you add a dashing io to the end...
