Strong Names For Baby Boys

Today we bring you more than 50 boys’ names that convey masculine strength, vigor, and power, either via their literal meanings or their image and associations. The number in the popularity column is the number of American boys given that name in 2016.

Why these strong boy names now?  Many of the dystopian stories popular these days — from Mad Max: Fury Road to The Walking Dead — make it seem like pure physical strength is going to be pretty crucial for surviving the rough-and-tumble future. And even if the next generation manages to avert a zombie apocalypse or robot uprising, strength of all kinds — physical, mental, spiritual — always comes in handy.

The 25 strong boy names in the table below all have literal meanings related to strength and power.

Strong Boy Names

Some of the names above, notably Brian and Ethan, are already widely-used, but others are yet to be discovered. Egon, for instance, as in the great Austrian painter Egon Schiele, didn’t show up in the Social Security list of Most Popular Names at all, meaning it was given to fewer than five American boys last year.

Many of these names conjure up an image of a pre-modern warrior, the kind that fought with swords and arrows. Surely there were companies of medieval knights in Western Europe that included Godrics, Griffins, Merricks and Anguses. They almost feel like the distant forebears of such fashionable, violent-feeling names as Gunnar and Remington.

Boy Names That Feel Strong

Of course, boys’ names that literally mean power are not the only kind of masculine names that convey power and strength. Some newly-popular word names portray strength, some names of powerful heroes (and anti-heroes) can lend their strength to a namesake, while other masculine names simply carry the aura of power. A roundup:

(By the way, if you’re looking for girls’ names that connote strength, check out our recent post on Wonder Woman-inspired names.)