TV Baby Names: Quirky new boy characters
Last week we covered the quirky girl side of the character lists of the current TV shows and now, as promised, here come the boys. Some of these shows are just launching, joining the hundreds of shows currently found on the plethora of platforms now available. Below, some of the most unusual boy character names we discovered.
Anish—In Room 104, an HBO anthology series from the Duplass brothers set in a motel room, an Indian character called Anish is featured in one of the episodes. This is just one of several attractive Indian names that are becoming more familiar to American ears.
Brace— Brace, on Taboo, is the hero’s manservant and keeper of the family secrets. Brace is a word name that has gotten some use recently, a congenial cousin to Jace, Chace and Case.
Chidi Anagoyne is another deceased resident of The Good Place, an ethics professor who was born in Nigeria. Chidi is a very common Nigerian name of the Igbo tribe, actually a shortened version of longer names starting with Chidi.
Cleaver Green is a brilliant, rakish barrister main character in Rake, a new Australian comedy-drama on Acorn. Add this to your list of unusual occupational names, also reminiscent of Leave it to _Beave_r Cleaver. He was named after areal Australian politician, Cleaver Bunton. Another lawyer on the show is named Lincoln Lincoln.
Cotton—In the drama series Star, lead Queen Latifah is named Carlotta, but the standout character name is Cotton, Carlotta’s son–turned-daughter. The soft word name dates back to Puritan times, associated with Cotton Mather.
Deran Cody is the son of Ellen Barkin (character name Smurf!) on Animal Kingdom. Deran is a modern variation of Darren.
Earnest Marks—Donald Glover’s starring role name on Atlanta has the alternate spelling of his name as seen in The Importance of Being Earnest. On the show, he’s usually referred to as Earn.
Fergal Morris –In Catastrophe, Fergal is the Irish younger brother of the series Irish co-star and co-creator. Fergal is a common, historic Irish appellation, an alternative to Fergus, also spelled Feargal.
Florian—This character is a butler on the wrestling show Glow. Saint’s name Florian is now #18 in Austria and popular throughout Europe, though it hasn’t been heard much in the US since 1940.
Goliath Jackson—a veteran wrestler on Glow, very possibly his nom de wrestling—unless his mother had some weird premonition. This biblical Philistine giant name has never been considered baby name material.
Jelco—Killjoys is a Canadian space adventure drama series with some very interesting names, including Jelco, Pree, Pippin, Alvis, Hills, and Gander, plus women named Dutch, Pawter, Zeph, Bellus, and Banyon, and a male called Fancy. Jelco does have some offbeat potential.
Jupiter Blackmon is a recurring cast member on Survivor’s Remorse, a basketball comedy on Starz produced by LeBron James. The name of the supreme Roman deity is primed for discovery, as the partner of hit partner Juno, the rise of sound-alike Juniper, and the popular kids’ book series Jupiter Jones.
Ptonomy Wallace, in Legion, is a mutant with the ability to manipulate memory. The invented name feels like a cross between Ptolemy and autonomy.
Shadow Moon—The Neil Gaiman book-based series American Gods centers on this ex-convict character; others in the series include Bilquis, the Queen of Sheba, a leprechaun called Mad Sweeney and three sisters named Zorya.
Sylvere –Sylvere is the name of the filmmaker husband played by Griffin Dunne in I Love Dick. Little known here, Sylvere continually ranked on the pop lists in France until 1969, rising as high as 224 in 1937.
Teo Aljarafe—In Queen of the South, Mark Consuelos plays a smart, high-powered lawyer hired to help the female drug lord. Now here’s one with real potential, keyed to the popularity of Theo, of which it’s the Spanish equivalent (short of Teodoro and Mateo/Matteo). It packs a lot of punch in its three letters.
Turin—This Killjoys character name has a nice geographical tie to the northern Italian city aka Turino.
Vico is a recurring bad boy character on The Fosters. It’s an unusual smoosh of Nico and Vito.
Yago In the latest version of Elmore Leonard’s Get Shorty, Yago is the crime lord’s right-hand-man. Any relation to Iago?
Ziggy Chapman (shown) is the cute 8-year-old son of Shailene Woodley’s character on Big Little Lies which also boasts a nostalgic David Bowie trigger, as well as a tie to Bob Marley’s son Ziggy, who was originally David, but was given the nickname by his father after a soccer move by that name.