Trending Boy Names

Atharv is one of the names of Lord Ganesh of the Hindu religion, and of the eldest son of Brahma.

Atharv

Its most famous bearer was Prince Osman the First, founder of the Ottoman Empire, the third caliph of the Muslims, and a companion and son-in-law of Muhammad. Osman is sometimes written as Usman. 

And what's a bustard, you might well ask? It's a large bird.

Osman

Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik notably chose this name for their daughter in 2020, as a variation of Gigi's grandmother's name, Khairiah. In 2021, the name caught on for boys — Khai was a new debut on the Top 1000 and one of the fastest-rising names that year.
 
Khai is typically used as a spelling variation of the hot multicultural name Kai.

Khai

Occupation names and spiritual names are in style, so it's hardly surprising that Bishop has been making appearances in the Top 1000. Popular back in the late 19th and early 20th century, it reappeared in the charts in 2015. Given to 170 boys in a recent year, it tends to drop in and out of the Top 1000.
 
Derived from Greek, from which it means "overseer", a bishop is a senior member of the church. It is also associated with the game of chess and a species of weaver bird.

Bishop

Coolly attractive African name, with distinguished representatives in sports and literature. Jabari has been on the rise recently, returning to the US Top 1000 in 2023.

Jabari

A surname-style name with a contemporary spelling, Karsyn is a unisex name that has been on and off the charts for boys since 2018. As of 2023, it's back in the US Top 1000 and given to more than 200 boys every year.
 
The more traditional Carson and Karson remain far higher up the charts, while Karsyn is currently given to twice as many girls as it is boys.

Karsyn

Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn put this name in play as a first name, but David Bowie (born with the considerably less marketable moniker of David Robert Jones) gave it charisma. He changed his surname in 1965 to avoid confusion with the then popular Davy Jones of The Monkees, borrowing it from the American hero of Alamo, Jim Bowie.
 
An obscure choice until the 2010s, Bowie really took off in 2016 after the star's death, when admirers began to see it as a viable namesake - or, as a usable alternative to Bodhi, Brody and co. Given to around 200 boys and 120 girls each year, Bowie sits just outside the US Top 1000.
 
Deriving from the Scottish Gaelic word buidhe, meaning yellow, or blond, Bowie is Top 300 choice in the Netherlands and sits just within the Top 500 in the UK. It is also now at Number 457 on Nameberry, and actor Jackson Rathbone used it for his daughter.
 Successfully combining Gaelic charm, a Western drawl, and musical cred, it's understandable that parents are choosing Bowie. The only problem? It can be said three different ways.

Bowie

Variation of Johan that may simplify pronunciation for English speakers.

Yohan

Knowledge is a word name that's surprising popular in the US, where a recent year saw it given to 184 boys. And if Maverick, Legend, and Justice can be popular baby names, why not Knowledge? It's an important quality for any child to possess, via their name as well as their brain, and you can have all kinds of knowledgeability, in the classroom or the great outdoors, emotionally or spiritually and beyond. 
 
It may feel like a heavy name to wear, however, though nicknames Nol or Ned might help to ground it.

Knowledge

Though Genesis is a Top 100 girls' name in the US, it's by all rights a unisex choice. 
Derived from Greek, it means "birth" or "origin", making it a word name and a Biblical name, 
Genesis also shares sounds with other unisex and masculine options, such as Alexis, Otis, Reese, Silas, and Ellis. It is therefore given to a not insubstantial 200 boys each year. 
Outside of US, where Genesis is far less popular and rarely heard, it could make a cool and untraditional option for those wanting to celebrate the Bible, those who like the rock band, or anyone hoping for a new beginning.

Genesis

Nova might be a much more commonly used a girls' name, but enough parents saw unisex appeal in it for it to debut on the US Top 1000 for boys in 2017. Nova is an astronomical term for a star that suddenly increases in brightness, then fades. 
 Nova is not literally a new name but one that was used a century ago mainly for girls and is now making something of a comeback. Unisex references: Nova Scotia, the long-running science TV show, and the finest kind of lox.

Nova

This sleek, warm-hued spelling spin on Rowan was chosen by Sharon Stone for one of her three sons back in the 2000s and it has since risen in popularity in the US. While it remains a long way behind its sometimes sound-alike Rowan, it was still given to more than 140 babies in a recent year.
 
A name of multiple origins and meanings, Roan could simply be a contracted form of stylish Rowan, which is itself a name with more than one meaning. On one hand, it's a nature nature, denoting a red-berried tree, while on the other, it is an Anglicized form of the Irish Ruadhán, meaning "little redhead". In this case, it would be said with two syllables.
 
Alternatively, Roan is a Frisian name, ultimately from the Old German hraban, meaning "raven". As such, it's a familiar option in The Netherlands where it ranked in the Top 150 in a recent year. 
 
Roan could however be an English word name, used to describe an animal that has a coat comprised of two different colors interspersed together. Again, it would be pronounced with just one syllable, to rhyme with Joan or lone. 
 
Singer-songwriter Chappell Roan may well make Roan a more visible and familiar choice, meaning we may well see more little Roans in coming years.

Roan

Bryant has a longer history as a first name in the US than its father name Brian, ranking among the Top 1000 since the list began in 1880 while Brian only jumped on in 1925.

That may be because the Vikings, the Bretons, and the English turned it into a surname from ancient times, when the high king Brian Boru ruled Ireland in 1002. But native Irish names like Brian were banned in Ireland for centuries during British rule, until the Irish war for independence in 1916 restored them to use.

The early 20th century saw a huge wave of Irish immigration to the US, and after the First World War, Irish immigrants began using Irish names like Brian and Kevin, propelling them up the US charts.

Bryant never hit the heights of Brian, which was a Top 10 name throughout the 1970s, and now seems to be falling out of favor more quickly. Bryant has been on a steep downward slide for several decades, with a brief upward blip following basketball star Kobe Bryant's tragic death in 2020.

In New York it's also associated with fashionable Bryant Park, named for editor William Cullen Bryant, and in Alabama with University of Alabama football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant.

Bryant

Gus is a homey grandpa nickname name that can work as a short form for any of the above or stand on its own as a cutting-edge replacement for Max and Jake--though it was off the Top 1000 from 1978 until 2016, when it squeaked in at Number 999.
 Gus was chosen for their sons by Dixie Chick Emily Robison and actress Julie Bowen. In T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (and in the stage musical), the full name of Gus the Theatre Cat is Asparagus.

Though it has a Scandinavian ring (a la Thorfinn), Torin is in fact a multicultural choice, an occasional feature in the UK Top 1000, and given to around 150 boys in the US each year. Connected to nature, power, and astrology, it is a distinctive yet trendy sounding choice.
 
From its Irish origins, Torin could come from the word torran meaning "little hill", or from the name Torán meaning "little chief, lord, or champion". As a Spanish name, it's a diminutive form of the legendary Hector, and therefore Victor too. From it's French roots meanwhile, it could be an Anglicized spelling of Taurin, relating to the star sign Taurus.
 
Other possibilities include that it's a modern invention, based on Torrence or Terrence, or an Anglicized form of the German, Danish, and Norwegian pronunciations of Thor-related names, in turn, giving it the meaning "thunder".
 
The hard 'T' at the beginning prevents it from sounding as feminine as, say, Loren, though it is still given to a handful of girls each year, perhaps inspired by Tori. Torin's Passage was an early video game.

Torin

Up-and-coming surname name that may evoke thoughts of ballet dancer Misty Copeland or one of the many towns called Copeland. It was given to 138 boys in a recent count. 

Copeland

Like many short forms now popular as full names in the Netherlands, Coen—also spelled Koen—originated as the diminutive of the more old-fashioned Coenraad, the Dutch Conrad. In this case, it would be pronounced as KOON, with a short oo sound. 
 
Alternatively, it may be used in the US as a variation of Cohen, which stems from the Jewish surname designating a priest, and thus pronounced as CO-uhn. Additionally, it may also relate to the Irish surname McCown ("of Connacht") or to the Australian place name, Coen, meaning "thunder" from its Indigenous roots. 
 
 Aussie footballer Lydia Williams chose it for her baby, born in 2026.

Coen

Harley is a tough guy, while the rhyming Marley has a softer, gentler image. The name brings to mind reggae great Bob Marley, as well as the lovable dog from bestseller Marley and Me.
 
Marley is among the <a href="https://nameberry.com/unisex-names">top unisex names</a> in the US today.

Marley

A surprising entrant into the US Top 1000, given that this variation of Nicholas is primarily used in Switzerland. Niklaus "Klaus" Mikaelson was a character on the TV show The Vampire Diaries.

Niklaus

Fox is one animal name backed by a longish tradition, and then popularized via the lead character Fox Mulder on X Files. Fox is simple, sleek, and a little bit wild, and could make an interesting middle name.
 It was reported that the TV character's first name was not a tribute to the Fox network which aired The X-Files, as often assumed; show creator Chris Carter said he had a childhood friend named Fox. Fox was one of the fastest-rising boys' names of 2016, perhaps because of the popularity of the X-Files revival.

may be a very different group than you'd guess, especially if you're a first-time parent new to recent baby-naming fads and popular name trends. Boy name trends include Urban Cowboys, Blue-Green Nature Names, and Names with an X Factor.

We've analyzed several years of official name popularity lists to pinpoint the boys' names that are making fast strides up the charts and identify the 

 have already vaulted into the popularity charts, others are getting ready to break through.

 most popular trending baby boy names in the US Top 100

 are Arlo, Bodhi, Leonardo, Lincoln, Kai, Mateo, Maverick, and Theodore. Boy names with high style but that aren't used as widely include Copeland, Jericho, Montgomery, and Ridge.

 include cool cowboy names such as Huck and Wilder, nature names with a blue-green hue such as Forest and Caspian, and names that feature the letter X, such as Huxley and Fox.

If it surprises you to learn that more boys are named Bodhi and Huxley than Bobby and Harry, you may need an update on today's trending baby names.

Trending baby names for boy, including origin, meaning, and popularity. Trending trendy fast-rising boy names nclude Kai, Arlo, Bodhi, and Jericho. (Page 13)