By Sophie Kihm · Updated September 2026
Across 5 pages
of 5
Dutch
"scholar"
This worthy name, imported by the early Dutch colonists, has been all but overpowered by the phonetic spellings -- Skyler for boys and Skylar for girls. With the surnames-as-first-names trend,…
German
"noble wolf"
World War II stamped a permanent verboten on Adolph.
Greek
"gift of Artemis, goddess of the hunt"
This name has a nice mythological, historical, Three Musketeers-ish ring.
Irish
"son of the beige one"
Although Maguire is such a prominent Irish surname —it ranks in the Top 40 in the Emerald Isle —this lively and cheerful family name has rarely been used as a first, unlike more familiar…
French variation of Ralph
"wolf-counsel"
Raoul, with its unique three-vowel middle, rolls off the tongue in an appealing way. Raoul is one of the French names that sounds infinitely more romantic and attractive than the somewhat harsh…
English
"son of Dennis"
A case in which the son is now more attractive than the father. There have been Colonial settlers surnamed Dennison on this side of the Atlantic since 1623.
"sea taboo"
When British rocker Steven Patrick Morrissey decided to use his last name alone, it became a viable option for baby namers, a lot cooler than Morris or Maurice.
