Cool Classic Boy Names — 100+ below the Top 1000

The name of three hundred saints, a mustard, and your own baby boy. Coleman was off the US Top 1000 list for much of the 1960s and 1970s, but it was a mainstay before and has been for most years since. It could be an interesting way to honor a Colin or Cole.

A common surname almost never used in recent times.

Thompson is not as popular as Jackson or Harrison, but a novel way to circumvent Junior for the son of a Thomas.

The iconic Gone With the Wind star Clark's surname was brought into the first-name mix when Weeds' Kevin Nealon picked it for his son. Gable makes a strong and unusual possibility, a rhyming cousin to Abel and Mable.

This name may be related to the Latin Maximus, which means "the greatest," or to a British landowner's name, but for most modern parents, it's one of several ways to get to short form Max.

Would be more usable if it wasn't so strongly associated with hairdresser Sassoon and his many hair products.

Known as a British royal family line as well as a style of architecture, this name has a forbidding solemnity; schoolmates might also confuse it with tutor.

A shortened form of Zephaniah

Haitian-born rap superstar and humanitarian Wyclef ("Fugees") Jean has lent this name a powerful musical beat.

An evocative ancient word that's used as a first name in the New Testament, among other places. It's also the name of an eagle-shaped constellation.

When Matthew McConaughey and wife Camila Alves chose the old English surname and place name Livingston for their third child, they elevated it from half of a Stanley & Livingston joke to a modern possibility. Kind of. The only other well-known bearer of the name in the contemporary world is singer Livingston Taylor, brother of James, who is called Liv. Given that little Livingston McConaughey's older brother is named Levi, that uplifting nickname may be too close, though his parents apparently like its sound. An original choice.

Pius is the very definition of a religious name, used appropriately enough for several popes. Only a handful of baby boys receive this name every year. Despite the rise of similar ancient Roman names such as Justus and Magnus, we don't see Pius enjoying the same kind of turn in the sun.

The name of a beautiful village on the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall, Veryan actually derives from a series of misunderstandings: Sen Veryan (“Saint Veryan”) is a Cornish corruption of Severian, which is itself a corrupted form of the saint’s name Symphorian, to whom the village church at Veryan is dedicated.

Either an alternative spelling of Jacques (ZHAK), the French form of Jack, or a Shakespearean character from As You Like It, pronounced JAY-kwiss.

A strong and interesting nature name of Native American (Mapuche) origin.

An underused Biblical name borne by a New Testament prophet, Nahum feels like a good option for parents looking for a rare but traditional name that fits in with current trends.

In Ancient Egyptian mythology, Khepri is a scarab-faced god who represents the rising sun, as well as new life.