Hipster British Boy Names

Huxley is definitely rising as a surname name, with its X that makes almost any name cooler. It debuted in the US Top 1000 in 2015. The modern nicknames Hux and Huck certainly don't hurt.

Sasha in all its forms -- which include Sacha and Sascha -- is rising in popularity for both boys and girls. Its most prominent current bearer with this spelling is Sacha Baron Cohen.

Like Ray, a formerly funky nickname name that is newly cool. Comedian Amy Schumer used it for her son.

Ned is a gently old-fashioned Nancy Drew-Bobbsey Twins-era short form for Edward that sounds cooler than Ed and is enjoying a small style renaissance.

In Celtic lore, Fergus was the ideal of manly courage, making it a charming, slightly quirky Scottish and Irish favorite.

Willoughby is an energetic last-name-first route to the popular short form Will, livelier than any of the two-syllable options. It could be picked up by parents attracted to the Willow sound for girls.

Rugged but gentle, Sholto is a traditional Scottish first name, especially within the Douglas clan, with Sholto Douglas being its mythical ancestor. It is an Anglicized form of Sìoltach, meaning "sower".

A sweet and sophisticated nickname which feels fresh again after many years in style limbo. For literature lovers, it brings to mind Theodore "Laurie" Laurence from Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. Another famous bearer is English actor Hugh Laurie.

A glamorous surname name most famously borne by 1930s icon Jean Harlow (born Harlean Carpenter), Harlow is also the name of a town in the English county of Essex. Outside of the UK, Harlow would fit right in with contemporaries Arlo and Marlow(e).

Jago is a dashing alternative to overused favorite Jacob.

Aside from President Wilson (born Thomas), most Woodrows, including Herman, Guthrie, and Harrelson, have chosen to be known as Woody, which says it all.

An x makes any name cooler, so that Baxter has a bit more pizzazz than the original Baker. Baxter had some currency as a first name a century ago--it was on the popularity lists sporadically from 1880 till the 1920s, peaking at Number 515 in 1886-- which means it's just about due for a comeback. And we can see Bax as a worthy follow-up to Max and Jax.

Django — the D is silent as most everyone now knows — the nickname of the great Belgian-born jazz guitarist Django (originally Jean Baptiste) Reinhardt, makes a dynamic musical choice for any jazz aficionado. Reinhardt's nickname "Django" is Romani for "I awake." The name has become more familiar with the release of and acclaim for the Quentin Tarantino film Django Unchained.

Names ending in bert have long been in limbo, but with the return of Albert, maybe there's hope for Herbert. who could share the Bertie nickname. Herbert is a name that's been used by English speakers since medieval times, and was in the Top 25 in the US in the late 1920s, around the time of the presidency of Herbert Hoover, but there's been no sight of Herbert in the 21st century. Some Herberts, including novelists H. G. Wells and H. E. Bates, have preferred to go by their initials.

Digby is a place-name in Lincolnshire turned surname turned quirky first name that is starting to get some attention. In fact, it ranked in the UK Top 1000 in a recent year where it fits in with the likes of Barnaby, Rupert, and Wilbur.

This Welsh surname was taken up as a first in the English-speaking world in the early twentieth century, originally as a nickname for someone gray-haired. The original Welsh nickname was Llwyd, pronounced LHOO-eed, and is the Welsh word for the color.

After half a century, this otherwise feasible name has at last started to lose its link to the friendly ghost; it certainly didn't scare model Claudia Schiffer, who chose it for her son, as did Atomic Kitten Jenny Frost. Iconoclastic namer Jason Lee switched genders and called his daughter Casper. Also related to the revived Jasper, Caspar seems headed towards the path to a similar resurgence.

This cool and quirky short form of the suave Ludovic could be an even-more-adventurous spin on Nico and Hugo.

Jethro, though the biblical father-in-law of Moses, has suffered for a long time from a Beverly Hillbilly image, but some really adventurous parents might consider updating and urbanizing it and transitioning it into the hip o-ending category.