Tough Word Names

Shade

English word name

Nice sound, but double meaning -- shady glen or shady character.

Rush

English

"basket weaver"

Might suggest speed, excitement, even danger, were it not for its best-known bearer, conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh.

Lock

English word name

"a fastening (as for a door) operated by a key or a combination"

Interestingly, Locke is a gender-neutral name used only for boys, while word name Lock is so rare it was given to fewer than five children of either gender in the US last year.

Gale

Nature name

Gale for boys is more a storm name than a short form of Abigail. Since Gale has resurfaced as the name of Liam Hemsworth's daring character in The Hunger Games , it has new force for boys.

Justice

English word name

"the quality of being just, impartial, or fair"

Justice, one of the rare virtue names for boys, entered the popularity ranks in 1992, and remained in the charts until the 2020s. While it has fallen out of favor in more recent years, it remains a…

Biff

American nickname

The quintessential midcentury nickname, famously found in Arthur Miller's play "Death of a Salesman." Biff is late 19th century slang meaning to "hit", so Biff may have originated as a nickname for a…

Rider

English

"horseman"

Rider is a rock-and-roll baby name, in every sense of the term, though usually spelled Ryder, as in the sons of Kate Hudson and John Leguizamo.

Vandal

American word or occupational name

Another bad boy occupational name, joining Bandit, Rogue, and Gunner, though Vandal feels more obviously destructive. The Vandals were a tribe that swept through Europe and North Africa in the sixth…

Tiger

English

"animal name"

Other wild animals like Fox, Wolf and Bear are catching on as baby names, and Tiger is a rarer option with several famous namesakes, including golf champ Tiger Woods, who was born Eldrick. Other…