Obscure Male Names

If you're looking for an Irish last name that moves beyond Casey and Cassidy, this one is pleasant sounding and worth considering. Kavanaugh, which can also be spelled Cavanagh, Cavenagh, Kavanagh, and Cavanaugh, is one of the few traditional Irish surnames not to start with Mc or O'. Kavanagh relates to the name first Kevin or Caomhan. Early kings of Leinster bore the name Kavanaugh.

Lancel Lannister is a minor character in Game of Thrones (the son of Kevan Lannister and first cousin to Cersei, Jaime and Tyrion) who plays a key part at several dramatic junctions in the series.

A heck of a lot cooler than Larry.

Loman is one of those rare names that is at once simple and very unusual, with fewer than five baby boys given the name in the US in the most recent year.

The association with the infamous Nero, the fiddling Roman emperor, would be unavoidable. But there was also the detective Nero Wolfe, hero of many mystery stories.

Bland compared to the Irish-sounding O-starting names, but fans of football star Odell Beckham Jr. may like the name for other reasons.

Pax, one of the variations of names meaning peace that are newly popular in these less-than-peaceful times, got a lot of publicity when chosen by Brad & Angelina for their Vietnamese-born son. Parents attracted to Pax may also want to consider Paz, the unisex Spanish version, or Paxton, a growing-in-popularity surname choice that shares that magical X-factor.

A surname occasionally used as a first, as in former attorney general Ramsey Clark. This spelling is now closely associated with the psychopathic Game of Thrones villain Ramsay Snow (later Ramsay Bolton), and so is probably best avoided as long as the show and books are popular.

Unusual surname occasionally used as a first.

Has a legitimate first name history in its native land and an appealing meaning, but pronunciation is far from obvious.