The genial yet upscale and preppy Cooper was one of the first occupational last names to catch on -- and Cooper remains a pleasing option.

Joshua, a Top 10 name from 1983 until 2010, has dropped out of the Top 50 but manages to present a relaxed, attractive image, with a bit of the Old West mixed in with its biblical persona.

Malcolm is a warm and welcoming Scottish appellation (originally Mael-Colium) that fits into that golden circle of names that are distinctive but not at all odd. A royal name in Scotland, Malcolm is also a hero name for many via radical civil rights activist Malcolm X.

Otto is cool again. Long a quintessential Old Man Name, Otto has been promoted to trending darling of adventurous baby namers.

Remington Steele was the perfect name for an upper-crust action hero on 1980s television. Now, Remington is catching fire along with a new generation of predatory baby boy names such as Hunter, Gunner, and Colt. Or you might consider it a unisex namewith a buttoned-up British feel and the friendly short form Rem or Remy.

Orion is a rising star, with both mythical and celestial overtones.

Earthy but sophisticated, Marshall is an occupational surname, and despite the sounds, it isn't military or martial in any way. Rather, it stems from the Norman French for someone caring for horses.

Now that the show has gone into reruns, does anybody still love Raymond? Though it's been long dormant, some parents, including Jack Nicholson, are finding its cool name component, largely through the nickname Ray.

A name of multiple identities: a somewhat soap-operatic single-syllable surname, a homonym for the biblical bad boy Cain, and, when found in Japan and Hawaii, it transforms into the two syllable KA-neh. Kane also has multiple meanings: in Welsh, it's "beautiful"; in Japanese, "golden"; and in Hawaiian, "man of the Eastern sky."

Mack, when "formalized" with the final k, makes an engagingly amiable choice, a far more uncommon alternative to the ubiquitous Max and Jack, with a nice, every-guy feel. Mack entered the popularity list in 2009 for the first time since 1989 and continues to climb. However, it's still far from its peak — it was a Top 100 name in 1900.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin's choice of this white-bearded Old Testament name helped bring it into the modern age, along with brethren Elijah, Isaiah and Isaac. User-friendly nicknames include Moe and Mose.

Cassius, a Shakespearean name rooted in antiquity, is trending in a major way. It's one of a raft of Cas-starting names for both boys and girls, including Caspian, Cassian, and Cassia, that are enjoying a new moiment in the sun.

Magnus is a Latin name, literally meaning "greatest," that has a Scandinavian feel. It dates back to Charlemagne being called Carolus Magnus, or Charles the Great. Norwegian king Magnus I, named after Charlemagne, introduced it to his culture, and thus Magnus was the name of six early kings of Norway and four of Sweden. It is still a highly popular name in Denmark and Norway.

Kip Thorne, nobel laureate and long-time colleague of Stephen Hawking, is just one of several Kips who don't have a longer name. But Kip is often short for Christopher.

A variation or short form of the popular Biblical boy name Jacob that has a totally different feel to it. Contemporary, modern, and zippy, it blends the cool air of Kade, Kai, Kace, and Karter, with cosy Toby and Alby. Popular in the UK where it ranks in the Top 500, other forms include Coby and Kobe, which are also high ranking in England and Wales. In the US, only Kobe makes the charts.

Monte, pronounced with two syllables as brother Monty, is an old-fashioned nickname-name that's reclaiming a certain amount of dash and charm. It was recently chosen by actor Guy Pearce--which may signal a comeback.

The popular single-named alternative singer (born Bek) has given this cool nature-meets-surname name a new lease of life. Another notable bearer is Beck Weathers, a Texan pathologist who survived the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, which was covered in the book and film Into Thin Air.

Norman, perhaps because it sounds so much like the word 'normal', conjures up the image of a normal-looking guy with a normal kind of job-- not necessarily an image many modern parents seek for their sons. But though it's been off the national popularity list for several years, Norman is Number 694 on Nameberry. It was a Top 100 name for more than half a century, hitting a high in 1931 at Number 36, but today it's nowhere near one of the most popular boy names starting with N.

There are several Percivals scattered through the Harry Potter series, which might help transform the old-fangled, fussy image it has accrued. Actually, the original Percival was the one perfectly pure Knight of the Round Table, a worthy hero. The name was invented in the twelfth century by a poet named Chretien de Troyes, for his ideal knight in the poem Percevale, a Knight of King Arthur.

Rupert Murdoch has helped make the "ch" spelling more recognizable, but this one has a long history as well. Probably works better as a middle name than a first name, even if you're a big Fox News fan.