Cute but Spunky Boys' Names

Nice Scottish sound, but too tied to sweaters and socks.

Arthur, once the shining head of the Knights of the Round Table, is, after decades of neglect, now being polished up and restored by stylish parents, inspired perhaps by the new generation of royals. Arthur has led the list of possible names for the young British princes, chosen as a middle name for Prince Louis, son of William and Catherine, Prince and Princess of Wales.

A novel way to get to the nicknames Ash or Ford

Booker would make for a very cool name, for writers, reformers, R & B fans and those wanting to pay tribute to Booker T. Washington.

Sounds too much like buxom.

Claude is a soft-spoken French name that conjures up the pastel colors of Monet and harmonies of Debussy. In France, it is used for girls as well, in fact in the Tracy Chevalier novel Lady and the Unicorn, the protagonist is a female Claude.

Clement, the name of fourteen popes and several saints, has a pleasantly, positive, slightly antiquated feel, like the phrase "clement weather."

Even among the range of blue names on the current baby naming palette -- Blue itself, Azure, Cerulean, Teal, Aqua, Cyan, Indigo -- Cobalt remains the most unusual, not to mention the most masculine.

Connolly, an alternate spelling of Connelly, could make a livelier and less common substitute for Connor.

Dash is a nickname that can stand on its own and sounds, well, dashing. Connected these days with Kardashian enterprises.

Drummer entered the baby name lexicon thanks to blogger No Big Dill, who chose it for her newborn son, who joins five older sisters. Drummer is right in step with other occupational names in vogue now, from Archer to Gardener. Let's just hope Drummer doesn't prefer to play the piano.

At one time associated with the fictional detective Bulldog Drummond, this formal surname name does boast the cute nickname Drum.

You may be surprised to know that Enzo is now a Top 100 boy name in the US, where it has been climbing straight uphill since the turn of this century.

Most commonly associated with artist M.C. Escher, Escher makes a great hero name that would fit in nicely with the surname names of today.

Franz is the German equivalent to Francis, and you'll be hard-pressed to find a Franz outside of countries with Germanic origins. In America the name is often associated with celebrated author Franz Kafka, who was born in Prague.

One of those simple, straightforward English surnames -- and with a presidential pedigree -- that's easy to translate into a first. It was recently chosen by both Kevin Costner and Jessica Alba for their sons, which can likely be credited for its spike in popularity in the past few years. Surname names and nature names like Hayes, which qualifies on both counts, along with occupational names all make up the new generation of stylish English names for boys that go far beyond Harry and Edward.