alyshadragonfriend's list "Boys Names K Through O" of 20 great name ideas: Kennedy - Namir!

Boys Names K Through O

A long list of boys names beginning with the letters K through O. I hope it is useful.


This attractive surname name still projects that Kennedy family charisma. While it didn't come into widespread use until long after the deaths of martyred heroes President John F. or Senator Robert Kennedy, Kennedy is now one of the most <a href="https://nameberry.com/unisex-names">popular unisex names</a>, particularly for girls. This is one name that manages to sound trendy and traditional at the same time.

Kennedy

Loki is the shape-shifting, gender-bending god of mischief in Norse mythology.  Taking several animal forms, from a salmon to a seal to a fly, Loki is alternately friend and foe of the gods.

Loki

Could Lowen be the next Owen, Rowen, and Cohen? This Cornish name certainly has the right sounds to be an American hit, and is rising dramatically for both boys and girls.

About 80 baby boys were named Lowen in the US last year, along with 100 baby girls, making this name a new appealing gender-neutral choice. In the Netherlands, Lowen is the fastest-rising name for baby boys.

Lowen

Kemari is a fast-rising spelling variation of Kamari, which ultimately comes from the Arabic name Qamar. 

Kemari

Oslo, the capital city of Norway, makes for an intriguing new place name, especially with its bookended O's, as in Otto and leads to cool nickname Ozzie. One Berry has already used it and we predict others will follow; in fact, stats suggest it is used eight times more often than it was a decade ago.

Oslo

Keller is a German surname that originated as an occupational name for a cellar or store master, which seems to be the background of several of the most stylish new <a href="https://nameberry.com/baby-names/805/german-names-for-boys">German names for boys</a>. One of the stylish new two-syllable -er ending names for boys, Keller is rising up the ranks heading for the Top 1000. It may be an honorific for Helen Keller.

Keller

An aristocratic and stately Germanic route to the popular Leo, Leopold is a royal name: Queen Victoria used it to honor a favorite uncle, King Leopold I of Belgium. These days, this royal tie may be seen as a drawback to the name, owing to the cruelty of King Leopold II's rule over the Congo, though it remains popular in Austria, Poland, and France (as Léopold). 
 
Though Leopold sounds as if it might be a leonine name, it's not really a relative of such choices as Leon, and Leonard. Instead, it comes from the Germanic elements liut and bald meaning "people" and "brave" respectively. Originally spelled as Luitpold or Liupold, its spelling was altered to reflect the popularity and appeal of being connected to leo and the lionlike bravery it evokes.
 In literature, the name is famous via Leopold Bloom, the central character of James Joyce's Ulysses and in music is associated with the distinguished conductor Leopold Stokowski. It also connected to St Leopold, the patron saint of Austria, step-parents, large families, and child death.
 
Like with many names, it has a variety of pronunciations depending on language and location. LEE-uh-pold or LEE-o-pold may be heard in English, while in Dutch and German, LEH-o-pawlt is used. In Polish, it's leh-AW-pawlt, in Slovak, it's LEH-aw-pawld, in Czech it's LEH-o-polt, and in French, it's LEH-AW-PAWLD. 
 
In the US, Leopold rose up slightly during the late 2010s and early 2020s, reaching its all time American peak in 2018 when it was given to 114 boys. More recently, it has begun to decline again and was given to 72 boys in the latest count. 
 
Nickname Leo might freshen it up (as Archie does Archibald), though Poldi is a German diminutive.

Leopold

Trending downwards for girls, but upwards for boys, this word name gives you the sounds of Kaden and Kane, but with added musical flair. Given to 106 boys in 2023, it ranks slightly below the equally rising Cadence, which was given to 115.

Kadence

Just as internationally appealing as its feminine form, Mira, Miran is a name with multiple origins that is popular in Turkey, Azerbaijan, The Netherlands, and the UK. 
 As a Slovene and Croatian name, it is one of many derived from the Slavic root mir meaning "peace, world". In this case, it appears as both Miran and Mirko. 
 
In Arabic, Persian, and Kurdish, however, it derives from the title Mir, meaning "prince", "general" or "ruler", linking it to names such as Mirza and Amir.
 
In Hebrew, it is an alternative spelling for the unisex name Meiran, a compound name created by blending Meital or Meir with Ran, to generate meanings such as "joyful like a drew drop" or "to sing of light".
 
Alternative possibilities include Miran being an Albanian name, meaning "benevolence", an Afghan name inspired by the town of the same name, a Japanese unisex name meaning "future sound", or an alternative way of writing the Korean feminine name, Mi-Ran, meaning "beautiful orchid".

Miran

This quirky Old Testament name has potential, as parents are digging deeper into the Bible to find names for their children. It has also been used as a nickname for Obediah.
 
In the Old Testament, Obed was the son of Ruth and Boaz and the grandfather of David.

Obed

Octavius, which was at one time used for the eighth child in a family, has the worn leather patina of all the ancient Roman names now up for reconsideration. As a Roman family name, it derives from the uncommon forename Octavus, which designated an eighth son.
 The first Roman emperor, Augustus, was called Caius Octavius or Octavian before he took his title. He was the son of Octavius and Atia, the niece of Julius Caesar, who adopted him as his son. He appears under the name Octavius Caesar in Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" and "Antony and Cleopatra."
 In later lit, Octavius Guy is a character in Wilkie Collins's novel The Moonstone and Octavius Robinson is in George Bernard Shaw's play "Man and Superman," while Octave is the name of the protaganist of a Stendhal novel. And Octavius is the name of an old Roman general in the movie "Night at the Museum."
 Attractive foreign versions include Ottavio and Octavio, as in the distinguished Mexican poet Octavio Paz. Octavio is also the name of several saints, including one who lived as a hermit in an elm tree.

Octavius

Mordecai, although it has a noble heritage, has never caught on in this country, because of its rather weighty image. Nevertheless, with parents searching for rarer Biblical names that work as alternatives to Malachi and Matthew, Mordecai has seen increased interest in recent years and was given to 74 boys in the US in 2024. 

 Mordecai is a symbolic name for boys born on the holiday of Purim, because this cousin of Queen Esther helped her save the Jews from destruction at the hands of Haman.
 Mordecai Richler was a Canadian author and screenwriter whose best known work is The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz.

Mordecai

A refreshing variation on the Biblical classic Matthew, this Hawaiian form blends the stylish -o ending with the cool Kai sound. First appearing in the US stats in 1999, it has been climbing steadily upwards ever since. 
 
The name of a popular ukulele brand, a famous orca, and two popular horses on Instagram, Makaio was given to nearly 90 boys in 2023 and with Makai already in the Top 1000, Makaio might continue to rise.

Makaio

Aiden has spawned a legion of offshoots used mostly for boys but sometimes for girls too, and Kaidyn is one such name. Though it has been predominantly used on boys in recent years, it was given to girls almost equally in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
 
While Kaidyn can be considered a purely modern invention, it does have its roots in Cade, meaning "round, barrel" or Cathan, meaning "battle".
 
After peaking in 2014, the name has been in decline for some years now, though 2023 saw it spike up slightly in use, when it was given to 123 boys.

Kaidyn

Despite the success of so many O-starting <a href="https://nameberry.com/boys-names">boys names</a>--Oliver, Owen, Otis, Oscar--Oswald has not yet shown any signs of resurrection, though he does have the animating nicknames Ozzie/Ozzy and Oz. The name has some literary cred--in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Shakespeare's King Lear and a novel by H. G.Wells--and there was early cartoon character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

Oswald

Full name that sounds more like a short form; more likely to be spelled Kip. 

Kipp

An attractive surname, but also the name of a popular cookie.

Milano

Usually adding an e to the end of a name makes it more feminine, but Locke is at most recent count used only for baby boys. Still, this stylishly strong one-syllable name is theoretically gender-neutral.

Locke

An English surname-turned-first-name whose most famous bearer is former US president Lyndon B. Johnson. His appointment in 1963 caused a huge spike in use for his unusual name the following year, pushing it to its historical peak of #347 in 1964. However, the year after his exit from the Oval Office, it dropped back below the Top 1000.

 If you like the sound, nature name Linden is a fresher and more politically neutral option to consider.

Lyndon

A worldly choice that translates well, Namir is an animal-related choice in Hebrew and Arabic. 