# Need ideas for boys' names. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 10, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391 "2009-06-10T23:10:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391/41 "2009-06-11T22:27:01Z")
How about **Icarus**? Try looking through Shakespeare names, I kinda like \*\*Prospero \*\*and \*\*Caliban \*\*from The Tempest. Or \*\*Petruchio \*\*from Taming of the Shrew. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391/42 "2009-06-11T22:47:28Z")
Zoltan. There just aren’t enough Zoltans around these days. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391/43 "2009-06-11T22:48:46Z")
Oh, another one that’s bully-repellent: Ivan! ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391/44 "2009-06-11T22:59:57Z")
{{{Maggie}}}!!! Remember me? Wonder Man and I are procreating too! I’m due at the end of the month 🙂 Corin’s on our boy list. Gabriel would be top, except Wonder Man says kids would call him Gay for short and beat him up in the playground. I kind of like Raphael, too, and Tobias, and Sebastian, and Theo. Also I’ve heard Kester as a very old-fashioned short-for-Christopher - I like that. Actually, if it’s a boy, we’ll probably end up going with something relatively subdued, but the more interesting ones are at least fun to play with… Boy names are harder than girl names. There’s such a fine line between Boring and Playground Beating. ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391/45 "2009-06-11T23:06:20Z")
P.S. I really, really like both Alexander and Anthony, but they’re both out for us. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391/46 "2009-06-11T23:15:07Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > Also I’ve heard Kester as a very old-fashioned short-for-Christopher - I like that. Too close to “keister.” ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391/47 "2009-06-11T23:23:52Z")
_snort_ That’s not really a word over here, but it’s still funny. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391/48 "2009-06-12T01:12:48Z")
How about Alaric? First king of the Visigoths! How can you go wrong? (And it’s a name I would have been pushing, except we had only girls.) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391/49 "2009-06-12T01:24:29Z")
> [@RedRosesForMe](#): > > And then people like to get in arguments with me that my name should be pronounced Law-ree instead of Lor-ee. Only because of people like one of my classmates who would only answer to Lar-RA not Laura, despite being spelled exactly like every Laura in the school… ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391/50 "2009-06-12T01:38:45Z")
> [@Oni no Maggie](#): > > my current favorite is Arthur. Well, look no further, my friend. Arthur is truly the finest name out there for a little boy. Really, it’s great. Kids don’t realize it’s an old-man name, and you get the fun of having adults saying “his name is _what_???” Plus, you’d get to call him Arturito! Obviously, I have an Arthur. He’s 7. > [@scifisam2009](#): > > If you chose Arthur, and moved to the UK, he would meet quite a few other Arthurs his age. Grandad names are on their second round, as usually happens. That’s for damn sure. With all the Sophies and Isaacs and Hannahs and Sams running around, the playground sounds like a Jewish retirement home. ---
**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391/51 "2009-06-12T01:47:43Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Oh, another one that’s bully-repellent: Ivan! Ha, no, that is my dad’s name. Maybe Ivan born in 2009 wouldn’t get teased, but naming your child Ivan in 1957, in the middle of the Cold War? What was my grandmother thinking? Someone upthread said Peter is too ordinary, but it is fairly unusual these days. My 15 year old brother is Peter, never Pete, and I don’t know any other younger kids with that name. ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391/52 "2009-06-12T02:13:52Z")
My son’s name is Dashiell; after Mr. Hammett, of course. One of my earlier choices was Angelo (after one of my favorite places, San Angelo, TX) but the missus slapped a big 'ol “Hell NO!” on that one. Had he been a girl, the top contender for a name would have been Arden. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391/53 "2009-06-12T02:17:47Z")
Name him Anne, after the 16th-century French general [Anne de Montmorency.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_de_montmorency) If anyone makes fun of him for his name, tell him to kick them in the nuts as hard as he can, and then smash their nose in. He will grow up to be a great man. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391/54 "2009-06-12T06:42:04Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > A friend of a friend named his kid **Orion** , and I thought it was a lovely geek name wasted on a kid destined to grow up as white trash. Orion wasn’t that uncommon a name in the 19th century (it was the name of Mark Twain’s brother, career bureaucrat and financial catastrophe Orion Clemens) but was pronounced OR-ee-un. ---
**Author:** ![gustp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gustp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gustp)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391/55 "2009-06-12T22:19:05Z")
I have 4 sons and four daughters, the boys names are Aaron Thian, Shawn Adam, Jesse Alexander and Andreas Gerhardt. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391/56 "2009-06-12T23:29:32Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Another vote for Declan, just because it sounds good. I came in here to suggest Declan and also Duncan, which is what my Josie would have been if she were a boy. Not sure if that violates the last-name-as-first-name rule, though. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391/57 "2009-06-12T23:30:50Z")
> [@Jettboy](#): > > My son’s name is Dashiell; after Mr. Hammett, of course. One of my earlier choices was Angelo (after one of my favorite places, San Angelo, TX) but the missus slapped a big 'ol “Hell NO!” on that one. > > Had he been a girl, the top contender for a name would have been Arden. LOVE the name Arden for a girl. Husband nixed it. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391/58 "2009-06-12T23:49:45Z")
I’ve been advocating Aaron for boys for awhile now. I only really noticed it because it’s my boyfriend’s name, but it has a lot going for it. It’s traditional, even Biblical, but you don’t see it all over the place. It’s easy to spell (assuming they don’t think he’s a girl, which happens to Himself sometimes) and he’ll be at the front of the phone book if he ever wants to start a business under his first name. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391/59 "2009-06-12T23:52:58Z")
**Satchel**! At one time I would have advocated bringing **Paris** back into the masculine side, but really I like **Hector** better. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391/60 "2009-06-13T01:47:25Z")
> [@Jettboy](#): > > Had he been a girl, the top contender for a name would have been Arden. I used that as a name in a short story back in 2001, and it didn’t really seem to be a name to have come back (it only shows up in the top 1000 girls names at the [SSA baby name site](http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi) from 1929-31) for girls yet. I’m kind of glad it seems to have become slightly more popular. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-boys-names/499391.md?page=4)