Names That Mean Hero

Finley has been used for both sexes for enough years to become one of the most popular unisex names. Given nearly equally to boys and girls, Finley appeals to contemporary parents as a truly gender neutral choice.

This was a 100 percent boys’ name until celebs Jason Sehorn and Angie Harmon bestowed it on their daughter, recently followed by Lisa Marie Presley, who used it for one of her (female) twins. Finlay is also now among the most popular unisex names.

Finlay is a Scottish royal name: it belonged to Macbeth's father, Finlay MacRory--or Findlaech mac Ruaidri--that has a bit of a split personality. It has two acceptable spellings--Finlay and Finley, the first more popular in its native Scotland, where it ranks in the Top 10, the second in the US. It is also becoming more and more unisex in the States, with the Finley spelling now split between girls and boys.

The two X's may be a challenge for even the most intrepid baby namer. Xerxes was the name of two early kings of Persia and the Handel opera Serse or Xerxes is loosely based on Xerxes I.

Legend joins cousins Story, Saga and Fable in the baby name pantheon of narrative words. Unlike Story and Fable, however, Legend comes with additional weight, being used for fame ("living legend") and to denote a person who is fantastic "what a legend"). Who can live up to that?

Heron may feel like a very usable nature name -- the heron is a long-legged wading bird -- but it was also the name of a 1st century Greek inventor and of an Egyptian saint. Highly unusual yet easy to understand and meaningful on several levels, Heron is a fantastic choice.

The o ending and the positive meaning in many languages makes this a winner, and with the feminine Vera making a surprise return, and the new love for the letter 'V', this becomes a name that has definite possibilities.

Presidential name that makes a fresh substitute for MacKenzie or McKenna. Possible spelling variations include MacKinley, MacKinlee, Makinleigh ad almost infinitum. McKinley is one of the Scottish names for girls that can work equally well for boys.

Io is most familiar to English speakers as a female name from Greek mythology, but in Japan it's used for both sexes.

New Presidential name, if you're ready to move beyond Lincoln and Jefferson. At the turn of the last century, during the original McKinley's heyday, as a first name it almost reached the Top 100.

This name has two possible derivations - in Turkish it means hero, in English it is used as a reference to mountains. Either offer a soaring option for a little boy.

Halen is a cool surname name that will be especially appealing to fans of Van Halen.

Well used in Russia, this is a distinctive and undiscovered choice here. Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov is the fictional protagonist of Crime and Punishment by Feodor Dostoyevsky.

Undiscovered Irish surname.

Derived from the Xhosa and Zulu word for "hero", qhawe

The Epic of Gilgamesh is an Akkadian poem from Mesopotamia and one of the oldest works of literature that survives today. It follows the story of Gilgamesh, a Sumerian king who journeys to find the secret to immortality. Gilgamesh's name is so strongly tied to the epic, that it would be difficult to wear by anyone else.

Used to honor Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of the independent Kenyan republic. The problem: with the name Kenya now used largely for girls, along with the vowel ending, Kenyatta sounds fairly feminine.

Finlay is a Scottish royal name (it belonged to Macbeth"s father) that was revived by several celebrity parents. Angie Harmon and Jason Sehorn, Daniel Baldwin and Lisa Marie Presley all did a gender switch on Finlay when they named their daughters Finley.

Variant of Erinna

This very popular Armenian name represents a grandson of Noah, considered the father of the Armenian nation.