Animal Names for Boys

Arlen is a surname long used as a first name: It ranked on the US Top 1000 from the late 1920s until the late 1960s. Originally, Arlen was a variation of Harlan which came from Harland, a place-name which means "hare land" – a place with lots of rabbits. The name today is occasionally used for both genders, boys twice as often as girls. That may increase with the fashion for two-syllable n-ending boys' names.

Regal and ancient feeling, Jacques has been declining in popularity in its native France, but in the UK, it saw a surprising revival in 2022. Jumping from somewhere around the #2500 mark straight to #600, it was seven times more popular than in 2021.

Corwin is an upstanding surname name that has been seen occasionally as a first in literature, but rarely in real life. But maybe with the recent acceptance of Darwin, that might change.

Best left on the old southern plantation, sipping his mint julep.

Digby is a place-name in Lincolnshire turned surname turned quirky first name that is starting to get some attention.

Names ending with O are popular, but this one is almost unheard-of. Faro has the advantages of being easy to spell and pronounce (unless it's confused with Pharaoh), and a bright meaning. Ultimately it comes from Pharos, the island where the great Lighthouse of Alexandria was built, and there's a district and city in Portugal called Faro. Be aware: it's also the name of a gambling card game, highly popular in the nineteenth century before poker took over.

Anderson shot up quite a bit on the popular names list in the 2000's, no doubt in large part due to the prominence of white-haired cable newsman Anderson Cooper. Perhaps surprisingly though, Anderson was even higher on the list in 1880. Actress Edie Falco named her son Anderson in 2005. Though there haven't been many first-named Anderson namesakes, there have been countless notables bearing the surname, including Hans Christian, Marian, Maxwell, Sherwood, Gillian, Laurie, and Pamela.

Football great Brett Favre single-handedly kept this name in the limelight, though it continues to sink in popularity.

The name of the great Renaissance astronomer and mathematician would make a distinctive hero-middle-name for the son of parents involved in those fields.

Celyn, which starts with the hard K sound and rhymes with Helen, is a Top 100 name in Wales although largely unknown outside that tiny, beautiful country. It is usually a masculine name.

Until recently it was rarely used as a proper name; Buddy Holly, for example, was christened Charles, and Salinger's Buddy Glass was born Webb. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver did name his fourth child Buddy Bear Maurice--a fittingly named brother to Poppy Honey Rosie, Daisy Boo Pamela and Petal Blossom Rainbow, and singer Tom Fletcher has a double-nicknamed Buddy Bob.

Amory is the kind of executive-sounding surname name that became popular in the 1990s. Amory Blaine is the protagonist of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, This Side of Paradise.

In the Bible, it's the name of an ancient prophet who was able to withstand Satan. It has gained modest attention in recent years, hitting the US Top 1000 in 2008.

Anne, usually seen as a girls' name, is also attested as a boys' name - for example, Anne de Montmorency, who was a French soldier, statesman and diplomat. He became Marshal of France and Constable of France. It is also a Frisian male name deriving from the element arn "eagle", as in Dutch author Anne de Vries.

Akiro is well used in Japan, the first name of famed director Kurosawa.

Lovely entry into the tree name genre, joining Maple, Pine, Oak, and Willow.

Gentle meaning and bona fide Hebrew history, but feels old-mannish, like Herman and Menashe.

An unusual Arabic name, given to a handful of boys in the US each year, also spelled Ehaan or Ihan.

Finlo is a name from the Isle of Man, deriving from that island's pagan sun god, Lugh. Given the popularity of all Finn names right now, Finlo could be a great alternative for people who love the "Fin" sound but want a more unusual name.

One of several blunt B names just this side of the gender divide. While its short and to-the-point sound may feel modern, it has been declining steadily since the 1980s.