Animal Names for Boys

Guns 'n' Roses musician Axl (born William) Rose created this name by dropping a vowel, a la Barbra Streisand. The traditional Axel is more popular, though celebrity parents Fergie and Josh Duhamel deliberately chose the Axl spelling to honor her rock hero.

This name obviously has the prefix De- that denotes "son of"—in this form it can mean either "son of Angelo" or "from the angel."

An established surname that fits well with today's trend for the "Ever" sound – and a similar-yet-different alternative to Emerson. Historically, it denoted a descendent of Evert, a form of Everard, meaning "brave boar", or a descendent of Eve or its medieval English diminutive Evot, meaning "life".

A half-man, half-wolf character in the Elden Ring video game franchise bears this name, which fittingly is the Welsh word for "wolf".

Originally a male name in this single-E spelling, Esme or Esmé was borne by the first Duke of Lennox in Scotland in the 16th century, as well as by several of his male descendants. It became predominantly female by the 20th century.

Looking for a Texas name more distinctive than Austin and Dallas? Houston is a lanky, roguish place-name, right in style with its Texas accent and cowboy image.

Hyde, of course, is most familiar as a surname -- as in Mr. Hyde, evil alter ego of Dr. Jeckyll. Unless Hyde is a family name or you have some other excellent reason for using it, we think you could do better.

Isra is a gender-neutral Arabic name. The name of a chapter of the Quran, it refers to the Prophet's journey from Mecca to Jerusalem.

Egyptian mythology place-name with an intriguing sound and appealingly peaceful meaning. Update for Aaron?

Rare and distinctive name with intimations of antiquity, also a Shakespearean character.

Gray-bearded name heard primarily in Sweden and Germany.

In demonology, Bael is a shapeshifting evil king who can appear as a cat, a toad, or a man.

Antoine is a venerable French name that is still stylish in its native habitat, where it is in the Top 30. In the US, it was most popular in the 1970s and '80s, reaching Number 262 in 1985.

This is the French version of Alcides, birth name of the Greek mythological Heracles (Hercules). You're more likely to recognize it as the name of the hot True Blood werewolf, Alcide Herveaux.

A Top 100 name in BC, Canada, where there is a large Punjabi population and a fast climbing name in England and Wales in 2022, Gurbaaz has the intriguing meaning "guru's bird" or "guru's falcon". The first syllable is pronounced the same as the sound in guru, which -baaz is said like the popular nickname Baz, giving it a cross-cultural short form.

Despite the light, pretty sound of Bella for a girl, the boys' name Bela has dark and mysterious undertones, thanks to Dracula actor Bela Lugosi. Béla is also the first name of composer Bartók.

A very old name with a fascinating history, Aimar is now most often used as a boys' name in the Basque country. Its status as a Top 100 name in Spain may also be related to the enduring popularity of retired Argentinian soccer superstar Pablo AImar.

Alparslan is a combination of the Turkish words alp, meaning "hero," and arslan, "lion." The name is a reference to Alp Arslan, the title given to 11th-century Seljuk sultan Muhammad bin Dawud Chaghri when his army defeated the Byzantines.

This buoyant name has the same bouncy rhythm as Rafferty and Barnaby, but is virtually unused. It has plenty of literary cred, too: characters in The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter and Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native have all borne the name.