Animal Names for Boys

Giulio is a Top 50 name in Italy, and we think Giulio is a good candidate to follow, especially now that Giovanni and Gianni are in up in the US charts. It's an interesting alternative to popular cousins Julian and Julius. And of course the most famous Giulio of all is the Emperor, Giulio Cesare.

Potentially a cool route to Eli.

The raven was a holy bird in Norse mythology, giving this choice some resonance beyond other Bart variations.

The cosmos is another name for the universe in English, giving this name a spacier, more scientific feel than the near-identical Cosmo.

Two z's equal double pizzazz.

This appealing Irish name is borne by actor Conleth Hill, who plays Varys in Game of Thrones. It is an anglicization of the original spelling Connlaodh.

This Georgian name is of unclear meaning, but it may derive from Persian zar "gold".

Unusual two-syllable choice with a real pronunciation challenge.

Ezra (and Ezrah) is potentially an abbreviation for the Hebrew phrase Azaryahu, meaning "Yah helps." In the Bible, Ezra led a group of fifteen hundred Israelites out of slavery in Babylon and back to Jerusalem. The Ezrah spelling is definitely less popular than the original Ezra, but is rising itself as well — Ezrah entered the US Top 1000 for the first time in 2022.

An Old Testament warrior whose name still sounds tough.

After cracking the US Top 200 in the early 2000s, fueled by Jacob's rise, this name has been losing steam in recent years. But Jakob is the top form of the name in many other countries, cultures, and languages, ranking highly in Germany, Norway, Austria, Iceland, and Slovenia. Jakub is the Polish variation.

Long popular in Ireland and England, Ciarán is the name of Ireland's first-born saint and twenty-five other saints. While this is the authentic Irish spelling, it is more familiar in the US in the Anglicized Kieran spelling.

There are 15 times as many baby boys named Brett than Bret, but this sleeker version is used and has some merits, namely, being sleeker.

Bas is a fashionable name in its own right in the Netherlands, where it's been in the Top 10. Used throughout Europe, it may have a future here as a straightforward-but-charming nickname name. Baz is another, similar and more appealing possibility.

This original spelling may present its challenges outside of Ireland, but it certainly has a more poetic look to it. Those daunted by the pronunciation obstacles may wish to consider Keenan.

A literary name coined by the French playwright Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais for the central character in his plays The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro and The Guilty Mother. It is thought that he based the name on his own nickname. In modern French, the word has come to mean "barber", due to the famous character's profession.

A unisex cultural crossover that has seen a little use from the 1990s onwards. In Japanese mythology, Inari is an androgynous deity associated with rice, tea and foxes. In Finland, it is the name of a region, lake and village which is a center of Sami culture.