Boy Dog Names That Start With B

A new aspirational name with two shining meanings.

Wildly optimistic -- and unrealistic -- choice.

A rowdy name nobody ever heard of, till Nick Nolte gave it to his son.

Bamboo is a plant name that you might want to save for the zoo's name-the-panda contest. It was used for a starbaby in 2000, though, the rapper Big Boi.

Not even for Brandy's twin brother.

Unlike the feminine Blanca, this name for some reason seems to put more emphasis on the "blank" aspect.

Bobo was the name of one of the most famous clowns in American circus history, who performed from the 1920s until the 1970s. But that's not the only reason this makes a less-than-optimal nickname.

An English surname derived from the French place name Beauvais, which in turn comes from the name of an ancient Gaulish tribe, the Bellovaci.

A name that's unusual in that changing the i to a y -- as in Byrd -- makes it more masculine.

One way to encourage some cheers for your little one, but not recommended.

Dutch form of Baldwin

Baze is a nouveau nickname that originated on the TV show "Life Unexpected," as the short form consistently used for the character Nathaniel (Nate) Bazile; its similarity to the name Blaise gives it a feeling of authenticity.

The name of a minor character in Game of Thrones, Balon Greyjoy, the ancient lord of the Iron Islands and father to lead character Theon Greyjoy.

Once you get past thinking of it as a red-painted building where they keep cows and hay, has a nice plainspoken country-like feel and may make a cooler diminutive than the still-purple Barney.

The name of a river that flows through Texas into the Gulf of Mexico is given to a dozen or so baby boys and a handful of girls each year. The name derives from Spanish río de los Brazos de Dios ("river of the Arms of God").

The word "bricks," name-ified. Rapper Pusha T used this as the middle name for his son, Nigel.

We don't see that bright a future for this one either.