Boy Dog Names That Start With B

Bardo has a poetic beginning and upbeat ending, with roots in several diverse cultures. It may be most familiar today via George Saunders' novel Lincoln in the Bardo, which refers to the Tibetan Buddhist state of suspension between one life and the next, resembling the Christian idea of Limbo. Bardo is also an ancient saint's name: Saint Bardo was the eleventh century bishop of Mainz, in Germany. Actress Sandra Bullock chose Bardo as her son's middle.

Bruin is the Old English term for bear, taken from the Dutch word meaning brown. Bruin might be a sports fan's choice or an animal name in hiding. As a kind of hybrid of Roone and Bruno, it's definitely got some cool.

A once-popular nickname for Albert and Bertram now being polished up by hip Brits, but still hibernating in the Land of Nerd over here.

An attractive Nordic name most common in Iceland. It was derived from the Old Norse elements bryn, meaning "armor," and her, "warrior" or "army."

When Kate Hudson named her second son Bingham and announced that she would be calling him Bing, it put this zingy nickname name out on the table. Before that, there was only one, further nicknamed Der Bingle -- and he was really Harry Lillis Crosby.

In Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, the friend who persuades Romeo to go to the party where he meets Juliet. Alas.

For the parent who might also have Buck and Ryder on his list.

The unisex word name Bean, distant cousin of the infamous Apple, was used for the name of a child of mysterious gender in Louise Penny's novel "A Rule Against Murder." While we can imagine Bean as a cute nickname for a yet-unnamed and unborn baby, we don't recommend it for real life.

A name borne by nine popes and several saints, which carries strong Catholic connotations. British politician Jacob Rees-Mogg named his sixth child Sixtus Dominic Boniface Christopher in 2017.

Buford has lost any charm it once had. Try Beauford instead.

Pitt is the prototypical blond Brad.

The surname of influential French fashion designer Marc Bohan could make a modern-sounding two-syllable boy's name, though it might be confused with Bowen.

Brayden meets Jalen to make Braylen, another entry in this trendy group of names.

One step up from Irwin, and that's not nearly enough.

This upbeat, friendly surname name has appeared on television's Battlestar Galactica a handful of cartoons, and on a literary note, a character in Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Sports fans might think of Boomer Esiason, the NFL quarterback turned color commentator. He's not the only athlete to answer to the upbeat nickname.

Baris has the advantage of sounding familiar but being rare and unusual. The peaceful meaning is another plus.

This name of famed philosopher, mathematician and Nobel laureate Bertrand Russell becomes slightly more plausible with the French pronunciation, bare-TRAHN. Another noted bearer is French director and screenwriter Bertrand Tavernier.

Branch is an attractive name with associations both with trees and with branching out into brave new worlds. Baseball's Branch (born Wesley, with Branch as his middle name) Rickey broke the color barrier by hiring Jackie Robinson for the Dodgers. Like Leaf, Branch makes a nice, not-so-obvious, addition to the tree category.

This Italian form of Benedict sidesteps the Benedict Arnold association that still clouds the English version.