Boy Dog Names That Start With B

This spiritual word name is rising for girls and boys.

One "bald" name we can get behind, thanks to pioneering African-American author James Baldwin – though the name is now also associated with the Baldwin brothers, particularly Alec.

Brother for Biff and Bud. McFly rocker Tom Fletcher transformed this from midcentury short form to modern cool name when he used it for his newborn son.

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.

Boo as a first name first achieved notoriety as the name of the child-man in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. Arthur "Boo" Radley was meant to be frightening, but only in a simple, non-threatening way. More recently, Boo has been used as the middle name of one of chef Jamie Oliver's children and the nickname in the middle of television's Honey Boo Boo. Boo is also the name of the world's cutest dog and of the adorable little girl in Monsters Inc. In a more basic way, Boo is a term of endearment.

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.

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

If you use this for a boy, it had better be a family name, hidden away in the middle.

Prissy, no matter how you spell it.

Once you get past the pronunciation hurdle, a smooth and elegant choice. In French, it's spelt with a circumflex: Benoît.

A word name with an appealing and illuminating meaning.

Herby and aristocratic Basil remains a tough sell, but we’d like to introduce you to Basile, the delightful French version. It retains all of Basil’s charm, but sheds some of the pesto linkage.

Rockers Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz put a new baby name on the map when they chose this downscale New York borough name for their son. The Bronx, the place, was named for early Dutch settler Jonas Bronck. Might Bronx become the next Brooklyn? We'd be surprised if it did.

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

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

Dark.

Pitt is the prototypical blond Brad.

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.

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.