930+ English Names for Boys

This marvelously medieval name had a moment in the 1910s and 1920s but has dropped completely off the radar now.

High-collared and straightlaced, with the deadly "Ox" nickname.

Perfect choice if your baby has grandpas named Barry and Eric, but also a bit military.

Flash Gordon makes this a superhero name, but Flash might just appeal to modern parents looking for one of the new active boys' names, ala Ace and Breaker and Ranger. We'd recommend something more pulled-together as a proper name with Flash as a nickname or middle name.

Blakeley is one of the many -ley ending surnames that is being adopted as a first name, taking the 80s unisex darling Blake into the new millennium.

Though Davy Crockett is a childhood hero, a frontiersman, soldier, politician, congressman and prolific storyteller. But be aware that "crock" is American slang for a lot of nonsense or something broken.

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.

If it's royalty you're after, stick with Earl or Prince -- this is too deified.

One of the surname names used more in the last century, à la Milton and Morton.

This is a solid surname choice for people looking for a change from Cooper, Parker and Carson. Australian parents will probably instantly associate this name with famous rock legend Jimmy Barnes, but this has an even older pedigree as a namesake - Barnes Wallis was a UK aviator and inventor, most remembered for designing the Dambuster bomb (a bomb that bounces across water to reach its target) and working on supersonic flight in the 1940s and 50s.

Upstanding New England patrician name.

Waspy, but preferable to Nanny Diaries satiric name Grayer. Grayton Greydon, Greyton.

A bit too cunning.

St. JOhn is mainly (but rarely) used by Catholics in England -- there's one in Jane Eyre. This would probably be too cumbersome for most American kids.

A bit too bad-boy (think bars, beer, Harley) for us, as well as being the name of a grain.

On the staff of a manor house.

Long-used surname name that's up for promotion to greater popularity.

Got some notice as a Jared alternative, has musical association with pianist Keith Jarrett.

Upscale and upstanding.

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