930+ English Names for Boys

  1. Butcher
    • Origin:

      English occupational name
    • Description:

      One occupational name unlikely to find a single taker.
  2. Whistler
    • Origin:

      English occupational name
    • Meaning:

      "one who whistles"
    • Description:

      A new entry is the fashionable new occupational name category -- and a jolly job it must be -- with the added attraction of relating to the great early 20th century American artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler, of "Whistler's Mother" fame.
  3. Brockton
    • Origin:

      English surname
    • Meaning:

      "badger settlement"
    • Description:

      Brock plus.
  4. Shandy
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "boisterous"
    • Description:

      A jolly, bawdy image that recalls the hero of the eighteenth-century novel Tristram Shandy; also a drink in British pubs.
  5. Hazelton
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "settlement near hazel trees"
    • Description:

      Unless it was your grandmother's maiden name, and you're using it in the middle place, we don't think so. Could be confused with Hazelden, a leading rehab facility.
  6. Lanford
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "narrow way"
    • Description:

      Surname choice that could be used to honor the playwright Lanford Wilson.
  7. Worthy
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "valuable"
    • Description:

      Here too lies the danger of entitlement.
  8. Draper
    • Origin:

      English occupational name
    • Meaning:

      "cloth merchant"
    • Description:

      Other occupational names would be more commonly accepted, though the Mad Men character has certainly brought it to the fore.
  9. Hooper
    • Origin:

      English occupational name
    • Meaning:

      "hoop-maker"
    • Description:

      Lively, friendly surname that might appeal to basketball fans.
  10. Wrecker
    • Origin:

      Word name
    • Description:

      Wrecker is a new entry to the newly trendy group of badass baby names -- names mostly for boys that sound wild (or Wilder) and summon the kind of kid that races around (Racer), breaking things (Breaker), and yeah, why not, being a Wrecker while he's at it. Actor Cam Gigandet introduced this one, with a more phonetic spelling, when he named his son Rekker.
  11. Currier
    • Origin:

      English occupational surname
    • Meaning:

      "person who dressed leather after it was tanned"
    • Description:

      Has a fresh occupational name feel, combined with old-fashioned Currier & Ives charm.
  12. Perkin
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "little Peter"
    • Description:

      Sounds like a Hobbit.
  13. Prentice
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "apprentice"
    • Description:

      Long-used surname name that's up for promotion to greater popularity.
  14. Nickleby
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "Nicholas's village"
    • Description:

      Charming Dickensian route to Nick.
  15. Dagwood
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "shining forest"
    • Description:

      Forever the hapless cartoon husband of Blondie.
  16. Belcher
    • Origin:

      English from French
    • Meaning:

      "pretty face"
    • Description:

      Try telling the kids it really means "pretty face" and not "burper".
  17. Byram
    • Origin:

      English variation of Byron
    • Description:

      Why not stick with the original.
  18. Upwood
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "upper forest"
    • Description:

      Even more uppity than Upton.
  19. Nat
    • Origin:

      English, diminutive of Nathan or Nathaniel
    • Description:

      Just the kind of old-fashioned nickname coming back into style.
  20. Dennison
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "son of Dennis"
    • Description:

      A case in which the son is now more attractive than the father. There have been Colonial settlers surnamed Dennison on this side of the Atlantic since 1623.