930+ English Names for Boys

A possible nod to grandpa Roger, though somewhat stuffy.

Palin, as in, yes, one-time VP candidate Sarah, has emerged as a hot new first name, usually for girls.

A surname with a decidedly burley image.

Most parents attracted to this name will be devotees of the author William and would be better off using it in the middle.

Has a certain fiery charm.

An original way to honor an ancestral Robert. Hobson is outside the Top 1000 but is among the fastest-rising names for boys.

This English surname offers an interesting mix of images: it sounds upper-crusty yet macho, and also conjures up the coziness of a wintery ski lodge. As a surname it is associated with the Massachusetts Republican Senate Minority Leader in the Woodrow Wilson era, Henry Cabot Lodge, who was the father of poet George Cabot Lodge and grandfather of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., who was ambassador to the UN and Richard Nixon's 1960 presidential running mate.

Cheever has a nice, cheery sound, literary ties to novelist and short writer John Cheever and also, sideways, to the Edward Arlington Robinson narrative poem "Miniver Cheevy," as well as a subliminal association with the desirable word achiever: all strong pluses.

Packard feels as hefty and weighty as the old car.

Though they sound exactly alike, this spelling makes it much more elegant than Bernie.

Mythic lumberjack Paul may inspire some namesakes despite relation to similarly pronounced foot problem.

One surname name unlikely to cross over to first.