Names That Mean Son

Lansing is perhaps best known as the state capital of Michigan, which was named after the town of Lansing, New York. The original Lansing was named in honor of John Lansing Jr., a Chancellor of New York and mayor of Albany. He was of Dutch parentage.

MacRae -- or McRay or McCrae -- is a Scottish surname-name whose meaning is most often given as son of grace or sometimes son of luck. The hero of Lonesome Dove's last name was McCrae. A good honor name for a Ray or Rae, it can also be shortened to Mac.

Patterson is an upscale name worth considering if you're looking to continue a line of Peters, but soundalike Paterson is a downscale city in New Jersey.

Could make for a strong and stylish honor name for an ancestral Matt.

A Croatian form of George, and also a lively Japanese name traditionally given to the tenth son.

An energetic Japanese name that would make for an on-trend choice in the English-speaking world. Especially appropriate for a first-born son.

Powerful surname choice with many distinguished bearers, fresher sounding than Parker.

Rawlings was a surname with ties to the name Raul, which means "wolf counsel." Rawlings is used as a first name for one of the girl sextuplets on TV's Sweet Home.

Likely to be construed as a virtue name (a nice one, at that!), even though Willing is a traditional surname with both English and German roots. As an English name, Willing is a patronymic form of Willa. In German, it's a patronym from Wille, a variation of Ville, which is related to William.

This variation of Biblical Benjamin is used in Ethiopia. The name is also spelled Benyam or Biniyam.

Easy nickname Maggie makes Maguire an appealing option for girls.

McLaren is an Anglicization of the surname MacLabhrainn, meaning "son of Labhrann." Labhrann is the Gaelic form of Laurentius, from which Lawrence also derived.

Hungarian form of Bartholomew

The O'Haras are descended from Eaghra -- pronounced and phonetically spelled Ara -- the lord of Luighne, the modern Leyney in County Sligo. As a name, this makes a satisfying new twist on Harry.

This one may well be an undiscovered choice for many parents - it has a fabulous meaning, a sturdy surname-name appeal that is very on trend right now and several great namesakes including the Bartlett pear and the tome of quotations. Despite that third T, it could also be a favorite of The West Wing fans wanting to evoke fictional president Jed Bartlet.

Atkin is a short form of Adam that originated in Medieval England. It's now obsolete, but traces remain in surnames such as Atkins and Atkinson.

Name from legend that might be an interesting Jason alternative.

Possible alternative to Anderson.

Reilly and Riley are hugely popular, but O'Reilly is still an up-and-comer.