Invented Boy Names

A little bit of Crew, a little bit of True, plus a K initial equals a recipe for one of the fastest-rising boy names of the year.

Kai is one of the hottest names out there in recent years, climbing quickly into the Top 100. This combined with a surge of Japanese names gaining popularity in the US, like Kenji, Raiden, and Kenzo, and you've got a hit. Kaizen is of Japanese origin meaning "good change" — a term used for the Japanese business practice of continuous improvement in performance. It entered the US charts for the first time in 2022, and was among the fastest-rising names in 2023 as well.

Kyrie may be a name of God used widely in the ancient church refrain Kyrie Elieson, or Lord, have mercy, but it's rising in popularity for boys in the US on the strength of basketball star Kyrie Irving. Irving pronounces the first syllable of Kyrie to rhyme with my, whereas with the religious word it rhymes with fear.

This version of Kaden is also a popular choice and one of the many boys' names starting with k that can also start with a C, as in Caiden, Cayden et al.. Kaiden Alenko is a character in the video game Mass Effect.

The name Jiraiya was created in 1806 for yomi-hon — a type of book from the Edo Period — called Jiraiya Monogatari. The character was revived later in the century for a folk tale series Jiraiya Gōketsu Monogatari, in which Jiraiya, a ninja, shapeshifts into a giant toad.

You might think of this as the zesty brother of Cade and Slade. Or Zade might appeal to you as an anglicized spelling of the Arabic Zayd or Zaid, the name of an enslaved man that Muhammad adopted as his son.

Kai is the it syllable of the moment, spawning this Kai - Jason hybrid. Kaisen made the Top 1000 for the first time in 2022, along with similar name Kaizen.

Jayce, which probably started out as an abbreviation of names like Jason, with the 'y' borrowed from Jayden, now has a life of its own, making a strong showing on the popularity lists. It is currently in the US Top 200 and features in the charts in the UK and The Netherlands.

The Coca-Cola Company created the name Dasani for its brand-new bottled water in 1999. It doesn't have any meaning or greater significance behind it — Dasani was chosen because "the name is relaxing and suggests pureness and replenishment," according to consumer testing.

Maxton is a new member of the ever-expanding Max clan of baby names, hitting the US Top 1000 for the first time in 2011. It joined newfangled Maxon and stylish cousin Paxton, though it did drop out of the charts in 2023.

Following in the footsteps of Weston, Braxton, Clayton, and Paxton, Daxton has been climbing the US charts since the late 2000s. While recent years have seen it decline slightly, it remains a Top 500 choice, with the cool possibility of nickname Dax.

One of the most popular African names for boys, Kymani was in the US Top 1000 list from 2008 until 2016. Spelled Ky-mani, it's the name of Bob Marley's son.

Cason's entire raison d'etre: It's a rhyming variation on the popular Jason, Mason and Brayson. Casen, Kasen and Kason also have crept into the Top 1000 in recent years.

Invented by 16th-century English poet Sir Philip Sidney for the hero of his sonnet sequence Astrophel and Stella, this name is derived from the Greek elements aster "star" and philos "lover". Sidney’s heroine, and Astrophel’s love-interest, is Stella — whose name means "star".

More popular than the Jalen spelling. Like other names with many variants, when you count up all the alternatives, the name is much more popular than it first appears.

One of many Aidan variations — all stemming from the original Gaelic Aodhán — Eiden was the third fastest-rising boy name of 2023 and a new entry to the US Top 1000. Interestingly, despite this spelling's current success, Aidan, Aiden, Ayden, and Aden are all on the downswing.

Raylan, one of an uncountable number of two syllable, surname-like boys’ names end in n that are in style these days, is inspired by Raylan Givens, the cowboy hat-wearing U.S. Marshall created by writer Elmore Leonard and starring in the television series Justified. The Ray part of the name is of course a traditional choice -- it's usually said to mean "wise" -- but the lan takes it out of Old School Raymond territory. Other variations include Raylen, Raylon, Rayden and so on. The name is also sometimes given to girls, but not nearly as often as it is for boys.

A neologism coined for the 2012 Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, which aims to come up with new terms for emotions that currently lack words

Moby, the nickname of musician Richard Melville Hall, was thanks to his ancestor Herman Melville, creator of the infamous whale. You can imagine calling a child Moby as a cute nickname in honor of a grandfatherly Richard or Dick, but the ghost of a Dick would always follow the name around. In Melville's classic book, Moby was an invented word whose meaning has never been firmly established, though the best scholarship calls it a fictional place name that, in the custom of whaling ships of the time, helped identify the whale called Dick.

The short, clipped Cru is one of those modern names that's starting to find favor -- it was given to about 100 boys last year, while Crew has vaulted onto the Top 1000. One inspiration is undoubtedly the Spanish name Cruz, which came to wider attention via the third son of Victoria and David Beckham. Cru has a handsome sound and a modern feel.