Invented Boy Names

Jason with a K or Kase with an N or Karson without the R. Kason is one of many similar names that are extremely popular right now.

An update of Tyson for parents who prefer the Ky nickname to Ty. It was the middle name of a character on Heroes.

Renly Baratheon was a fairly minor character in A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO's Game of Thrones, mostly remembered as the one of the show's few prominent LGBT characters. He played a major part in season 2 of the show, when he challenged the Lannisters and his older brother Stannis for control of the Iron Throne.

The American appetite for boys names starting with the Kay-sound seems unlimited: Think Cason, Kaison, Caiden, Kayden... and Kace. Which somehow hit the Top 1000 for the first time in 2017 and hung on until 2021.

The most popular spelling of the fast-climbing member of the Aiden-rhyming clan is used by parents who love the first initial Z. Zaiden is nearly as popular, and Zaden is a ways behind.

The full name of baseball great Ty Cobb and now the name of a popular board game, this name gained popularity due to its fashionable sounds – a combination of Tyrone and Cyrus. But it is also found in the King James Bible as a place name, the city of Tyre in modern-day Lebanon, whose name derives from the Phonecian word for "rock".

Crew x True = Crue. This on-trend name — short and punchy with popular sounds —is rising for a reason. Crue entered the Top 1000 for the first time in 2022, following in the footsteps of trendy Crew and Cruz. It continued to be a fast rising choice in 2023,when it was given to around 360 babies, making it roughly three times less popular than Crew, but also three times more popular than it was a decade ago.

One of several phonetic spellings of Jackson moving up the charts, Jaxson entered the Top 100 in 2013 and has remained there since. It's also picking up steam in England and Wales.. Actor Eric Mabius used it as his son Rylan's middle name.

This spelling is now more popular than the original, though it's not quite as popular as Jayden or Jaden.

Kayson is one of several variations of the boys' name Cason, a favorite of the 2010s when it appeared in many different forms, from the Casen to Kaisen to Cayson. Likely inspired by the popular Mason and Jason, the name is also a place name and surname, derived from the English town Cawston .

One of the trendiest of the new two-syllable boys’ names that have swept the country in the past few years, including the rhyming Aidan, Caden, Kaden, and Jaden. It's been falling on the US Top 1000 lately but it is still among the most popular contemporary English names for boys..

Many baby boys have been named after LA Clippers' basketball player Kawhi Leonard since his 2013 debut. Leonard says his father invented the name because he wanted something that sounded Hawaiian. Kawhi sounds like Kauai, the name of one of the Hawaiian islands.

Whether you think of it as Cale with a K, or a pet form of Kalen or Kaleb, this is just the kind of short, synthetic name finding a lot of favor now, but remember -- it's also the name of a vegetable.

Roronoa was created for the pirate-themed anime series One Piece. Roronoa is the Japanese pronunciation of l'Ollonais, the name of notable pirate Francois l'Ollonais. The historical pirate was born Jean-David Nau in Les Sables-d'Olonne, France. His adopted surname is derived from his hometown.

Cayden is one of the many spellings of this popular name, made all the more popular when they're counted together. According to our annual playground analysis, sound-wise at least, Cayden is the 13th most popular name in the US, given to more than 10,600 baby boys.

A melodic name that's taking off in the African-American community, along with sound-alikes such as Amari, Jamari, and Damari.

The newly-styled Maxon takes its cue from Jaxon, another elaboration of a classic name on the rise. Maxon is not bad, as invented names go, yet it's hard for us to advocate for Maxon over Maxwell, Maxfield, Maximus, or just plain Max.

This name obviously has the prefix De- that denotes "son of"—in this form it can mean either "son of Angelo" or "from the angel."

An established surname that fits well with today's trend for the "Ever" sound – and a similar-yet-different alternative to Emerson. Historically, it denoted a descendent of Evert, a form of Everard, meaning "brave boar", or a descendent of Eve or its medieval English diminutive Evot, meaning "life".

Guns 'n' Roses musician Axl (born William) Rose created this name by dropping a vowel, a la Barbra Streisand. The traditional Axel is more popular, though celebrity parents Fergie and Josh Duhamel deliberately chose the Axl spelling to honor her rock hero.