Middle Names for Boys (with Meanings and Popularity)

Booker and Author are being used as names (the former is best known care of Booker T Washington), so why not Reader? Reader certainly fits in with both these and other "doing" names like Ryder, Brewer, Fifer, Miller and Cooper.

Forget Patience and Charity: Here's a Colonial name (and sentiment) that seems perfect for modern times.

More common as a surname, a handful of boys get this bovine equivalent of Shepherd each year in the US. It may gain more exposure as one of the occupational names that are one of the most popular classes of English names for boys.

One Puritan virtue name unlikely to thrive in the 21st century.

When actress Shannyn Sossamon dubbed her newborn Audio Science, it sent out some definite shock waves. We don't recommend Audio or Video for even the most intrepid baby namer.

Hiking enthusiasts might want to consider this nature name, though it also has the connotation of someone lagging behind.

With its ties to tranquil Walden Pond, and harmonious meaning, this could be a modern virtue name.

Eleven didn't feel more namelike than any other number...until the (female) "Stranger Things" character came along. Now it seems like a possibility - albeit a rare one - for both sexes. Other associations include the number of players in a football team, and Apollo 11, the spacecraft of the first moon landing.

Gruff is a name that gets used on a handful of boys each year, in both the US and the UK.

Wildly optimistic -- and unrealistic -- choice.

Actress Shannyn Sossamon used this as the middle name for her son Audio; one of the most do-not-try-this-at-home combos we've heard.

The part of the ship that gives it stability. A short, sweet, Old Englishy type name that has gone almost completely unused so far.

Wishful thinking.

Royal names are on the rise. Along with names such as King, Prince, and Royal, why not Palace? Why not indeed.

Moroccan is a name newly minted by Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon for their newborn twin son. Meaning a person who lives in Morocco, Moroccan was used by the couple as a nod to the Moroccan Room in Carey's Manhattan apartment, where Cannon proposed to the singer. Place-name Morocco is another choice for either sex, as is music name Maraca.

Loyalty is one of the Modern Virtue Nameson the rise for both genders, but in this case mainly girls. About 85 percent of the babies named Loyalty are female and 15 percent male, but there's no reason this upstanding name can't work equally well for both.

Far-fetched, but friends can always call him Phil.

Cool, musical modern choice, especially as a middle name.

Royalty is a super-hot name for girls, but there's no reason it can't be used for boys too. In fact it is, but only about 5 percent of the time, making it one of those unisex names whose usage is tipped so far toward one gender that it isn't truly unisex. But still, English words are usually not intrinsically gendered so Royalty is perfectly appropriate for boys as well as girls and is one of the fastest-rising unisex names.