Middle Names for Boys (with Meanings and Popularity)

This one's cutting right to the chase, but with such names as Justice and Peace on the rise, why not? And we guarantee your seven-year-old son will love it, though your 17-year-old, maybe not so much. Could be used as a middle name, as Talisa Soto and Benjamin Bratt did.

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

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

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

Sure it makes a big statement, but if you can call your child Wren, Robin or Falcon, why not also Hummingbird. This pint-sized jewel of a bird is a lovely connotation for the baby that's full of energy and spirit.

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.

The vowel ending tilts this sharply toward the feminine, and at this point Havana still has some political implications as well.

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

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.

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

Wildly optimistic -- and unrealistic -- choice.

Wishful thinking.

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.

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.

Cool and casual, a la humorist Ring (born Ringgold. ) Lardner.

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

Blunt. Stick to Hunter.

A bold word name choice for the intrepid baby namer who hopes her son will face the world with a sense of discovery.

Kicker could be a great name for a cheeky kid, along the lines of Cricker, Striker or Becker. In literature the term Kicker is used to describe the twist or turn in a story.

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