One-of-a-Kind Names for Boys

If you find Grover too fusty and furry, this is a much cooler-sounding alternative.

Puck was Shakespeare's mischievous pixie who'a had a few television incarnations in more recent years. A popular name in The Netherlands but nowhere else, from what we can tell.

The name of an ancient Irish saint is in the contemporary Irish Top 50. While it's one of the rare Irish names for boys that hasn't immigrated to the U.S., it may follow brothers Aidan and Declan to our shores. The t is not pronounced.

The only boy in the Brontë family; the name has a lonely Wuthering Heights/Jane Eyre feel.

More appealing than the English version, Aubin might be seen as a fresher and more decidedly masculine twist on Aubrey. This handsome discovery is now ranked at Number 311 in its native France.

Historically, the French and English name Florence was used for both sexes. And Florent is a steady classic in France, booming there in the 1980s. Maybe it's time to import it, and show that boys can be floral too.

Well used in Russia, this is a distinctive and undiscovered choice here. Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov is the fictional protagonist of Crime and Punishment by Feodor Dostoyevsky.

Ugo is very common in Italy, but here it might call to mind that little Yugoslavian car.

Though it looks, to the untrained American eye, like a yoonek spelling of Jordy, Geordie actually refers to people from Tyneside in Northeast England and the local dialect there. To give you a sense of what it implies to Brits, Geordie Shore is British MTV's long-running answer to Jersey Shore.

Crusoe, as in castaway hero Robinson, is a literary invention by author Daniel Defoe. The character says his name is an Anglicization of the German Kreutznaer, which may be a place name or mean a crossing of the river Nahe. Short form Cru was given to nearly 50 boys in a recent year.

A Latin clan name that may rise again along with other things Roman.

Pascoe was popular in medieval times and is definitely deserving of revival, especially for a child born in the Easter season. Other spellings are Pasco and Pascow.

It may be a longshot – especially since it was given to less than 5 boys in the US in 2021 – but Piran could conceivably be a future Kieran, which is shaping up to being the next Kevin. Piran is the patron saint of miners and of Cornwall.

Old-school nickname with serious charm.

A handsome, spruced-up post-Bruce tree name.

Laid-back and humble, with a distinctive down-home charm.

A definite improvement over the English Humbert, Umberto has nevertheless been rarely heard outside the Italian community.

An everyday name in France, a charismatic possibility here.

Stiff and formal surname. Try Roone instead.

This common Scandinavian name, also spelled Osmund, is only occasionally heard in this country.