Dad Names

The craze for surname names is now moving beyond the English and Irish to include worldly Spanish names for boys like this historic one currently in the Top 1000.

This Latinate form of Bernard hovered in the lower regions of the US Top 1000 from the late 1940s until 2006, possibly inspired by the character in West Side Story. It remains popular in Portugal and it does have a little more flair than the grandpa style Bernard.

A popular choice amongst the African American naming community in the 90s, Deandre has been falling out of style in favor of more contemporary choices.

Romanticizes Rudolph and distances the name from the red-nosed reindeer. After remaining steadily in the US Top 500 for much of the twentieth century, Rodolfo has been slipping of late.

At this point, there are more newborn American baby Gilbertos than Gilberts.

Another Spanish boys' name that relates to a goddess, the Egyptian Isis. San Isidro is the patron saint of Madrid.

A strong Arabic choice with a covetable meaning — one of the most important considerations in the Muslim baby name practice.

Long considered Mr. Hall's exclusive property, it's now ready to be adopted by others.

Classically, the De- prefix indicates "son of," so any variation of this name could work for the child of a dad named Shawn or Sean.

Though a variation of Dion, this name made it into 2013's Top 1000 while the original did not.

On the Latino Hit Parade, heard much more often than the English version.

The jazziest nickname for Charles.

Kadeem is a name made familiar by TV actor Kadeem Hardison, a fresher alternative to the better known Kareem.

DeShawn or Deshawn is the more popular variation, but Dashawn charted from the late 1980s until 2010, which means it's on its way to becoming a Dad Name. Traditionally, the De or Da prefix means "son of", so this name means "son of Shawn", with Shawn a variation of John.

This may be a phonetic variation of Malcolm, but it just looks...wrong. Be prepared for spelling corrections.

This Spanish spelling of Marquis is popular in its own right.

The German, Scandinavian and Czech variant of Joseph, borne by several notable European artists and athletes, as well as the brutal Soviet dictator Josef (or Iosif) Stalin.