boys names I like

Nico is one of the great nickname names, full of charm, energy and effortless cool -- a neo Nick.

An ubercool and mysterious name, brought to you by director M. Night Shyamalan.

Okay, this is going to be confusing...

More distinctive than Noah or Jacob, but equally as approachable, Noab has potential as a fresh crossover into English-speaking world. An Amharic name meaning "pleasant", Noab can also mean "Ethiopian king".

Somehow more modern and likable than Morris or Doris.

A lot of attention was drawn to this name when Kim Kardashian and Kanye West announced it as the name of their baby daughter, making it instantly unisex.

The Shakespearean character Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream is King of the Fairies, but the name, with its strong 'O' beginning, projects a far more virile image than that.

George R.R. Martin probably got the idea for the name of his Song of Ice and Fire character Oberyn Martell, commonly known as the Red Viper, from A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which Oberon is the name of the fairy king. Though the character was in relatively few episodes, he made a big impression.

Nature names like Ocean and River are flowing back into favor, especially with nature lovers and green-oriented parents.

Distinctive yet familiar, Olin is both a Scandinavian name and an English surname. Currently a rare choice, yet reminiscent of popular options, like Oliver, Orion, and Colin.

Oliver is an international star, ranking near the top of the charts in the US and throughout the English-speaking world, along with a host of European and Latin American countries, from Norway to Chile, Slovenia to Switzerland.

More and more frequently heard as the Gallic version of Oliver, Olivier could be seen as a tribute to the great British actor, Sir Laurence O.

Idiosyncratic Hebrew choice.

Orlando, the ornate Italianate twist on the dated Roland, with a literary heritage stretching back to Shakespeare and before, has appealing book-ended o's, and is open to combination with almost any last name, a la British actor, Orlando Bloom.

In the past, Orson has felt like a one-person moniker, tied to film director Orson Welles, who dropped his given name of George in favor of his more distinctive middle. While the Citizen Kane creator seemed to own the name during his lifetime, it's now an interesting possibility for any parent seeking an unusual yet solid name. It's started to appear to the celeb set too -- both Paz Vega and Lauren Ambrose have little Orsons.

Oscar is one of the most stylish Old Man Names of our era. While it's softened slightly in popularity over the past 20 years, that may be considered a very good thing.

Osian is the easier-to-comprehend version of the ancient Irish Oisin, an important name in mythology. Osian or Oisin was a warrior poet. Osian is popular in modern Wales and England. While Oisin is pronounce oh-SHEEN, Osian is pronounced o-SHAN -- though we bet most Americans would just say ocean, which you may consider a good thing.

Ossian, or Osian, from the Old Irish name Oisin, was the son of Finn in Irish legend that was transformed into a Scottish hero in the Ossianic poems of James Macpherson in the eighteenth century--which also popularlized Oscar, Fingal, Selma and Malvina.