strong boys names

He was the legendary son of Venus, hero of Troy and Rome, and broke the heart of Queen Dido of Carthage. Sure, its more challenging than Charlie - but if you're looking this name up, that's probably part of its appeal.

The great sax player John Coltrane could be a cool naming inspiration for a jazz fan.

Both offbeat and upbeat, this evocative traditional Irish name that runs through Celtic mythology is known here via award-winning novelist Cormac McCarthy (born Charles). The author's adopted name is related to Cormac Mac Airt, one of the great legendary high kings of Ireland.

This old-time name for a sofa would not be comfortable as a baby name.

One of the many El- names for boys that boomed in the 1910s and 1920s, but has long been out of fashion. This surname/place name has an aristocratic flavor, and a creative namesake in the artist Ellsworth Kelly. Polar explorer Lincoln Ellsworth also gives it an adventurous connection.

Evander is a name that could build on the popularity of shorter form Evan, and could work and play well with schoolmates like Zander and Xander.

Ezekiel used to be reduced to its nickname Zeke, but modern parents now embrace it in full for its power and dignity. Along with biblical brethren Asher and Ezra, Ezekiel is rising steadily up the popularity charts and is poised to take over for fading first wave Old Testament choices such as Zachary.

If this name makes you think of Victorian novels, it's because Fairfax was part of Mr Rochester's name in Jane Eyre, and the surname of a minor character in Jane Austen's Emma. It has a distinctly aristocratic feel, despite its straightforward meaning. Fairfax is also a city in Virginia.

Though Genesis is a Top 100 girls' name in the US, it's by all rights a unisex choice.

Better for an Air Force base than a baby.

Lester is one of the British surname names that were popular in the US in the early decades of the twentieth century: it was in the Top 100 through 1931, reaching a high of Number 52 in 1906. But dropping of the list in the late 1990s, along with Hester and Sylvester, we don't see much hope for a return visit.

This name may be related to the Latin Maximus, which means "the greatest," or to a British landowner's name, but for most modern parents, it's one of several ways to get to short form Max.

Mordecai, although it has a noble heritage, has never caught on in this country, because of its rather weighty image.

A wise ruler of legend--his sage advice helped the Greeks win the Trojan War--whose name is a possibility for the adventurous, though related in sound to the dated Lester-Hester family.