Four Syllable Names for Boys

Lithe and leonine name chosen for her daughter by singer Erykah Badu, but fits in with wild nature names like Fox, Wolf and Bear for a boy.

Sometimes heard in the Latino community, has not crossed over into others.

Variation of Vinicius

A dramatic name which – fittingly – belonged to an Ancient Greek playwright, known as the father of comedy.

One of the new generation of virtue names, with Peace and Justice taking over from the Puritans' Absolution and Forgiveness, but this one is still a bit heavy to carry.

A clear reference to the Italian film director Franco Zeffirelli, known for his adaptations of Shakespearean plays such as The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet. Zeffirelli was born out of wedlock, meaning he couldn't have either of his parents' surnames. His mother wanted it to be Zeffiretti, meaning "little breezes," taken from Mozart's opera Idomeneo. It was misspelled as Zeffirelli on his birth certificate.

The most famous bearer of this name was Athenaeus of Naucratis, a Greek rhetorician and grammarian who wrote the Deipnosophistae , which roughly translates to "Dinner Table Philosophers." There was also an early Greek composer by the name, which relates to the goddess Athena and the city of Athens.

Eisenhower is derived from Eisenhauer, a German surname composed of the elements eisen, meaning "iron," and hauer, "hewer." In modern English, that translates to "iron cutter." It's best known as the surname of President Dwight D., "Ike" Eisenhower, making Ike an appropriate nickname (and you might need one, with a name this stately!)

The name of the protagonist of The Hunchback of Notre Dame does not translate well into real life. Quasimodo comes from the Latin phrase used in Christian texts, "Quasi modo geniti infantes", meaning "like just-born infants do".

While Barthelemy does not garner much attention these days, it has a storied history in French-speaking countries. Notable bearers include geologist and explorer Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond, philosopher Jules Barthélemy-Saint-Hilaire, and historian and writer Jean-Barthélemy Hauréau, to name a few.