Six Letter Boy Names

Toni Morrison, a master of character naming, coined this one for the best friend of hero Milkman Dead in Song of Solomon. Definitely a cool choice, with a twang.

The latest metal name to make it as a baby name, although interestingly, Chrome is nowhere to be seen on the charts.

While Faust, who sold his soul to the devil, was anything but fortunate, this Latinate variation is more commonly heard and accepted.

Used for both genders in its native country, though more often for girls, Tirion is a rare Welsh name with a lovely sound and meaning.

The Finnish form of Andrew is featured in mythology as Antero Vipunen, a giant in Finland's national legend the Kalevala

Irish spelling of Ivor

Xaphan is a fallen angel who rebelled against God along with Satan.

Dapper-sounding choice with old American roots (Dabney Cosby was a 19th century Virginian architect who worked with Thomas Jefferson on some of that state's most iconic buildings). Dabney Montgomery was Martin Luther King Jr's bodyguard, giving this name yet more American history depth. Dab is a sweet nickname option for this name.

Teboho comes from the Sotho language native to southern Africa. It's most commonly used as a name in Lesotho and South Africa.

Aminta is now considered a feminine name, but it originated as a variation of Amyntas, a name connected to numerous ancient kings. In the 16th century, Torquato Tasso, an Italian poet, wrote a play titled Aminta about a lovestruck shepherd who falls for a beautiful nymph named Silvia.

Eastern European variation of Felix.

Björn is a pervasive Swedish name that can be found on popularity charts throughout Northern Europe and now in the US as well. There are too many renowned Björns (and Bjørns and Bjorns) to list them all here, but an early bearer is Björn Ironside, Viking chief and king of Sweden. Modern associations include tennis great Björn Borg, who helped popularize his name in the 1970s, and Björn Ulvaeus, one-quarter of the Swedish band ABBA.

Penryn is the name of a parish in Cornwall, the peninsula in the southwest of England.

Edgy German capital with definite possibilities as a baby name.

A colorful French surname that could appeal to English speakers.

Once strictly a surname--Chasen's was an old Hollywood hangout--it's now catching on as a first name, both as an elaboration of the popular CHASE, and in following the pattern of popular two-syllable boys' names.

Salman is an Arabic name dating back to Salman the Persian, one of Muhammad's companions. In this country it is strongly associated with Anglo-Indian novelist Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses.

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.

Kannon, the name of actor Kevin James' son born in 2011, seems at first glance to be a kre8if spelling of bad boy name Cannon. But Kannon is also the name of the Buddhist god (and sometime goddess) of mercy and compassion, a very different image from the big gun. Either way, it made its way into the Top 1000 for the first time in 2013, and was one of the year's fastest-rising names.