9 Letter Boy Names

The great philosopher's name is commonly used in Greek families, and is one that could work for daring, philosophy inclined American ones.

This Westernized form of the name of an ancient Mongol warrior, remembered primarily today through the works of Christopher Marlowe and Edgar Allan Poe, runs the risk of sounding pompous and pretentious.

Truly original yet not strange name ripe for the plucking by the adventurous baby namer. Aurelius works too.

Endellion is the name of an early saint who was a daughter of King Brychan and goddaughter of King Arthur whose life is commemorated by the Cornish village of St. Endellion. This intriguing ancient name was brought into modern usage by British Prime Minister David Cameron, who used it as one of the middle names for his fourth child (a daughter).

Gallagher is, like so many of its genre, friendly, open, and optimistic. Some might associate it with the fraternal members of the band Oasis, Noel and Liam Gallagher.

The name of the third U.S. President sounds, like Harrison and Jackson, more modern and stylish now than its root name. Used as a first name long before our surname-crazed era, Jefferson was most famously used as a first name by the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, which may justifiably make you not want to use it. Jefferson is the middle name of another Prez, William Clinton.

Devereaux is familiar to many English speakers as a surname but not as a first. It's a habitational name related to the River Eure in France. Mick Jagger has a son with this name in a different spelling, Deveraux.

Balthasar was one of the biblical Three Kings who visited the infant Jesus, also used by Shakespeare and in the oil-rich Getty family; offbeat and intriguing. Balthazar is another, equally appropriate spelling.

Mythological young man who fell in love with his own image: the first narcissist.

The epithet of the legendary king's father Uther in Arthurian legend, later also applied to King Arthur himself. It literally means "head dragon" or "dragon's head", but the name appears in medieval Welsh mythology with the figurative meaning of "chief warrior". A truly daring name for a boy, in every sense!

The name of the great Italian Renaissance sculptor known as Donatello (but born DONATO), is one that could easily emigrate to modern America, just like sister DONATELLA.

One of the coolest of names, thanks to legendary jazz pianist Thelonious Sphere Monk, who inherited it from his father. It has been used very sparingly since the 1960s--just a sprinkling of baby boys receive the name each year. Monk's middle name Sphere is pretty unique too--a cousin of Cosmos and Cosmo. Some other jazz names to consider: Bix, Ellington, Ella, Etta, Mingus, Dexter and Calloway. :

Russian form of the Greek name Bessarion, most prominently borne by 19th-century Russian literary critic, writer and philosopher Vissarion Belinsky.

This was the name of a 2nd-century BC king of Bactria. It was also borne by Saint Pantaleon – also called Panteleimon, as in Lyra's daemon in the His Dark Materials trilogy – who was a doctor martyred during the persecutions of the Roman emperor Diocletian in the early 4th century. He is a patron saint of doctors and midwives.

Despite its brotherly meaning, sounds rather formal and cold.

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.

Alparslan is a combination of the Turkish words alp, meaning "hero," and arslan, "lion." The name is a reference to Alp Arslan, the title given to 11th-century Seljuk sultan Muhammad bin Dawud Chaghri when his army defeated the Byzantines.

Carnelian is an ochre-colored semi-precious gemstone, named after a type of cherry.

When playwright Thomas Lanier Williams adopted the pen name of Tennessee, he created a new possibility among American place-names, although it's admittedly a bit bulky in size.