9 Letter Boy Names

No longer a one-person name, as a number of parents have been inspired by basketball great Shaquille O'Neal to adopt it for their own future athletes.

The surname of the protagonist of Joseph Heller’s satirical World War II novel Catch 22 and its sequel Closing Time, by which he is exclusively called by the narrator and other characters. It is described in the novel as "an odious, alien, distasteful name… not at all like such clean, crisp, honest, American names as Cathcart, Peckem and Dreedle." Heller took the name from one of his own colleagues in the Air Force, an Assyrian called Yohannan.

Unisex option Dominique peaked for boys at Number 170 in 1991, perhaps due to the popularity of basketball player Dominique Wilkins. It's one of the most truly gender-neutral baby names right now.

This name is usually seen as a surname, but could be used as a first in the tradition of Cooper, Sawyer etc.

This Latinized form of a name that's well used in Italy and Spain is sometimes heard, oddly enough, in Ireland.

Italian variation of Aurelius.

A courtly surname and place name that feels like it could be a successor to Kingsley. It has a British feel thanks to its most famous wearers: actress Keira Knightley, and Mr (George) Knightley, the love interest of Jane Austen's novel Emma.

Parents are beginning to turn away from springtime months like April and June and are moving toward the cooler and crisper three-syllable September, October, November, and December.

Old Testament book way too heavy to carry.

Also spelled Sigfrid, this hefty German name has an appropriately majestic meaning: "victorious peace". Fittingly, a famous bearer was the English World War I poet and pacifist Siegfried Sassoon. Sassoon was named after the hero of a Wagner opera, which in turn was based on a tragic hero from German legend.

This surname-name oozes Southern charm; nevertheless, its most famous bearer was a New Englander, Rhode Island senator Claiborne de Borda Pell, who sponsored education legislation leading to the much beloved Pell scholarship programme. That connection alone instills this name with intellect as well as style.

This grand name combines "lysis" (freedom) and "andros" (man). Lysander is a related, and more recognizable, variation.

A classic Irish "top-o'-the-mornin' surname with a lot of rhythm and pizzazz.

The name of the protagonist of a trio of novels by French author Alexandre Dumas, most notably The Three Musketeers. D’Artagnan is an aspiring musketeer who travels to Paris in search of fortune and adventure. The character is based on real-life musketeer Charles Ogier de Batz de Castelmore, Comte d’Artagnan. Artagnan is a small village in southwest France.

This Italian form of Benedict sidesteps the Benedict Arnold association that still clouds the English version.

Fox, okay. Buck, maybe. But Wolverine? You gotta be kidding us. On the plus side, your five-year-old will love you for giving him this superhero name. Your fifteen-year-old, not so much.