Dad Names Get a Reboot
Happy Fathers’ Day! Let’s freshen up those Dad Names.
Dad Names are boy names that peaked in the 1980s and 1990s. This means they’re most likely to belong to men in their twenties and thirties now: today’s new dads.
If you’re a first-time parent, you might not know many young children yet, so you may not realise that name fashions have moved on for the next generation. Today’s “typical” names are not all the ones you grew up with. While some classics endure, like William and James which are still in the Top 10, others have faded a little and the name pool is becoming more varied and diverse. A boy born today is more likely to be named Mateo or Carter than Matthew or Christopher.
This is useful information, whatever your name style. If you want to give your son a name that blends in with his peers, the options may be wider than you realize (and calling him a past-its-peak name like Justin could make him stand out more than you intend). But if you want a bold statement name, you may need to up the bar even higher. Even if you don’t know anyone called Maverick or Ryker, tens of thousands of them will be starting school in the next few years.
To inspire you with options fresh for this generation, here are alternatives to the most popular names of the 1980s and 1990s combined. They have a similar sound, style or origin, and all would be stylish — and not weird — on a boy of today.
Just to be clear, there's nothing wrong with any of these Dad Names. In fact some of them are even more popular now than they were back then. But these alternatives offer cool, rising options that are distinctive for boys born today.
Top 100 Boy Names of the 1980s and 1990s
2 Christopher → Sebastian