Favourite Boys

High-collared and straightlaced, with the deadly "Ox" nickname.

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Plaxico Burress brought this name, which was inherited from an uncle, into the mix, adding to the category of names with peaceful meanings.

Common surname rarely used as a first.

In France, pronounced PRO-spare, Prosper is a fairly common name; here it presents a worthy aspirational message for a child.

European royal name, and to Americans a place-name evoking the majestic mountain in Washington state.

Attractive North Carolina place-name and surname of explorer Sir Walter Raleigh. Distinctive, classy-but-approachable choice for either sex.

Associated with Reynard the cunning fox in medieval European animal tales. Reynard can make an unusual yet historic choice for a modern boy, a modern day Richard or Robert.

This intriguing Scandinavian name is associated with Roald Dahl, author of the juvenile classics James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. You can honor an ancestral Ronald just by dropping that middle 'n'.

Robert was the Number 1 boys' name in the US in both 1925 and 1950, and in fact was in the Top 25 for more than a century, giving it true classic status. Strong if not quite stylish, Robert remains in the Top 100 for baby boys as a family favorite.

This would be an intriguing choice for an illustrator's child, thanks to Norman Rockwell and Rockwell Kent.

Well used in Russia, this is a distinctive and undiscovered choice here. Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov is the fictional protagonist of Crime and Punishment by Feodor Dostoyevsky.

Rollo is a livelier, roly-poly, o-ending version of Roland.

Fairly popular a hundred years ago but out of sight now, the quirky Roscoe deserves a place on every adventurous baby-namer's long list. It joins Rufus, Roman, Remy, Romulus, and Ray as one of the R names that sound fresh again after too many years of Robert, Richard, and Ronald.

Roux is the name of the dashing Johnny Depp character in Chocolat. Roux is French from a Latin word meaning russet or brownish red; it's also a cooking term for a mixture of flour and butter that forms the foundation of many gravies or sauces. Most of today's children with this name, pronounced roo, will actually spell it Rue, for the female character in The Hunger Games.

Rupert is a charming-yet-manly name long more popular in Britain (where it's attached to a beloved cartoon bear) than in the U.S. Yet we can see Rupert as a more stylish, modern way to honor an ancestral Robert.

For every Tio Salvador in a Latino family, there's a Zio Salvatore in an Italian one. Having always ranked in the US Top 1000, it is in danger of falling off the charts very soon.

A contraction name, Sidney comes from Saint Denis and is related to Dioynsius, the Greek god of fertility and wine, although another theory is that it derived from an Anglo-Saxon place name, meaning 'at the wide island.'

A name with some sterling qualities, most associated with the British currency and silver markets. Sterling has several recent TV associations, with characters Roger Sterling (on Mad Men) and Sterling Archer (on Archer), and actor Sterling K. Brown (on This is Us).

As unlikely as it may seem, Theodore is a hot new hit name, vaulting into the Top 10 in 2021 for the first time ever and rising three more points last year to rank at Number 7.

Pronounced TEE-bow, this version, which is also a very common surname in France, has a lot more charm than the name it derives from — Theobald. A variant spelling is Thibaut.