It’s a great time to name a boy!
Parents often say that it’s harder to name a son than a daughter. The pool of possible names feels smaller, and our sense of what makes an appropriate choice for a son seems narrower, too. Anything creative or unisex might give us pause. (Thank you, Johnny Cash.)
Despite all of this very real anxiety, there’s never been a better time to name a boy. Still not convinced? Consider these realities that were changing when this was first published in 2015 – and have only accelerated since then.
BOY NAMES BY THE NUMBERS
Parents are becoming much more daring when it comes to naming a son. That’s not just a guess, either. The numbers back it up.
For generations, the most popular names for boys were a stable, fairly limited set. In 1900, over 30% of boys received a Top Ten name, while less than 20% of girls received one of the most popular names in the US.
The numbers were similar in 1957 – more than 30% of boys and less than 20% of girls received a Top Ten name.
But in 2014? A mere 8% of boys and 7.7% of girls received one of the ten most popular names.
The numbers have continued to decline since then. As of 2023, it’s a little over 7% of boys and around 6.5% of girls.
Those numbers are striking for two reasons: first, even the most popular name in the US is relatively uncommon compared to generations past. Second, it suggests that, boy or girl, parents are inclined to get creative when choosing names.
That good news for everyone.
If you’re a conservative namer, there’s less chance that your William will be one of three in his class. And if you’d like to try something more daring? You’re not alone, and that means that your son is much less likely to stand out because his name isn’t traditional.
THE BEGINNING OF ENDINGS
For generations, Mateo moved to the US and became Matt, Jose became Joe. Mikhail remained Mischa at home, but answered to Mike in public.
Now parents are freely adopting vowel endings for sons. Matt’s grandsons are Dante and Luca, and Joe’s family includes newborns named Santiago and Giovani.
It’s not just heritage names, either. Names like Leo, Arlo, Ezra, Asa, Eli, Levi, Beau, Milo, and Kai are all vowel-ending names that feel like mainstream choices today. In some cases, they’re more popular than the traditional English forms – for example, Mateo now outranks Matthew.
What explains the change? So many things. An increase in Spanish language speakers might make romance language names seem more familiar. Our definition of what’s acceptable for boys and girls has broadened. And as handful of choices become familiar and mainstream, more names follow. So thank you, Leo, for making Aldo, Nico, Bruno, and Hugo seem perfectly wearable.
BOLD CHOICES ABOUND
Looking for an uncommon Old Testament name? Hezekiah and Obadiah are almost as reasonable as Noah.
Want to acknowledge a personal hero? Lennon and Hendrix are just two of the musical surname names we’ve embraced for boys.
Do modern virtue names appeal to you, names that set the bar high for your child? Legend and Maverick are both in the current US Top 200.
Prefer your names short and punchy? Crew, Jax, Tate, and Ace are just a few possibilities to consider.
No matter your style, plenty of bold boy names have graduated from nicknames and fictional characters to real, live, on-the-birth-certificate possibilities.
INNOVATION REIGNS
Speaking of Jax, for many years we didn’t innovate with names for our sons the way we did when naming our daughters.
In 1914, names like Orene, Olevia, Bettye, Marybelle, Theola, Hildred, Neoma were on the fringes of the girls’ Top 1000. Sure, there were boys called Burdette and Loran and Rollie. The edges are always been an interesting place.
But over the years, new and innovative girls’ names rose to the top, while the most popular names for boys tended to be borrowed from the Bible or from history. Our sons stayed James and Michael while we named our daughters Jennifer and Ashley. And they were still answering to James and Michael while their sisters became Madison and Chloe.
But that’s changed in recent years. Jayden cracked the US Top Five, despite basically not existing before the 1970s. Surname names like Tyler and Mason have, too.
We’re increasingly free to innovate when naming our sons, and that’s a good thing.
UNISEX NAMES HOLD STEADY
For ages, conventional wisdom dictated that when a name becomes popular for girls, we consider it off limits for boys.
That’s changed. Celebrities and influencers have named their sons Sasha and Sailor, Harper and Wren. Even though we’re not naming our children after theirs exactly, it gives us permission to name without regard to gender.
It’s not a short-term phenomenon, either.
Names like Parker, Cameron, Logan, River, Remy, and Rowan have held steady for boys even as they’re given to a great many girls.
Worth noting: the generation approaching parenthood in the next decade or so grew up in a world of girl-Jordan and boy-Jordan. Once upon a time, Taylor Swift dated Taylor Lautner. The world continued to rotate on its axis.
IT’S A GREAT TIME TO NAME A BOY
Maybe the biggest change is more seismic than naming choices.
As a culture, we expanded what was acceptable for our daughters. Sports over dance? Careers in the military or construction? Of course!
Now we’re catching up for boys, too. Theater camp instead of tee ball, a pink backpack instead of a black one? Absolutely.
We’re far more aware of the way our gifts vary by person, never mind ideas about gender. It’s about what our children love best.
And that means that everyone – even the most conventional among us – gets a little freer to make the right choices for us. It’s a great time to name a boy, and a pretty good time to be a human, too.
Ugh. I wish I felt this way. We have always had difficulty naming our girls. But there seem to be endless possibilities. Now after three girls, we are expecting a boy, and there are just so few names I like. I think we may be debating up until the few weeks before my due date. Luckily that is some 20 weeks away at this point. I feel that boys names are either “boring” (Sorry Christopher, Michael, Robert) or cheesily novel (looking at you Jayden, Paxton, Bodhi). I love foreign names, but relying on them to be pronounced correctly is foolish. I’m sure we’ll settle on a name by June…
Ug, it’s so time for my to have a boy! Mom of girls!!!
I think it shows that just maybe we are reaching equality when it comes to boy and girl names, that we are more accepting and adventurous overall. Personnaly I find naming a girl to be more difficult (at least when it comes to getting my SO to be a bit more daring).
Love this article…it outlines exactly why we weren’t “afraid” to name our son Indigo.
Love it! Even if the older generations might raise an eyebrow, I’m excited by the expanding possibilities for naming boys.
Love this write-up! So clearly explained. I love seeing the wider variety of “acceptable” boy names.