The baby name Cosmo is out of this world … and completely down to earth, too.
Thanks to Lola for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
COSMOPOLITAN
The Greek kosmos originally meant “orderly arrangement.”
Sometime around the sixth century BC, ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras used the word to refer to the universe as a whole.
Today, cosmos continues to refer to the world in the widest sense. Cosmic refers strictly to the stars and objects in the solar system and beyond.
And if you’re cosmopolitan? Then you’re someone at home anywhere. Though a closer synonym for cosmopolitan is sophisticated, not astronaut, so there’s a slightly different vibe.
MAGAZINE and COCKTAIL
You might hear the baby name Cosmo and think of two things.
The women’s magazine debuted way back in 1886.
And the cocktail? An early version was created way back in the late 1920s, but the drink made famous by Carrie Bradshaw of Sex and the City fame reached its current form in the mid-1980s.
Turns out the name is far older than any contemporary use.
COSMO and DAMIAN
The baby name Cosmo surfaces in the third century. He and brother Damian used their medical training to serve the poor. As Christians, they died as martyrs during the Diocletian persecutions.
Now considered saints, churches named in their memory appear throughout the Christian world.
Of course, that also means that the baby name Cosmo is heard across much of the world, too.
COSMAS to COSIMO to ENGLAND
The saint was probably named Cosmas – or something closer to it.
It became Cosimo in Italian, and the powerful Renaissance family, the de Medicis, embraced it.
In the 1700s, the 2nd Duke of Gordon named his son Cosmo, bringing it to broader use in the English-speaking world.
In fact, British Cosmos pop up in the history books from the eighteenth century onward.
Where did a Scottish aristocrat find an Italian name? The Duke’s dear friend was Cosimo III de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, who reigned for a record-setting 53 years. It’s worth noting that the Tuscan ruler was something of a disaster.
But that’s so far in the distant past that it doesn’t touch the baby name Cosmo now.
BY the NUMBERS
The baby name Cosmo appears in the US Top 1000 just four times, in 1913, 1921, 1925, and 1926.
While it’s been used steadily, the name appears in such small numbers that it took on a quirky, not-quite-real quality for many years.
TOPPER, SPROCKETS, SEINFELD
In 1926 novel turned 1937 movie Topper, staid banker Cosmo Topper has his life transformed by a pair of fun-loving ghosts, played by Constance Bennett and Cary Grant. Sequels followed. Remakes, too, the most recent in 1979.
1952’s Singin’ in the Rain included Cosmo, the comic foil played by Donald O’Connor to leading man Gene Kelly and newcomer Debbie Reynolds.
Brigham Young University’s mascot is Cosmo the Cougar.
And if you know your Nickelodeon animated series, the long-running Fairly OddParents featured Cosmo and Wanda as Timmy Turner’s fairy godparents.
One more from the world of animation: Cosmo Spacely served as George Jetson’s demanding boss at Spacely Sprockets on long-running cartoon The Jetsons.
And, to Seinfeld fans, Cosmo is all Kramer, the resident of Apartment 5B.
None of these uses seem likely to inspire parents. But another trend might.
ARLO, LEO, THEO, MILO
Boy names ending with o have gone from rising style stars to mainstream favorites. As of 2020, the US Top 100 includes Mateo, Leo and Leonardo, plus Theodore – almost always shortened to Theo.
Plenty of fast-rising choices share the o-ending, too, like Milo, Enzo, Arlo, and Nico – to name just a few.
In this light, the baby name Cosmo feels only slightly daring.
As of 2020, 57 newborn boys received the name. That’s a leap from just 22 in 2000, or 25 in 2010. But it’s still incredibly rare, too.
WORLDLY and UPBEAT
Crushed that Leo and Milo are too popular? Raise a glass to Cosmo instead.
Worldly and upbeat, the baby name Cosmo bridges the familiar and the distinctive. And now that Scarlett Johansson has named her baby boy Cosmo, a little brother for Rose Dorothy, it’s sure to attract more attention.
Combining history, meaning, and plenty of current style, it’s perfectly possible that we’ll hear more of this energetic, sophisticated choice.
What do you think of the baby name Cosmo?
First published on June 29, 2008, this post was revised substantially and re-posted on September 17, 2012 and again on August 19, 2021.
I have long loved Cosmo – likely influenced by Cosmo Cougar and Cosmo Brown from Singing in the Rain, and cosmology and cosmonauts are also nice associations – but just in the past week or so I’ve started thinking of it as possibly usable so I was a little excited and nervous when I saw this profiled today.
Our grandson “Cosmo” is all of the above mentioned. He is witty, very strong, noble and caring. We love him and his name. We have had so many surprised looks when have introduced him as “Cosmo>,,When our daughter told us that she was going to name him Cosmo we immediately thought of St.Cosmo.,
We love the name “Cosmo” after all he is our grandson
My brother’s second of two middle names is Cosmo. It’s the name he goes by as his first name is the same as our dad’s (& his dad’s etc), and first middle name is same as my our maternal grandfather. I don’t think I’ve met other people named Cosmo, and people get a kick out my brother’s name. Having a brother with such a distinct name is fun, and sometimes handy (when I meet people who mention someone named Cosmo, I know they are talking bout my brother!).
I love Cosmo! It’s such a fun and quirky name! The first thing that comes to my mind is the Fairly Oddparents show (that’s what you get when you have kids :)). Not a bad association though, I’ve always loved Cosmo; he’s so cute and funny. I think Cosmo would make a great middle name; it’s a bit much for a first name IMO.
DH, I take your point – marketing guru Cosmo Jones sounds fabulous, but Officer Cosmo Harris seems a bit less credible.
Still, I think it’s an interesting, appealing choice – especially if you’ve got a Cosmo on your family tree! For me, I think I’m partial to the feminine form Cosima – Nigella Lawson has a daughter called Cosima. (And a son Bruno!)
Catherine, that’s an interesting idea – the personality multiplier. I’m off to dust off my copy of the BN Wizard and see if I can find the reference. It’s one of the tricky things of naming babies – my mother is a shy, stick-to-the-shadows type with a flamboyant name. And so she gave me the kind of ordinary moniker she’d have preferred – only to discover that she’d given birth to a spotlight-lovin’ show-off. If we could only swap, we’d both be happy. As I prepare to give my own daughter-to-be an unusual moniker, I wonder if I’ll doom her to be a wallflower. 🙂
I think it’s a fun name, but maybe a little too much fun? I guess the Seinfeld association is really strong for me, but I’d have a hard time taking Cosmo seriously. A great name if you’re a comedian or an artist or an entrepreneur but a bit of a burden if you’re an accountant, a judge, a police officer.
Woo Cosmo! Well, being a little younger, my first association is the Nickelodian (sp?) show Fairly Oddparents. Cosmo and Wanda are fairy godparents, and Cosmo’s a few crayons short of a whole box, so. However, I quite like the name. It’s fun and distinctly masculine. However, I read somehwere, I think it was in the Baby Name Wizard, that it’s a “personality multipler.” If your kid is named Cosmo and he’s cool, he’s 10 times as cool. But if poor Cosmo is fat or pimply or socially awkward, you don’t have quite as much luck. On a wholly personal level, it’s on the like but wouldn’t use, except as maybe a middle name somewhere down the line. I’d like to use more use though. It’s such a fun name!
Oh, and rocker Beck and his wife (Marissa Ribisi) have a little Cosimo (Cosimo Henri)! So how far off track would simpler Cosmo be? 🙂
You’ve hit on exactly the things I encounter when asking about my Great Grandpa’s name online. I find Cosmo to be rather new-agey and yes, even spacey but friendly and warm too. Expansive feeling (the whole Cosmos, hmm?) 😀 Beyond G Grandpa, it reminds me of Carl Sagan too. Beacuse of the space thing. And that’s okay by me. I like outer space. One of the two great mysteries left us (Underwater is the other). I find Cosmo to be happy, easygoing and masculine. Easy to spell, too. That’s a hard set of things to be, I think. There aren’t many names that “feel” the same to me. Cosmo will definitely be the boy name, if we have another. I find him far too charming to backburner yet again. To heck with everyone else, this is what works, for us. 🙂