Naming Your Baby Boy: Boy Names & Their Meanings

You're pregnant and you just had your ultrasound. Congratulations, it's a boy! If you're the dad, you're already picturing the two of you throwing the baseball or football in the yard, going to games and fishing together. If you're the mom, your visions of ruffly socks, ballet and hair bows just went "Poof!" Once you get used to the idea and you're on board with it, you even get a little excited over a little Mini Me of your husband and you see that there are some cute little blue baby clothes out there. You even start sharing your husband's dreams of you and him sitting at a baseball game, calling out your son's name, "Way to watch that ball, _____________!" Whoops! Little ___________ has no name yet! Maybe in the back of your mind you had started thinking of girl's names, just kind of wishful thinking and it hadn't even occurred to you to pick out a boy name. Well, unless you want your son going through life called Amanda or Emily, you need to shake those thoughts out of your head and start researching some boy's names!

Did you know that more boys are born than girls world-wide? It's true...there are 105-107 boys born for every 100 girls. This trend has been going on for several decades now. Hmmm...no wonder the dating pool seems a lot smaller! With more boys being born, it also means that the search for a name that every Tom, Dick, and Harry baby boy isn't already named (and who is named any of those names anymore?) is getting harder and harder with couples taking all kinds of unusual approaches to pick out their boy baby's name. You can choose an old family name, you can let the boy be named after his father which he may resent for the rest of his life, especially if he is a III, IV or V, or you can choose a name that is meaningful that you both like.

There are tons of lists out there of popular names for baby boys, but there seem to be certain types of names that are trending right now:

The Back In Time Names- These are names that are from back in the day and I'm not talking about back in even their grandparent's day. I'm talking about WAY back in the day like from Revolutionary War times. Names like Nathan, Jefferson, Caleb, and Jackson.

The Otherworldly- Jacob and Edward. from the Twilight saga. Nothing like naming your kid after a vampire or a werewolf. Also their vampire buddy Emmett and not so great a buddy Jasper. A few Harry Potter names thrown in for good measure like...gasp...Draco, but interestingly enough, no Harry or Ron. Just a little too ordinary, I guess.

The Biblical- Direct from the lion's den, we have Daniel, then Abraham, Eli, and Amos. Also Gabriel (seems like a lot to live up to, he was an angel, after all!), Issac, and Immanuel.

And then there are the names ripped directly from the pages of the Soap Opera Digest...names like Tristan, Chace, Bo, and Nash. So you want your kid to get beat up every day at school? Just name him Tristan.

Perhaps you should go for a name that is meaningful. Here is a compilation of 25 popular baby boy names and their meanings:

1. Cayden Fighter
2. Noah Rest, peace
3. Owen Born to nobility
4. Wyatt Peaceful
5. Anthony Worthy of praise
6. Gavin Little Hawk
7. Ethan Firm, strong
8. Jordan Descendant
9. Cooper Barrel Maker
10. Cole Victorious people
11. William Protector
12. Brady Broad Shouldered
13. Kevin Handsome, beautiful
14. Michael Who is like God
15. Drew Manly & courageous
16. Mason Stone worker
17. Nicholas Victorious people
18. Ian God is gracious
19. Logan Small cove
20. Dylan Born from the ocean
21. Evan God is good
22. Tyler Tile maker
23. Joshua Jehovah saves
24. Brandon Little Raven
25. Lucas Light

If you really want your child to thank you later in life, pick a name that's short and easy to spell. It'll come in handy when he's learning to write and later bubbling in those standardized tests! Don't name the poor kid any of those names that look like they could go either way, because 9 times out of 10, the other kids are gonna think he's the "other way" and tease him unmercifully. When you pick a name, try to make it not rhyme with any derogatory word or phrase he might get called at school as a result of your poor decision-making skills...Buck? Chuck? No. Don't get too creative...Moon Unit Zappa, Precious Miracle, c'mon! Most of all, make it a name that he'll be proud of and won't mind handing down to his own son one day.