Boy Names with Meanings from Around the World

Choosing a boy’s name tends to pull parents in two directions at once: something strong and traditional, and something that will sound fresh in a classroom twenty years from now. The good news is that the two overlap more than you would think. Names meaning strength, light and victory (Arjun, Ethan, Aziz, Victor) have been popular for centuries precisely because they never sound dated.

This list draws on every culture in our catalogue — Sanskrit, Arabic, English, Spanish, Japanese, Yoruba and dozens more — so it is a good place to start if you have not settled on a tradition yet. Once you have a shortlist, use the finder to check how each name sounds with your surname; a two-syllable first name usually pairs best with a three-syllable surname, and vice versa.