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Names That Mean Noble

Names meaning noble, royal, ruler or high-born. Read carefully: in most of these the word marked a legal rank rather than a compliment, and the flattering sense came centuries later.

Every name here has a researched page whose stated meaning carries this sense.

Rankings for

75 names, most popular first in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Henry Henry is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "home ruler," from heim, meaning home or estate, and ric, meaning ruler or power.
Germanic #5 in US
Owen Owen is a boy's name of Welsh origin, the anglicized form of Owain.
Welsh #31 in US
Charles Charles is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "free man," from karl.
Germanic #48 in US
Ryan Ryan is a boy's name of Irish origin, anglicized from Ó Riain.
Irish #99 in US
Amir Amir is a boy's name of Arabic origin meaning "prince" or "commander," from amara, to command.
Arabic #105 in US
Ryker Ryker is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "rich" or "powerful."
Germanic #182 in US
Kingston Kingston is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "the king's settlement."
English #204 in US
Griffin Griffin peaked in 2023, more recently than any other name in this group, and it is not named for the beast — the Welsh Gruffudd came first, and the resemblance to the griffin is coincidence.
Welsh #222 in US
Richard Richard is a boy's name from Germanic roots meaning strong or brave ruler.
Germanic #234 in US
Walter Walter is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning ruler of the army.
Germanic #251 in US
Eric Eric is a boy's name of Old Norse origin meaning "eternal ruler" or "sole ruler."
Norse #273 in US
Derek Derek is a boy's name from the Germanic Theodoric, meaning ruler of the people — and it is the same name as Terry and Thierry, three forms of one original that no longer resemble each other.
Germanic #284 in US
Bryan Bryan is a boy's name of Irish origin whose meaning is unsettled — noble and high are both proposed.
Irish #336 in US
Brian Brian is a boy's name of Irish origin whose meaning is unsettled — noble and high are both proposed, and neither is secure.
Irish #339 in US
Erick Erick means ever-ruler, and the K-spelling is the Scandinavian one — Erik the Red named Greenland deliberately to attract settlers, which may be the earliest recorded use of a misleading brand name.
Scandinavian #366 in US
Grady Grady means noble, and it comes from a byname rather than a rank — the Irish grádha describes someone held in esteem, which is a reputation earned rather than a title inherited.
Irish #373 in US
Ricardo Ricardo is a boy's name meaning brave ruler, the Spanish and Portuguese form of Richard.
Spanish #380 in US
King King is a boy's name taken from the English title, from the Old English cyning.
English #405 in US
Hank Hank is a boy's name of Germanic origin, a short form of Henry meaning "home ruler".
Germanic #413 in US
Frederick Frederick is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "peaceful ruler."
Germanic #436 in US
Malik Malik means king, and the Arabic distinguishes two words a single letter apart — malik is a king, mālik an owner, and one of God's names in the Qur'an is the second rather than the first.
Arabic #437 in US
Prince Prince is a boy's name taken from the title, from the Latin princeps — literally "the one who takes first place".
Latin #447 in US
Alonzo Alonzo is the Spanish descendant of a Visigothic name, and our data marks it rising — 511th in the United States, 1186th in Canada, 1324th in France and 1714th in England and Wales, having peaked as recently as 2022, which is unusual for a name our records carry from 1880.
Spanish #511 in US
Roy Roy is a boy's name with two independent sources — the Gaelic ruadh, meaning red-haired, and the French roi, meaning king.
Scottish Gaelic #525 in US
Erik Erik is a boy's name meaning ever-ruler or sole ruler, from Old Norse.
Scandinavian #545 in US
Enrique Enrique means ruler of the estate, and the home in it is territorial rather than domestic — the Germanic element named the land a lord held, not the house he lived in.
Spanish #571 in US
Albert Albert is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "noble and bright."
Germanic #614 in US
Ronald Ronald is a boy's name from the Old Norse Rögnvaldr, meaning ruler's counsel, brought to Scotland by Norse settlement.
Norse #638 in US
Donald Donald is a boy's name from the Scottish Gaelic Dòmhnall, meaning world ruler.
Scottish Gaelic #690 in US
Harry Harry is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "home ruler."
English #776 in US
Alberto Alberto means bright nobility, and both halves are compliments — the Germanic joins a word for noble descent to one meaning bright or famous, with nothing descriptive about the person at all.
Italian #820 in US
Alvin Alvin means elf-friend, from an Old English name that treats elves as beings whose favor was worth having.
English #839 in US
Derrick Derrick means ruler of the people, and the crane is named after a man — Thomas Derrick, an Elizabethan hangman whose gallows design was distinctive enough that his name became the word for it.
Germanic #852 in US
Rex Rex means king, and it is the plain Latin nominative — which makes it the pair to Regis, the genitive meaning of the king.
Latin #859 in US
Leroy Leroy is a boy's name that is simply the French for the king, taken as one word.
French #884 in US
Eugene Eugene is a boy's name from the Greek for well-born, and it is the source of the word eugenics — a connection worth knowing, since the name long predates and has nothing to do with that movement.
Greek #944 in US
Ricky Ricky is a boy's name, the pet form of Richard or Ricardo, meaning strong ruler.
Germanic #949 in US
Harold Harold is a boy's name from Norse and Old English elements meaning army ruler, and it belongs to the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, killed at Hastings in 1066.
Germanic #992 in US
Alfonso Alfonso completes a set on this site — Alphonse in French, Alonzo in Spanish and Italian, and Alfonso the Iberian dynastic form, all descending from one Visigothic compound.
Spanish #1,012 in US
Ronnie Ronnie is a name of Old Norse origin meaning "ruler's counsel."
Norse #1,064 in US
Karim Karim means generous, and it is one of the ninety-nine names of God in Islam — al-Karim, the Generous — which is why the name carries weight beyond its ordinary sense as an adjective.
Arabic #1,089 in US
Maël Maël is a boy's name of Breton origin meaning "chief" or "prince," borne by a sixth-century saint.
Breton #1,098 in US
Brendan Brendan is not Irish in origin — it comes from a Welsh word meaning a prince, borrowed into Irish, and its saint is credited with a transatlantic voyage six centuries before Columbus.
Irish #1,099 in US
Syed Syed is a boy's name of Arabic origin meaning "lord" or "master."
Arabic #1,217 in US
Elmer Elmer means noble and famous, and its American popularity is traceable to two brothers — the Ebenezer and Jonathan Elmer who signed early revolutionary documents, after whom patriotic families went on to name sons.
English #1,223 in US
Bryant Bryant means noble or high, and the t is a French accident — Norman scribes added it to the Irish Brian, so the surname carries a letter the original name never had.
Irish #1,327 in US
Torin Torin is a boy's name widely listed as Irish meaning chief, but it has no attested Old Irish source and a Norse derivation is at least as likely.
Norse #1,350 in US
Freddy Freddy is far stronger in England than in America — 328th in England and Wales on 135 births against 1422nd in the United States on 127, despite the two countries being nowhere near comparable in size.
English #1,422 in US

Other Meanings