Enduring Boy Names

Names whose curve barely moves across the whole series. The rarest movement category, and the only one that is a genuine achievement rather than a phase.

Rankings for

3,547 names, most popular first in the United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Stéphane Stéphane is a boy's name meaning crown or garland, the French form of Stephen.
French 313,262 births
Guillaume Guillaume is a boy's name meaning resolute protector, the French form of William — and the man who conquered England in 1066 bore this form of it, not the English one.
French 232,219 births
Romain Romain is a French boy's name meaning a Roman, from the Latin word for a citizen of Rome.
French 194,729 births
Franck Franck is the French spelling of Frank, and the tribe it names is the reason France is called France — the Franks gave their name to the country, and the word came to mean free.
French 178,077 births
Gilles Gilles is a French boy's name from a Greek word for a young goat — by way of the aegis, the goatskin shield of Athena.
French 176,246 births
Jean-Claude Jean-Claude is a French compound of two names, God is gracious and lame.
French 174,748 births
Hervé Hervé means battle-worthy, and it is Breton rather than French — a Brittonic name closer in ancestry to Welsh than to anything Latin.
Breton 140,182 births
Arnaud Arnaud means eagle-power, built from two Germanic words, and it is the French form of the name English knows as Arnold.
French 139,847 births
Ludovic Ludovic means famous in battle, and it is the same name as Louis and Ludwig — eighteen French kings and the composer all carry one Germanic compound in different national dress.
French 131,146 births
Fernand Fernand means bold journey, and it is Germanic rather than Spanish despite having arrived through Spain — the Visigoths carried it there, and it went on to become the royal name of both Castile and Aragon.
French 120,178 births
Baptiste Baptiste is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "one who immerses," taken from the title of John the Baptist rather than from a name.
French 108,549 births
Jean-François Jean-François joins God is gracious to a name meaning Frenchman — and the second half was itself a nickname, since Saint Francis was baptized Giovanni and called the little Frenchman by his father.
French 101,775 births
Jean-Marc Jean-Marc joins God is gracious to a name dedicated to the god of war — Marc descends from Mars, so the compound sets a Hebrew statement about grace directly against a Roman war god.
French 91,528 births
Edouard Edouard means wealthy guardian, and it is Old English wearing French dress — the cult of Edward the Confessor carried an Anglo-Saxon compound across Catholic Europe without any English speakers going with it.
French 90,790 births
Jean-Michel Jean-Michel joins God is gracious to a question — Michel means who is like God, expecting the answer nobody, so the compound is a statement followed by a challenge.
French 88,012 births
Jean-Louis Jean-Louis joins God is gracious to famous in battle — and Louis is the same name as Clovis, so the compound contains the first and last forms of one word that named eighteen French kings.
French 80,833 births
Bertrand Bertrand means bright raven, and the raven is deliberate — Germanic naming treated it as the bird of the battlefield and of Odin, so the compound is martial rather than ornithological.
French 71,464 births
Florent Florent means flowering, and it ranks in France alone at 1,358th — one of the most tightly national names in this band, with no measured presence in the five other markets.
French 70,948 births
Corentin Corentin has no settled meaning, and the tempest gloss offered by most sources is unsupported — what survives is the Breton saint, and a legend about a fish that regrew itself every day.
French 59,671 births
Gabin Gabin is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "from Gabii," an ancient town near Rome.
French 54,596 births
Gaëtan Gaëtan names an Italian coastal town, and it reaches French through a saint rather than through Italy — Cajetan of Thiene founded an order in the sixteenth century, and the name followed the order into France.
French 54,390 births
Jean-Jacques Jean-Jacques joins the French forms of John and James, and the second half is the more interesting — Jacques is Jacob, whose Hebrew name refers to grabbing a heel, because he was born holding his twin's.
French 54,127 births
Jean-Baptiste Jean-Baptiste means John the dipper, and the second half is a job description — baptizein is the ordinary Greek for dipping something in liquid, so the title says plainly what he did in the river.
French 49,373 births
Jean-Philippe Jean-Philippe means God is gracious and lover of horses, and the second half is aristocratic by design — owning horses marked a Greek man as wealthy enough to fight mounted.
French 48,567 births
Norbert Norbert means bright north, and the north in it is the direction rather than a place — Germanic naming used compass points as elements, which is rare in any other European naming tradition.
German 47,560 births
Antonin Antonin descends from a Roman family name nobody can translate — Antonius is probably Etruscan, and the praiseworthy and flower readings were both attached by Renaissance humanists.
French 43,090 births
Yvon Yvon means yew, and the tree armed medieval Europe — the English longbow was cut from yew, so a name meaning yew is closer to a name meaning bow than to a name meaning tree.
French 40,818 births
Cyrille Peaked in 1973 · 38,481 births since 1900
38,481 births
Martial Peaked in 1969 · 36,913 births since 1900
French 36,913 births
Raoul Peaked in 1912 · 34,407 births since 1900
French 34,407 births
Dick Peaked in 1934 · 29,326 births since 1880
Dutch 29,326 births
Grégoire Peaked in 1998 · 28,352 births since 1900
French 28,352 births
Ed Peaked in 1959 · 26,520 births since 1880
26,520 births
Hugues Peaked in 1965 · 26,053 births since 1900
French 26,053 births
Renaud Peaked in 1986 · 25,973 births since 1900
French 25,973 births
Emilien Peaked in 2002 · 25,572 births since 1900
25,572 births
Rodolphe Peaked in 1973 · 23,551 births since 1900
French 23,551 births
Stanislas Peaked in 1931 · 21,751 births since 1900
Slavic 21,751 births
Romuald Peaked in 1973 · 20,144 births since 1900
20,144 births
Jean-Charles Peaked in 1967 · 19,568 births since 1903
19,568 births
Rachid Peaked in 1979 · 18,907 births since 1936
Arabic 18,907 births
Adolph Peaked in 1917 · 18,810 births since 1880
18,810 births
Côme Côme is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "order" or "beauty," the French form of Cosmas.
French 18,697 births
Pierrick Peaked in 1989 · 18,695 births since 1931
Breton 18,695 births
Gauthier Peaked in 1996 · 18,035 births since 1900
French 18,035 births
Curt Peaked in 1960 · 17,093 births since 1880
German 17,093 births
Adolphe Peaked in 1908 · 16,810 births since 1900
French 16,810 births
Theophile Peaked in 1908 · 16,807 births since 1900
Dutch 16,807 births

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