Rare Names in the 11-20 Range (Boys)

Today I go over some of those rare boys’ names used between 11 and 20 times in the U.S. in 2014.  As I did with the girls’ names, I provide commentary, but many of the names aren’t so humorous this time.  Rather, they’re head-scratching or unfortunately reminiscent of the darker memories of history and religion.  Exhibit A: Nero.  Still, there are plenty of good names in here, and the occasional odd-ball.  Some of these are fandom names; I have to say, it’s pretty awesome to know there are little Theodens running around. 

And yes, in case it isn’t clear: these are actual names used in the U.S., from the last year for which we have data.  I don’t make them up.  

20: Aengus, Calloway, Christoph, Dream, Errol, Galileo, Haakon, Han, Ioannis, Jafar, Jupiter, Juvenal, Mister, Nachman, Rainier, Rufus, Sasha, Seneca, Silvestre, Stanford, Stark, Strider

19: Abenezer, Aleksey, Ananias, Andrea, Athanasios, Cassian, Evangelos, Gustav, Hamish, Hawthorne, Maynard, Ogden, Ragnar, Ripken, Styles, Winslow, Zlatan

18: Alucard, Attila, Buster, Castor, Cato, Dagoberto, Findlay, Gehrig, Harsh, Heinrich, Kyrillos, Leonid, Maximos, Miroslav, Nero, Prentice, Rand, Rollin, Supreme, Tennessee, Theoden

17: Abijah, Afton, Aleph, Amory, Caspar, Eladio, Exodus, Fabien, Friedrich, Gunther, Hale, Hannibal, Honest, Juventino, Mattia, Melchizedek, Napoleon, Oleg, Orville, Pharoah, Phinehas, Pike, Poseidon, Praise, Prentiss, Reno, Rexford, Rommel, Rourke, Tadhg, Texas, Townsend, Woodson, Yehudah

16: Auguste, Avram, Brandy, Castle, Creedence, Desi, Dewey, Dijon, Eero, Espn, Evaristo, Fenton, Florian, Francois, Garth, Gaston, Hero, Izzy, Lestat, Lynn, Mandela, Miracle, Mirko, Oisin, Omega, Pacey, Parris, Percival, Redmond, Renly, Rupert, Shooter, Sneijder, Taiga, Talmage, Theodoros, Thunder, Torben, Yohannes

15: Alp, Amilcar, Anastasios, Caelum, Elihu, Feynman, Freedom, Grover, Hercules, Hyde, Juno, Parrish, Philemon, Schuyler, Serge, Shadrach, Thurston, Welles, Yaroslav, Yochanan, Zabdiel, Zaccai

14: Aldous, Altair, Angelus, Anselmo, Arsalan, Baden, Berkeley, Cosmo, Elbert, Emmerich, Herschel, Isidore, Kona, Lafayette, Redford, Reuel, Sixto, Spenser, Stanislav, Taft, Ulrich, Wellington, Wolfe

13: Abishai, Balthazar, Barnabas, Caliber, Camillo, Catcher, Coltrane, Courage, Edris, Faolan, Gatsby, Godfrey, Gregor, Henrique, Jabin, Rocket, Taurus, Ubaldo, Ulric, Washington, Webster, Whittaker, Xerxes

12: Adams, Albin, Calvert, Cartel (?!), Christophe, Darcy, Drako, Emerald, Fergus, Garland, Giles, Makarios, Mattheus, Nephi, Padraic, Phil, Philopateer, Sanford,  Sumner, Thailand, Wilkes

11: Aeneas, Aldrich, Aloysius, Alvis, Avishai, Baldemar, Balin, Barack, Bastien, Bonham, Calixto, Coal, Cyprian, Django, Elric, Epic, Fitzpatrick, Franz, Godson, Gotti, Griffith, Gunter, Ioan, Ivar, Jubal, Judas, Kingdom, Leonides, Lorne, Lucifer, Majestic, Million, Milos, Nachum, Neville, Osborn, Petros, Porfirio, Priest, Promise, Rafferty, Reynolds, Righteous, Rogue, Sergei, Thornton, Winfield, Yancy, Zebulun

Commentary:

• Abenezer – I’m surprised how many of these there are compared to Ebenezer, which is considered the correct spelling and registered 44 uses in 2014.  My thoughts are that perhaps parents liked the name but didn’t want the Scrooge association.
  
• Espn, male equivalent to Abcde.  Yes, there are children named after ESPN. 
• Alucard – Dracula backwards.  I highly doubt this is a case like Nevaeh; rather, I assume the parents are anime fans. 
• Gatsby – If you’re looking for an F. Scott Fitzgerald character name that isn’t so obvious, I suggest Amory, which is also on the list. 
• Mister – That’s gotta be confusing on forms…
• Rommel – I have to wonder about parents who name their kids after Nazi generals.  Not good.
• Hannibal – On the subject of generals, not so bad but still a cannibal.
• Dijon – “Excuse me, but do you have any Grey Poupon?”
• Kona – Don’t get me wrong…I’m addicted to my coffee, but I don’t like it *that* much.  Impressive level of brand-naming though!
• Cartel – That someone would think this is a name disturbs me. 
• Catcher – Does he have a brother or sister named Rye?
• Lucifer – It’s way too early to tell, but I wonder if the TV show is going to boost usage within the next few years…
• Priest – if you remember, this was Cyanide’s twin brother. 
• Righteous – I have a hard time determining whether the parents of these boys are ultra-religious or California surfers.
• Ananias – I know this is a Biblical name, but it sounds rather like the German word for “pineapple.”
• Thunder – Just name him Thor already.  Marvel names are a thing; you may have seen that Stark registered 20 uses.  
• Names I actually really like, i.e. my favorites: Percival, Rupert, Athanasios, Gustav, Hamish, Ragnar, Melchizedek, Amory, Florian, Alucard, Rufus, Errol, Friedrich, Phinehas, Yochanan, Anastasios, Shadrach, Aldous, Altair, Herschel, Isidore, Emmerich, Balthazar, Barnabas, Godfrey, Darcy, Django, Theoden, Balin, Aeneas, Aldrich, Aloysius, Cyprian, Reuel