Boy names that start with A
Fourteen A names hold places in the current U.S. top 100, more than any other initial can claim — and not one of them reaches the top 25. Asher at #28 is as high as the letter goes, with Alexander two places behind it. A is the broadest letter on this site rather than the loudest, and here are 46 of its names, each linked to a full entry with meaning, origin and pairings.
Most popular A names right now
The twelve highest are below with their real U.S. Social Security positions. Arthur and Archer, the other two A names inside the top 100, appear further down the page.
- #28AsherASH-erHebrew
Happy, fortunate. Genesis hands you the meaning outright — Leah names the boy with the word for happiness as she says it.
- #30Alexanderal-ig-ZAN-derGreek
Defender of men, from alexein, to ward off. One Macedonian carried it to the Indus and it stayed: Iskandar in Persian, Sikandar in Urdu.
- #46AnthonyAN-thuh-neeLatin
Of the Antonius family. The clan name is older than the Latin that might explain it, so the familiar gloss 'priceless' is a guess, and so is the h.
- #62AidenAY-denIrish
Little fire, from Old Irish áed. A respelling of Aodhán that has overtaken the original in American records.
- #67AngelAYN-jel or AHN-helGreek
Messenger — a man running with news, before the theology attached to the word. Its American standing rides on Spanish-speaking families.
- #73AndrewAN-drooGreek
Manly, brave. The apostle called first, and the patron saint of Scotland, Greece, Russia, Ukraine and Romania at once.
- #74AdrianAY-dree-unLatin
From Hadria, a town on the Italian coast that also named the Adriatic. It says where you are from rather than what you are like, so nothing about it dates.
- #75AtlasAT-lusGreek
The Titan sentenced to hold up the sky. Greek writers tied the name to tlēnai, to endure; modern linguists mostly file it as pre-Greek and unexplained.
- #79AxelAK-sulScandinavian
My father is peace — Hebrew Absalom, worn down by medieval Danish. The skating jump is named for Axel Paulsen, who landed it in 1882.
- #80AaronAIR-unHebrew
Uncertain; traditionally glossed as exalted, or as mountain of strength. Moses' elder brother, and the first high priest of Israel.
- #81AugustAW-gustLatin
Venerable, consecrated. The Senate voted Octavian the adjective as a title in 27 BC; the month Sextilis was renamed for him in 8 BC.
- #84AdrielAY-dree-elHebrew
Flock of God, from eder and El; a minority reading gives 'God is my help'. A one-line figure in 1 Samuel, revived through Spanish-speaking families.
Classic A names
Two patriarchs, two Anglo-Saxon revivals and one name that has been argued over for a thousand years.
- AbrahamAY-bruh-hamHebrew
Father of a multitude — Genesis glosses the renaming in the same breath it performs it. Jewish patriarch, Christian model of faith, and Ibrahim in Islam.
- AdamAD-umHebrew
Man, from the ground: adam out of adamah, a pun that sits inside the Hebrew. Outside the current U.S. top 100 after a long run through the 1980s.
- AlanAL-unBreton
Genuinely disputed — read as rock, as handsome, or as a trace of the Alans who crossed the Rhine in 406. A mid-century American favourite, now outside the top 100.
- AlbertAL-burtGermanic
Noble and bright, adal plus beraht. Victoria married a prince consort of that name in 1840 and a generation of boys followed.
- AlfredAL-fridOld English
Elf counsel — supernaturally good advice, in a culture that took elves seriously. Alfred of Wessex is the only English king called the Great.
- ArthurAR-thurBrittonic
Traditionally glossed as bear, from Celtic artos, though the Roman family name Artorius is a live rival and neither is settled. Inside the current U.S. top 100, and a fixture in France.
- Augustineaw-GUS-tinLatin
Venerable — Augustus with a Roman diminutive on the end. Two saints carry it: the bishop of Hippo who wrote the Confessions, and the monk who landed in Kent in 597.
- AustinAW-stinEnglish
The same name, worn down by medieval English mouths — the London street called Austin Friars is the fossil. A defining 1990s choice, now outside the top 100.
Modern A names
Surnames, a short form and a character out of a novel. None of these was an ordinary American given name before the last generation or two.
- ArcherAR-churEnglish
Bowman, from Anglo-Norman archier; the native English word was bowman. One of the few occupational surnames that names a soldier, and it sits just inside the current U.S. top 100.
- ArchieAR-cheeScottish
Genuine and bold, from Germanic ercan and bald by way of Archibald. The pet form outgrew the full name; far commoner in Britain than in America.
- ArloAR-lohOrigin uncertain
No established meaning at all. The oldest solid trace is Arlo Hill, Edmund Spenser's coinage for a peak in the Galtees; the folk singer Arlo Guthrie did the rest.
- AshtonASH-tunEnglish
The settlement by the ash trees, Old English æsc plus tūn. It marks places from Lancashire to Somerset, and spent the mid-2000s in the American top 100.
- AtticusAT-i-kusLatin
From Attica, the country around Athens — a Roman cognomen that marked a man as at home in Greek letters. Harper Lee is why an American child now carries it.
- AveryAY-vuh-reeEnglish
Elf ruler, worn down from Germanic Alberich by a Norman route. Male for most of its history in English, and now given far more often to American girls.
A names from around the world
Alexander and Andrew have travelled further than any other A names, and two of the entries below are what became of them. The rest belong where they are.
- Alejandroah-leh-HAHN-drohSpanish
Defender of men, with Álex tucked inside four syllables of ceremony. It has never been fashionable in Mexico for the simple reason that it has never been out.
- Alessandroah-less-SAHN-droItalian
The same Greek compound, with Latin's x turned into a doubled s — the rule that also gives Massimo. A top-ten name on the Italian birth register for decades.
- Andreiahn-DRAYRussian
Manly, courageous. The apostle's diagonal cross flies on the ensign of the Russian navy as well as on the Scottish flag.
- AhmedAH-medArabic
Most praiseworthy — the elative of the root ḥ-m-d, which also produces Muhammad, Mahmoud and Hamid. The commonest men's name in Egypt.
- ArjunAR-juhnSanskrit
White, bright, clear — the same ancient root as Latin argentum, silver. Arjuna is the archer who receives the Bhagavad Gita from Krishna.
- AkiraAH-kee-rahJapanese
Bright, clear, usually written 明 — the sun set beside the moon. Inside Japan it reads as a mid-century name rather than a current one.
- Aslanahs-LAHNTurkish
Lion: the everyday Turkish word, used unchanged. Seljuk sultans wore it as an epithet, and C. S. Lewis lifted it straight into Narnia.
- Aramah-RAHMArmenian
An Armenian patriarch whose reputation, the chronicler Khorenatsi says, got the whole country renamed after him. Hebrew arrives at the same four letters separately, meaning highland.
African A names
Yoruba names are sentences rather than words, and the popular lists that translate them as single nouns have quietly deleted a verb. These are given whole.
- Abayomiah-bah-YAW-meeYoruba
They would have rejoiced over me — a counterfactual aimed at rivals who were expecting the worst. 'Bringer of joy' is a mistranslation of it.
- Adebayoah-deh-BAH-yawYoruba
The crown meets joy. Adé, crown, is the most productive element in Yoruba male naming, and here it is the one doing the meeting.
- Adewaleah-deh-WAH-lehYoruba
The crown has come home — adé, wá and ilé fused into one word. Homecoming rather than coronation. Everyone says Wale.
- Akintundeah-keen-TOON-dehYoruba
The brave one has come again, often given after the death of a male elder. It belongs to a whole family of -túndé names that report a return.
- Amadiah-MAH-deeIgbo
Freeborn man; one derivation reads ama, the land, plus di, master. A civic word rather than a religious one, which is unusual among Igbo names.
- Abebeah-BEH-behAmharic
He has flowered — a verb in the perfect tense, from the root behind abeba, flower, the word inside Addis Ababa. Abebe Bikila won the 1960 Olympic marathon barefoot.
Unique A names
Rare in the United States, and none of them invented: each is a working name somewhere.
- AlaricAL-uh-rikGothic
Ruler of all, ala plus reiks — the same ending as Frederick and Roderick. Alaric I entered Rome on 24 August 410 and Augustine began the City of God in response.
- AmiasAM-ee-usEnglish
Traditionally read as loved, though the sixteenth-century name arrives with no clear ancestor behind it. Sir Amias Paulet was Mary, Queen of Scots' final gaoler.
- AnselAN-sulGermanic
Divine protection — literally god-helmet, and Anselm with the ending worn off. Ansel Adams photographed Yosemite in black and white.
- AledAH-ledWelsh
A river in Denbighshire, and nothing more securely known than that; the 'offspring' gloss in the name lists has no support. The treble Aled Jones made it familiar in Britain.
- AarniAHR-neeFinnish
Treasure hidden in the forest, and the spirit that guards it. The word survives in aarniometsä, the ordinary Finnish term for old-growth forest.
- AritzAH-reetsBasque
Oak — the pedunculate oak specifically, since Basque keeps separate words for the holm and the Pyrenean. The oak of Gernika stands for the whole country.
Keep browsing
The same names sort another way too — by origin, or by meaning.