Badass boy names
There are two ways onto this list and a name needs only one: it is built on hard stops — k, g, x, th, r — in one or two syllables, or it was carried by a named figure in Norse, Persian, Greek or Roman record whose story you can go and read. Invented spellings are out, and so is anything whose only credential is a film.
- AlaricAL-uh-rikGothic
Ruler of all. Alaric I led the Visigoths into Rome in 410, the first time the city had been taken in eight centuries.
- Arashah-RASHPersian
The archer. In Persian legend Arash the Archer settled a border war by shooting a single arrow and letting it land where it would.
- AttilaOT-til-lawHungarian
Traditionally read as little father, from Gothic atta with a diminutive ending. Still an ordinary given name in Hungary, where it ranks far higher than anywhere else.
- AxelAK-sulScandinavian
The Scandinavian form of Absalom, so the sense is my father is peace. The sound is considerably harder than the meaning, which is the whole story of this list.
- BjornBYURNNorse
Bear. One of the oldest and commonest Norse name elements, and still ordinary in Sweden and Norway today.
- CassiusKASH-usLatin
A Roman clan name, traditionally glossed as hollow or vain. Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Clay and boxed under it until 1964.
- CyrusSY-russPersian
Traditionally read as sun, though the Old Persian is disputed. Cyrus the Great founded the Achaemenid Empire; the clay cylinder recording his capture of Babylon is in the British Museum.
- Dariusduh-RY-usPersian
He who holds firm the good. Darius I built Persepolis and the Royal Road that ran some 1,600 miles across his empire.
- EgilAY-gilNorse
Uncertain, possibly tied to a word for the edge of a blade. Egil Skallagrimsson, the tenth-century Icelander whose saga bears his name, was a poet first and a fighter second.
- GunnarGOON-arNorse
Warrior, fighter in battle. Gunnar of Hlidarendi is the most sympathetic figure in Njal's Saga, the longest and most widely read of the Icelandic sagas.
- HectorHEK-torGreek
Holding fast; the one who holds the line. Homer's Hector defends Troy knowing the city will fall anyway.
- IvarEE-varNorse
Probably bow warrior, from the yew that bows were cut from. Ivar the Boneless is named in Norse and Anglo-Saxon sources as a leader of the Great Heathen Army.
- KaneKAYNIrish
Battle, from the Irish surname O Cathain and the root cath. Also read as beautiful or gold depending on which Kane you trace, so pick your derivation.
- Kavehkah-VEHPersian
The blacksmith of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, who raised his leather apron on a spear as a standard against the tyrant Zahhak. The apron became the Derafsh Kaviani, Persia's royal banner.
- KnoxNOKSScottish
Round hill, hillock. The sound does all the work; the historical bearer, the reformer John Knox, argued rather than fought.
- Knutk-NOOTNorse
Knot. Cnut the Great ruled England, Denmark and Norway at once — a North Sea empire nobody has assembled since.
- MagnusMAG-nusLatin
Great. The Norse took it from Charlemagne's Latin title, Carolus Magnus, mistaking the epithet for a name, and then gave it to a long line of Norwegian kings.
- OdinOH-dinNorse
From odr: fury, frenzy, poetic inspiration. The chief Norse god traded an eye for wisdom, which is a better story than most on this list.
- RagnarRAHG-narNorse
Warrior of the gods, from regin and herr. Ragnar Lodbrok of the sagas is legendary rather than documented; the name itself is plainly historical.
- Rostamross-TAMPersian
Mighty of stature. The central hero of the Shahnameh, whose seven labours run for a long stretch of the poem.
- SigurdSIG-urdNorse
Guardian of victory. The dragon-slayer of the Volsunga Saga, and the figure Wagner reworked as Siegfried.
- ThorTHORNorse
Thunder — the word itself, not a title. Thursday is named for him, in the English form Thunor.
- UlfOOLFOld Norse
Wolf. Three letters, one syllable, and it still turns up on Swedish birth certificates.
- XerxesZURK-seezPersian
Ruling over heroes — the Greek rendering of Old Persian Xshayarsha. The X at the front is one of the rarest openings in English naming.
Making a hard name wearable
The names on this list split into two kinds and they behave differently on a birth certificate. The sound names — Knox, Kane, Ulf, Axel — are short, blunt and easy, and they carry no story a child has to explain. The source names — Rostam, Kaveh, Sigurd, Alaric — bring a whole text with them, which is the reason to choose one. If a name is going to be unusual, it may as well be unusual for a reason your son can eventually tell someone.
Two things to weigh. First, register: a very hard first name plus a very hard surname gives you a sound with no give in it, so a longer or softer middle name is worth having. Second, the figure attached. Attila and Alaric come with conquerors; Cyrus comes with a ruler remembered for a decree about returning exiles home. They are not the same choice, and both are legitimate, but make it knowingly rather than by ear. The Norse names page has more of the Scandinavian stock, Persian names covers the Shahnameh material properly, and names that mean warrior takes the meaning route instead of the sound route. Pairings are in the middle names guide.