Boy names that mean king
Kingship is one of the few meanings you can carry in a single syllable — Latin rex, Igbo eze, Turkish kaan. This list keeps to names whose own language really does say king, royal or emperor, and leaves the merely regal-sounding ones out.
- RexREKSLatin
King. No compound, no second element — the word itself, and the root of regal and royal.
- BasilBAZ-ilGreek
Kingly, from basileus. The herb is the same root: basilikon, the royal plant.
- Basiliobah-SEE-lee-ohSpanish
Basíleios in Spanish and Italian, and part of the Spanish-colonial stock in the Philippines.
- Vasilyvuh-SEE-leeRussian
Royal — from the Greek word that became the formal title of the Byzantine emperor.
- Vasylva-SYLUkrainian
The Ukrainian Basil, two syllables, stress at the back. Kingly, plainly.
- Chibuezechee-boo-EH-zehIgbo
"God is king": chi (God) + bụ (is) + eze (king). A sentence, not a word.
- Obafemioh-BAH-feh-meeYoruba
"The king loves me", from ọba (king) + fẹ́ (to love) + mi.
- Nkosin-KOH-seeZulu
Lord, chief, king — from inkosi, a hereditary chief. The opening n is its own beat.
- KaanKAHNTurkish
Emperor. From kağan, the khagan who commanded khans; the doubled a holds the length.
- Hakanhah-KAHNTurkish
Khan of khans. The title sat above khan the way emperor sits above king.
- Kiankee-AHNPersian
Kingly — strictly a plural, kiyān, the kings of the legendary Kayanian line.
- Shahinshah-HEENPersian
Shāh (king) with the ending -īn: the royal one, and so the royal falcon.
- Ardeshirar-deh-SHEERPersian
Arta (right order) + xšaça (kingship): whose reign is through truth.
- XerxesZURK-seezGreek
Old Persian Xšayāršā: xšaya- (ruling) + aršan (hero) — ruling over heroes.
- MelkerMEL-kerSwedish
Traditionally king of light, from Hebrew melekh; the gloss is old rather than proven.
- RoryROR-eeIrish
Red king: Old Irish rúad (red) + rí (king). Ruaidhrí, anglicised.
- RuairiROR-eeIrish
The Irish spelling of the same red king, closer to ROO-ree in Irish mouths.
- RyanRY-unIrish
Traditionally little king, from rí with a diminutive. Still #99 in the U.S.
- BrendanBREN-danIrish
Traditionally prince, from a Brythonic word cognate with Welsh brenin, king.
- TajiTAH-jeeSwahili
A crown, from Arabic tāj. To crown a king in Swahili is kuvika taji.
- Kalanikah-LAH-neeHawaiian
Ka (the) + lani (sky; high chief): the heavens, and so the royal one.
The word, the title and the sentence
Some of these names are the noun. Rex is Latin for a king and does nothing else. Taji is a crown. Basil and its national children — Basilio, Vasily, Vasyl — are the adjective basileios, of a king, which is why the same word names a herb and a basilica. Others are an office: Kaan and Hakan both descend from kağan, the steppe emperor who ranked above ordinary khans, and Ardeshir and Xerxes are Old Persian throne names with rule written into them.
The third group is the most interesting and the least translated: the name that is a whole sentence. Chibueze says God is king. Obafemi says the king loves me. Neither is a description of the child. Irish did something quieter with the same idea — Rory and Ruairi mean red king, a physical description fused to a rank, and Ryan is a diminutive of rí that has travelled further than any of them. If the throne is not the point, try leader or noble.