A couple of weeks ago, we looked at the favorite girls’ names on a Nameberry Message Board thread–led by the lovely Beatrix, Penelope and Clementine–and now it’s time to look over at the boys’ side.

　　The most striking result is the strong showing for the good old traditional, timeless classics, with many votes for William, Henry, Charles, James, Edward, Joseph, George, and Thomas, and a resurgence of interest in Theodore (#2!–perhaps because of the popularity of nickname Theo), Frederick, and Peter.  Does this mean that parents are still (or once again) looking at safer, more conservative choices for their sons than their daughters?  Is it somehow a reflection of the cloudy economic climate?

　　Some smaller trends noted: a preponderance of names starting with the vowel E—Elliot (in its various spellings), Edward, Emmett, Everett, Ethan, Ezra, Elias; and the characteristic nameberry love of some quirkier choices, several not found in the Top 500 of the Social Security list–Gideon, Amos, Emmett, Dexter, Atticus, Asa, Harvey, Callum and Cullen–and some not even on the list at all–Dashiell, Archer, Malachy, Laszlo, Ambrose.  It takes time for the rest of the world to catch up!

　　So here, as of today, are your top choices:

　　WILLIAM and HENRY–tied

　　THEODORE

　　OLIVER

　　CHARLES

　　JAMES

　　GIDEON

　　AUGUST

　　MILO, NATHANIEL

　　NOAH, ELIOT/ELLIOT/ELLIOTT, EDWARD, EMMETT, JASPER

　　JUDE

　　LUKE, BENJAMIN, DASHIELL, EVERETT, OWEN

　　And then:

　　LEVI

　　ETHAN

　　GEORGE

　　GRAYSON

　　CALVIN

　　DESMOND

　　FELIX

　　HUGO

　　FREDERICK

　　SEBASTIAN

　　ADAM

　　DECLAN

　　Followed by:

　　AMOS

　　FINN

　　HUDSON

　　JACK

　　JACOB

　　JOSEPH

　　NATHAN

　　PETER

　　THOMAS

　　And the runners-up:

　　AIDAN/AIDEN, AMBROSE, ARCHER, ARLO, ARTHUR, ASA, ATTICUS, BARNABY, CALLUM, CULLEN, CHRISTOPHER, DANIEL, DEXTER, DOMINIC, DONOVAN, EDMUND, ELIAS, EZRA, FINLAY/FINLEY, HARVEY, JACKSON, JOSIAH, JULIAN, LASZLO, LIAM, LANDON, MALACHY, MILES, NICHOLAS, OSCAR, QUINN, RHYS, RONAN, SILAS, SIMON, TOBIAS, TRISTAN, TRUMAN, WALTER

　　As with the girls, we’ve also tallied up the names that have received the most 5-star ratings by visitors.  Here are the Top 25:

　　HENRY

　　JASPER

　　FINN

　　MILO

　　OLIVER

　　FELIX

　　OSCAR

　　ASHER

　　ATTICUS

　　JUDE

　　JAMES

　　LEO

　　LIAM

　　JACK

　　ELI

　　ELIJAH

　　OWEN

　　JACKSON

　　BENJAMIN

　　WILLIAM

　　EZRA

　　BECKETT

　　NOAH

　　SEBASTIAN

　　DASHIELL