Cool Cowboy Names

Cannon sits amongst other weapon names like Colt, Pistol, Lance, and Remington. Definitely a name that offers bombast.

Groovy Mod Squad name that still sounds retro cool.

Until recently Ward was, like Wally, a Cleaver name, but today's parents are seeing it as a cooler nickname for Edward than Eddie, and are also beginning to use it on its own.

This shimmery Age of Aquarius unisex flower child name is making a comeback, along with metal and gem names like Steel, Jade, and Ruby.

A variant form of the surname MacLaine or MacLean, Macklin feels more wearable as a first name: a cool and current way to nickname Mack.

A lean and lanky Irish cowboy name with great nickname potential to boot (Cass or Sid are both options). This is one of the great under-rated American names!

Usually adding an e to the end of a name makes it more feminine, but Locke is at most recent count used only for baby boys. Still, this stylishly strong one-syllable name is theoretically gender-neutral.

America has fallen in love with Hayes and Brooks and Banks and Rhodes. Now, we'd like to introduce you to Townes. Townes feels predestined for mainstream success with its fashionable S ending and image that can read as preppy or country or cowboy, depending on the context.

One of several blunt B names just this side of the gender divide. While its short and to-the-point sound may feel modern, it has been declining steadily since the 1980s.

Canyon is a unique baby name evocative of natural splendor and the old Steve Canyon comic-strip heroism, making it an intriguing new word-name possibility.

Riggs, with its suave, cowboy-cool style, is one of the hottest new names on the scene. Boy names that end with S are particularly trendy right now, with similar choices Briggs, Wells, and Jones zooming up the charts.

A key figure in Norse legend and a traditional Scandinavian favorite making inroads here.

Judd is a strong but sensitive short form that can easily stand on its own, the second 'd' giving it a lot more substance, and it would also be a good middle name choice. Two recent actors have given it credence--Judd Nelson and Judd Hirsch, and now it's most noticeably represented by comedy director Judd Apatow.

A variation on the popular Colton.

An early and still one of the most popular unisex names, also a place name and name of a Native American people in the northern Mississippi valley, which makes it a controversial baby name choice. While the popularity of Dakota is trending downward for both genders, it's one of those rare genuinely gender-neutral names that is used for nearly equal numbers of boys and girls.

Baylor's 2014 ascension to the US Top 1000 for boys is probably thanks to its fashionable two-syllable, r-ending, occupational surname feel. Think of it as Taylor with a twist.

Old-school nickname ala Spike and Babe that's favored by some hipster parents.

Lou, all by itself, is become fashionable for girls, which usually makes a name LESS fashionable for boys. But Lou, like Bill or Jim, is rarely used on its own for boys anyway. (You wouldn't name a boy Frederick Lou the way that girls are named Mary Lou or, in the case of Keri Russell's new baby, Willa Lou.) Long form Louis is getting cool again and, with the Lewis spelling, is the Number 2 name in Scotland.

Quade is a confident, contemporary-sounding name that would fit right in with classmates Cade, Zade, Slade and Jade, boasting the quirky Q-beginning.

Justice, one of the rare virtue names for boys, entered the popularity ranks in 1992, and has remained on the list ever since. Parents' search for names implying virtue has led to a mini-revival of this long-neglected name in both its German homonymic form, Justus, and as the word itself. Steven Seagal was ahead of the curve when he used it back in 1976.