109 Badass Boy Names from History and Popular Fiction

Some boy names make an impression the moment you hear them. If you want one with grit and confidence, this list brings together 109 badass boy names, including stand-alone picks and names tied to history, mythology, and popular fiction.

Read through the first group for quick ideas, or learn about the real people and characters behind the later choices. Their stories may help you decide which name feels right for your baby.

31 Strong and Stylish Badass Boy Names

This first group focuses on sound, from short, punchy choices like Zeke and Hawk to familiar names such as Gabriel and Nicholas.

Related: Cool Boy Names for Your Baby

1. Alistair

2. Apollo

3. Baron

4. Bernard

5. Bjorn

6. Blaze

7. Boris

8. Callan

9. Clyde

10. Cutler

11. Damien

12. Diesel

13. Enzo

14. Gabriel

15. Gunnar

16. Harland

17. Hawk

18. Kane

19. Lars

20. Marco

21. Miles

22. Murphy

23. Nicholas

24. Onyx

25. Ryder

26. Sawyer

27. Talon

28. Victor

29. Wyatt

30. Zale

31. Zeke

41 Badass Boy Names from Legendary Men in History

These names are connected to leaders, innovators, artists, and fighters who left a lasting mark. Their legacies are not all admirable, so consider the full story behind each person as you make your shortlist.

Related: Strong and Powerful Boy Names

1. Abraham – Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States.

2. Albert – Albert Einstein was a theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity.

3. Alexander – Alexander the Great was king of Macedonia and created one of the largest empires of the ancient world.¹

4. Aristotle – Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher.

5. Attila – Attila the Hun was the leader of a tribal empire in Central and Eastern Europe.

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6. Benjamin – Benjamin Franklin was one of the United States’ founding fathers.

7. Charlemagne – Charlemagne was king of the Franks and Lombards and was crowned emperor in 800.²

8. Confucius – Confucius was a Chinese philosopher.

9. Edgar – Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer and poet.

10. Franklin – Franklin D. Roosevelt was the 32nd president of the United States.³

11. Galileo – Galileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer and mathematician who helped develop the scientific method.⁴

12. Genghis – Genghis Khan was a warrior and founder of the Mongol Empire.⁵

13. Geronimo – Geronimo was a medicine man and leader of the Apache people in the United States.⁶

14. Guglielmo – Guglielmo Marconi was an Italian inventor who helped develop long-distance wireless telegraphy.⁷

15. Henri – Henri Matisse was a French painter and visual artist.⁸

16. Isaac – Sir Isaac Newton helped develop calculus and formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation.

17. Jackson – Jackson Pollock was an American painter and abstract expressionist.

18. Johannes – Johannes Gutenberg was a German inventor who helped introduce movable-type printing to Europe.

19. Jules – Jules Verne was a French novelist who wrote Around the World in Eighty Days and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas.

20. Julius – Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman whose rise helped bring the Roman Republic to an end.

21. Leonardo – Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian polymath and painter of the High Renaissance.

22. Martin – Martin Luther King Jr. was a prominent leader in the American civil rights movement.

23. Mohandas – Mohandas Gandhi was an Indian independence leader known for using nonviolent resistance against British rule.⁹

24. Muhammad – Muhammad Ali was regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time.

25. Napoleon – Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military leader during the French Revolution.

26. Nelson – Nelson Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist and South Africa’s first Black president.

27. Niels – Niels Bohr was a Danish physicist known for his work on atomic structure and quantum theory. He won the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physics.¹⁰

28. Nikola – Nikola Tesla was a Serbian American inventor and engineer who developed an induction motor powered by alternating current.

29. Orville – Orville Wright was an American aviation pioneer who, with his brother Wilbur, made the world’s first powered, controlled, and sustained flights in an airplane.

30. Pablo – Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter who helped pioneer Cubism.

31. Ralph – Ralph Waldo Emerson was a famous essayist and poet.

32. Salvador – Salvador Dalí was a Spanish Surrealist painter.

33. Samuel – Samuel Adams was one of the United States’ founding fathers.

34. Socrates – Socrates was a Greek philosopher known for the Socratic method.

35. Spartacus – Spartacus was a gladiator who led a major uprising of enslaved people against Rome.¹¹

36. Stonewall – Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was a Confederate general during the American Civil War.

37. Theodore – Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th president of the United States.¹²

38. Ulysses – Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th U.S. president and the commanding general of the Union Army during the Civil War.¹³

39. Vlad – Vlad the Impaler was a 15th-century ruler of Walachia known for his brutal methods and resistance to Ottoman expansion.¹⁴

40. Wilbur – Wilbur Wright was an American aviation pioneer who, with his brother Orville, made the world’s first powered, controlled, and sustained flights in an airplane.

41. William – William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright.

37 Badass Boy Names from Fiction and Mythology

These names come from characters in books, movies, television, video games, and mythology. Some belong to heroes, while others are better known as villains or antiheroes.

1. Adonis – In Greek mythology, Adonis was renowned for his beauty and was loved by Aphrodite and Persephone.

2. Ajani – Ajani Goldmane is a leonin warrior and Planeswalker in Magic: The Gathering.

3. Anakin – Anakin Skywalker is a powerful Jedi who becomes Darth Vader in the Star Wars universe.

4. Barry – Barry Allen is the civilian identity of the DC superhero the Flash.

5. Dante – Dante is the protagonist of the Devil May Cry video game series.

6. Daryl – Daryl Dixon is a skilled tracker and survivor in the television series The Walking Dead.

7. Dexter – Dexter Morgan is the title character of the television series Dexter.

8. Drogo – Drogo is a Dothraki leader in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels and the television adaptation Game of Thrones.

9. Ethan – Ethan Hunt is the protagonist of the Mission: Impossible film series.

10. Ezio – Ezio Auditore is an assassin and protagonist in the Assassin’s Creed video game series.

11. Finnick – Finnick O’Dair is a former Hunger Games victor in The Hunger Games franchise.

12. Han – Han Solo is one of the leaders of the Rebel Alliance in the Star Wars universe.

13. Hannibal – Hannibal Lecter appears in Thomas Harris’s novels and their film and television adaptations.

14. Indiana – Indiana Jones is the protagonist of the Indiana Jones film series.

15. James – James Bond is a British secret agent and the protagonist of a series of novels and films.

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16. Joel – Joel Miller is a survivor and central figure in The Last of Us video game and television series.

17. John – John McClane is the protagonist of the Die Hard film series.

18. Kratos – Kratos is the protagonist of the God of War video game series.

19. Leroy – Leroy Jethro Gibbs is a central character in the television series NCIS.

20. Lex – Lex Luthor is a supervillain in the DC Universe.

21. Link – Link is the protagonist of The Legend of Zelda video game franchise.

22. Logan – Logan is an alias used by Wolverine, a Marvel superhero and member of the X-Men.

23. Luke – Luke Skywalker is a Jedi hero in the Star Wars universe.

24. Marcus – Marcus Fenix is the protagonist of the Gears of War video game series.

25. Max – Max Payne is the title character of the video game series bearing his name.

26. Morpheus – Morpheus is a resistance leader and Neo’s mentor in The Matrix franchise.

27. Nathan – Nathan Drake is the protagonist of the Uncharted franchise.

28. Neo – Neo is the protagonist of The Matrix franchise.

29. Oliver – Oliver Queen is the real name of the DC superhero Green Arrow.

30. Rocky – Rocky Balboa is the protagonist of the Rocky film series.

31. Ron – Ron Swanson is the director of the Pawnee Parks and Recreation Department in Parks and Recreation.

32. Sherlock – Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

33. Spike – Spike is a character in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

34. Thor – Thor is the Norse god of thunder and a character in the Marvel Universe.

35. Tony – Tony Stark is the real name of the Marvel superhero Iron Man.

36. Tyrion – Tyrion Lannister is a strategist and political adviser in the Game of Thrones franchise.

37. Walter – Walter White is the protagonist of the television series Breaking Bad.

Once you have a shortlist, say each name with your baby’s last name and any middle names you are considering. Hearing the full name aloud can make the best combinations easier to spot.

Still looking? Visit our complete baby names hub for more ideas.