Christmas-Inspired Baby Boy Names — That Aren't 'Claus' or 'Jesus'

If you’re expecting a baby boy this month (well, first of all, good luck!), you may be somewhat stressed about selecting the perfect name to honor the season. Or maybe you just hope your soon-to-be kid will grow to love holiday cheer so much he wants to carry it with him all year. Either way, you can rest assured that “Santa” and “Jesus” aren’t the only choices for iconic Christmas-inspired names. Here are a few of our favorites for baby boys — from the secular to the spiritual to the Hollywood classics.

Christmas-Inspired Boy Names From Beloved Holiday Traditions

• Nicholas: As in Jolly Old St. Nicholas himself
• Noel: French name that means “Christmas”
• Yule: English name meaning “born at Christmas”
• Lucian: A Latin name meaning “light” or “illumination” (in French, it’s spelled Lucien)
• Clement: Clement Moore wrote ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
• Christian: Greek name meaning “believes in Christ”
• Winter: English name meaning “year”
• Frost: Perfect for the season
• Snowden: This is an English name meaning “from the snowy hill”
• Kris: After Kris Kringle; also an English name meaning “follower of Christ”
• Jack: Great traditional name; can reference Jack Frost
• Felix: Means “happy” or “joyful”

For more ideas, check out our list of winter baby boy names.

Christmas-Inspired Boy Names That Are Spiritual in Nature

If you’re of the Christian faith, these biblical boy names might be just the inspiration you need.

• Emmanuel: Hebrew name meaning “God with us”; also Old Testament name for the Messiah
• Joseph: Hebrew name — Joseph was the father of Jesus
• Theodore: Greek name meaning “gift of God”
• Gabriel: Gabriel is a Spanish name meaning “man of God”
• Christopher: St. Christopher is the patron saint of travelers; he is believed to have carried the Christ child across the river
• Jasper: One of the kings who visited Baby Jesus
• Balthazar: One of the kings who visited Baby Jesus
• Angel: Biblical name for spirit messengers of God
• Ethan: Biblical name meaning “strong”

Get more spiritual boy baby names here.

Christmas-Inspired Boy Names From The Classics

Take a look back at some classic holiday stories and films for great traditional and unique boy names. From more contemporary classics, we’ve got Clark (National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation), Kevin (Home Alone), Buddy (Elf), Ralphie (A Christmas Story) and Scott (or even his last name, Calvin!) from The Santa Clause and its respective sequels.

Drawing from the older classics: from White Christmas, Bing Crosby (whose first or last name would make a cool boy’s name) played Bob Wallace, while Danny Kaye played Phil Davis. Crosby’s other festive classic, Holiday Inn, had Crosby playing Jim and starred Fred Astaire as Ted. From It’s a Wonderful Life, Jimmy Stewart played the lovable George Bailey — or what about Clarence the angel? There’s also Clement, in homage to Clement Clarke Moore, author of “The Night Before Christmas”. Or you could name your son Charles — after Charles Dickens, writer of A Christmas Carol … or Timothy (also known as “Tiny Tim”), one of the main characters. Probably skip the “Scrooge” name idea though.

A version of this article was originally published in December 2010.