100 Greek Boy Names (With the Myth Attached)

Greek names have been in continuous use for about three thousand years, which is why so many of them don't register as foreign at all. Alexander, George, Nicholas, Peter, Theodore and Christopher are all Greek, and nobody thinks twice about any of them.

The interesting ones are a layer down: the mythological names, which come with a story attached. That's a feature and occasionally a problem — a few of them end very badly, and it's worth knowing which before you commit.

A hundred below, grouped so you can see which layer you're in.

Already familiar — you may not know they're Greek

1. Alexander — "Defender of men." Alex, Xander, Sasha all built in.
2. Nicholas — "Victory of the people."
3. George — "Farmer, earth-worker."
4. Theodore — "Gift of God." Theo does the daily work.
5. Christopher — "Bearing Christ."
6. Peter — "Rock."
7. Andrew — "Manly, brave."
8. Philip — "Lover of horses."
9. Stephen — "Crown."
10. Gregory — "Watchful."
11. Timothy — "Honoring God."
12. Basil — "Kingly." Overdue a return.
13. Dennis — From Dionysius.
14. Jason — "Healer." Led the Argonauts.
15. Damon — "To tame." The loyal friend in the Damon-and-Pythias story.
16. Eugene — "Well-born."
17. Sebastian — "From Sebaste."
18. Cyril — "Lordly."
19. Ambrose — "Immortal."
20. Anthony — Greek-Roman crossover, "priceless."

Short and modern

21. Leo — "Lion." Also the short form of Leonidas.
22. Theo — Short for Theodore.
23. Nico — Short for Nikolaos.
24. Ari — Short for Aristotle or Ariston.
25. Alec — Short for Alexander.
26. Odie — Short for Odysseus, and softer than the full name.
27. Cass — Short for Cassander.
28. Zeno — "Gift of Zeus." Crisp and unusual.
29. Milo — Greek-Latin crossover, "soldier" or "merciful."
30. Otis — "Keen of hearing."

Greek names in Greece right now

31. Giorgos — The Greek George. Still the most common name in Greece.
32. Dimitris — "Follower of Demeter."
33. Konstantinos — "Steadfast." Shortened to Kostas by everyone.
34. Yiannis — The Greek John.
35. Nikos — Short for Nikolaos, and a name in its own right.
36. Panagiotis — "All-holy." Shortened to Panos.
37. Christos — "Anointed."
38. Vasilis — The Greek Basil.
39. Thanasis — Short for Athanasios, "immortal."
40. Stelios — Short for Stylianos, "pillar."
41. Petros — The Greek Peter.
42. Manolis — Short for Emmanouil.
43. Antonis — The Greek Anthony.
44. Michalis — The Greek Michael.
45. Spyros — Patron saint of Corfu.

Myth and legend — the ones that work

46. Orion — The hunter, and a constellation. Genuinely popular now.
47. Atlas — Held up the sky. Strong and increasingly used.
48. Apollo — Sun, music, prophecy. Bold, and it wears surprisingly well.
49. Perseus — Slew Medusa and rescued Andromeda. One of the few heroes whose story ends happily.
50. Hector — "Holding fast." The most decent character in the Iliad, and he loses — but honorably.
51. Theseus — Killed the Minotaur.
52. Jason — Listed twice; the Argo is worth it.
53. Castor — One of the twins, and a star.
54. Linus — A musician in myth; also thoroughly ordinary today.
55. Evander — "Good man."
56. Alcaeus — "Strength." The original name of Heracles.
57. Nestor — The wise old counsellor. Under-used and rather lovely.
58. Ajax — Enormous, brave, and now also a cleaning product. Your call.
59. Adonis — Beautiful, and he knows it. A lot of name to carry.
60. Triton — Son of Poseidon. Works better than most sea names.

Philosophers, scientists, thinkers

61. Aristotle — "Best purpose." Ari makes it usable.
62. Plato — "Broad-shouldered."
63. Socrates — Rarely used, entirely usable.
64. Homer — Poet, and now a cartoon. Both associations are affectionate.
65. Euclid — Geometry.
66. Pythagoras — The triangle man.
67. Archimedes — Levers and bathwater.
68. Herodotus — The first historian.
69. Thales — The first philosopher, by most counts.
70. Xenon — "Stranger, guest." Also an element.

Nature and the sky

71. Zephyr — The west wind. Soft and genuinely usable.
72. Cyrus — Persian by origin, Greek by transmission.
73. Phoenix — Reborn from ash.
74. Helios — The sun itself.
75. Argus — "Bright." Hundred-eyed, and also Odysseus' faithful dog.
76. Boreas — The north wind.
77. Draco — "Dragon." One large fictional association to weigh.
78. Lykos — "Wolf."
79. Petra — "Stone." Used both ways.
80. Chrysos — "Gold."

Saints and the church

81. Athanasios — "Immortal."
82. Kyriakos — "Of the Lord."
83. Isidore — "Gift of Isis."
84. Dorian — "Of the Dorians."
85. Eustace — "Fruitful."
86. Anastasios — "Resurrection."
87. Chrysostom — "Golden-mouthed."
88. Nektarios — "Of nectar."
89. Polycarp — "Much fruit." Genuinely a saint's name, genuinely a hard sell.
90. Prokopios — "Progress."

Rare, and worth a look

91. Alexios — A softer Alexander.
92. Iason — The Greek spelling of Jason.
93. Loukas — The Greek Luke.
94. Markos — The Greek Mark.
95. Filippos — The Greek Philip.
96. Christoforos — The Greek Christopher.
97. Grigoris — The Greek Gregory.
98. Iraklis — The Greek Heracles.
99. Themis — "Justice."
100. Andreas — "Manly." The most exportable of the traditional spellings.

The ones to think twice about

Greek names come with stories, and a few of the best-sounding ones end badly:

• Achilles — died of a wound to the one place he was vulnerable, after sulking through most of the war
• Icarus — flew too close to the sun. A famously beautiful name and a famously bad idea
• Narcissus — where "narcissist" comes from
• Oedipus — no
• Zeus, Hades, Ares — gods of the sky, the dead and war respectively. Enormous names for a small person
• Midas — the touch was a curse, not a gift

None of this makes a name unusable — plenty of boys are called Achilles and do fine. It's only worth knowing the story is attached, because the people who recognize the name will know it too.

The practical note

Greek names shorten well, and in Greece they almost always do — Konstantinos is Kostas, Athanasios is Thanasis, Panagiotis is Panos. Pick the short form first. If you like Kostas, the long version is a formality; if you don't, no amount of liking Konstantinos will help.

More lists: 95 Irish boy names and 85 Italian boy names for the other origin lists, and 100 biblical boy names — where Peter, Andrew, Philip and Stephen appear in their scriptural context.