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Modern Hero Baby Names

Modern hero baby names send a powerful message about your values and the qualities you hope your child will one day embody. They might be inspired by stars of screen or sports or literature or politics. Modern hero names may also honor heroes and heroines of the past who still inspire us today, such as Eleanor Roosevelt or Duke Ellington.

The particular challenge of hero names is that they honor figures with complicated histories, just like the rest of us. Even among heroes who are long gone or even fictional, there remains the risk of their image becoming spotted after the baby has been named. This isn’t always a death knell — Atticus has remained in good standing despite the sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird revealing him as a less progressive character.

Along with Eleanor and Atticus, other modern hero names in the US Top 1000 include Audrey, Baker, Ford, Iker, Kenzo, Marley, Simone, and Stevie. Distinctive first names that would make cool modern hero names include Indira, Kehinde, Malala, and Noam.

A modern hero name gives your child an inspirational figure to look up to from the very beginning. Search our favorite modern hero baby names below.

Didion The meaning of Didion is 'pioneer', 'sacrifi...
Origin:French
9078
Faulkner

Meaning: falconer

Origin:English
4500
Manning

Meaning: monk

Origin:Irish surname
8946
Roosevelt

Meaning: rose field

Origin:Dutch
2615
Tesla

Meaning: from Thessaly

Origin:Slavic
1895
Shakira

Meaning: thankful, woman of grace

Origin:Arabic
2601
Teigen

Meaning: strip of land; the farmland

Origin:Norwegian
9813
Audre With its root in English culture, the name i...
Origin:English
10964
Owens

Meaning: son of Owen / Eoghan

Origin:Welsh and Irish surname
11359
Yoko

Meaning: good girl

Origin:Japanese
2683
Obama

Meaning: bending or leaning; little beach

Origin:Luo; Japanese
3109
Salinger Salinger is a name that comes from a long li...
Origin:French, Saint Léger
3254
Loewy Loewy is a beautiful baby for your child. It...
Origin:Swiss and German nickname for brave person
3517
Coretta Coretta is a feminine name of American origi...
Origin:English, elaborated form of Cora
5318
Pei Pei is a standard mandarin surname from nort...
Origin:Chinese surname
5566
Winfrey

Meaning: peaceful friend

Origin:Variation of Winfrith, English
5747
Woolf Woolf is an old German name and is not gende...
Origin:Variation of Wolf, animal name
7069
Neruda Neruda is an odd and unusual name that is us...
Origin:Literary name
8317
Huston Huston is an old but meaningful name that is...
Origin:Scottish
8877
Malala

Meaning: sad, grieved

Origin:Pashto
3640