Arthur

Imagine telling your newborn, all six pounds of him, that his name means bear king. He will blink at you, possibly sneeze, and then go straight back to sleep. But one day he'll look it up, and he will be absolutely thrilled.

Arthur is a Celtic name, and that meaning is about as good as it gets for a boy: part cuddly, part regal, entirely unbothered by anything as trivial as bedtime.

Number four, twice over

Arthur isn't simply popular. Arthur is everywhere. It was number four in England & Wales in 2024 and number four in Brazil in 2022, which is a lovely bit of symmetry for two places with such different weather. France has it at number 6 and New Zealand at 10, with Australia at 17 and Canada at 18.

The United States is cooler on it, with Arthur at 163, and Catalonia cooler still at 301. So if you love the name but dread the thought of three Arthurs in a single reception class, there are at least a few corners of the world where he would stand out.

Legends on the bookshelf

It's hard to talk about Arthur without mentioning King Arthur, the legendary British leader of the late fifth and early sixth centuries. Whether or not you believe every story, that is a great deal of mythic heft to hand a baby in a babygrow.

The bookish among us will also think of Arthur Conan Doyle, the British writer and physician. Between a legendary leader and a writer, the name has a pleasingly storybook quality: it feels like it ought to come with a cloak, a quill or, ideally, both.

Art, Artie and an excellent supporting cast

The nicknames are pure charm. Art is short and slightly cool, like a boy who already knows his way around a skateboard. Artie is cosy and impish, ideal for the toddler years and for any grown man who still gets told off for tracking mud through the kitchen.

Arthur also slots beautifully into a family of names with a similar vintage glow. Leo and Hugo make natural brothers; Alice and Charlotte make equally natural sisters. Line them up and you have a family that looks as though it has stepped out of a very well-thumbed picture book.

What makes Arthur so appealing right now is that balance between old and new. It sounds established and steady, yet it doesn't feel stuffy. It's a name for a little boy who builds dens in the garden and a grown man who runs a meeting with quiet authority, and perhaps still builds the odd den when nobody is looking.

Of course, settling on any name involves a peculiar mix of delight and dread. Every option feels perfect until it suddenly doesn't, and somebody's aunt always has a strong opinion. But if a bear king keeps prowling to the top of your shortlist, maybe it's time to let him have the throne.