Boys names with a historical/classical leaning

[Salacia]

Starting to think about potential baby names now I’m in my second trimester (had a difficult time getting here so it doesn’t quite seem real yet! Trying to be cautiously optimistic).

DH and I both share a love of history (pretty much any period but particularly Ancient Rome and medieval Europe) and I’ve always thought it would be a bit of a source of inspiration for names.

Girls names aren’t an issue - lots of ideas (Livia, Julia, Theodora, Octavia, Joan, Matilda, Eleanor, Rosalind, Emmeline etc etc) but for boys names the names are either rather generic (Henry, William, John etc) or a bit too out there (especially as DH went to a public school and is very keen to avoid any of the stereotypically posh classical names - certainly no Ptolemy (we’re both in agreement there!)).

I like Felix, Rufus, Marcus, Alban - any other suggestions for names in a similar style?

Francis
Troy
Louis
Franklin

Vespasian
Augustus
Trajan
Alexander
Jason
Brutus

Julius
Alexander
Anselm
Magnus
Victor
Roger
Ferdinand

Cuthbert

Cassius (not as out there these days!), Anthony, Otto, Francis, Robin, Alfred, Malcolm, Edmund, Cedric, Hector, Roland/Rollo, Maximilian, Claudius, Julius, Peter, Augustus.

Cornelius
Aloysius
Rufus
Anthony
Claude
Paul
Philip
Atticus
Reginald

Luke.
Matthew.
Barnabas.
Marcus.
Paul/Saul.
Zachariah.

The names you have listed seem very ordinary apart from Alban.
I'd go for something more unusual. How about something like Horatio, Aurelius or Zeno

Zadok

I have Cuthbert and Oswald in my list due to a fondness for Northumberland - think DH would take some convincing though!

Not sure these would be fitting but

apollo
magnus
hector
atticus
casper
silas
victor
leonard
wilfred
orson
cyrus
rupert
vincent
ralph
francis

Thanks for the suggestions, I like Aurelius (Marcus is on my list mostly from Marcus Aurelius) but the character on plebs is all I can visualise now!

I’m trying to balance my tendency to the more unusual alongside DH’s much more restrained taste so we find something we both like. I’m also conscious that I have a tendency to shorten names to the first syllable Horatio would definitely be out…

I actually love the older Saxon names Aethelred, Athelstan etc but I’m not brave enough to use them (maybe for a pet!). I could see DH going for Alfred in that theme (but then I don’t like Alfie).

Thank you everyone so far - definitely a few to add to my list/use as a springboard!

Marcus is on my list mostly from Marcus Aurelius
In my youth, Marcus would have been the privately educated young man my friend had a crush on. Now I'd think Marcus Rashford, and it just seems a regular name.

Another suggestion: Hereward.

Felix, Rufus, Marcus and Alban are great.

Other ideas-

Cyrus
Atticus
Otto
Milo
Maxim

Constantine
Always liked Marcus (but influenced by an early boyfriend) - no fan of Mark though.
Tristan

Apollo
Geronimo
Leonardo
Raphael
Calvin
Kelvin
Arthur
Richard
Fernando
Dante
Marco
Percy
Howard
Cecil
Troy
Newton
Edison
Julius
Antony
Augustus
Nero
Cornelius
Ptolemy
Jupiter
Ivor
Earl
Samson
Benjamin

Tristan
Duncan
Eric
Lucas
Marcus

Conrad
Aidan
Caedmon
Remus
Edgar
Harold

I like Marcus too (in fact it's DS's middle name)

Adam, Toby, Jasper, Caspian, Jasper, Herbert, Seymour, Lucian, Luca.

We seriously considered Leofric for our son. Love the name. In the end we went for a different name inspired by that period.

Other names I love:
Lucian
Lucius
Remus
Marcus

I know a lovely little boy named Warwick...I've taught for 30 years and he's the only one in all that time I've ever come across ❤️

I think a lot of once posh names don’t read that way anymore

I like Marcus and it’s less popular than a lot of your other ones

Magnus
Gawain
Justin
Julius
Caius
Hector
Laurence
Alberic
Tristram
Atticus

That’s probably true - think DH is just scarred from his school days! I really like Alberic from your list.

Thanks for sharing! I always think it’s really lovely when teachers share the names/children that have stood out!

Unfortunately Warwick makes me think of sticky ends (quite a few Earls of Warwick ended up having violent deaths or were involved in the deaths of others - I know that’s just history but my brain just goes to a head on a stick…)