Yes, you can have it both ways. You can give your son a timeless, rooted name that that passing trends can’t touch, yet stay off the beaten path of fashion. Satisfy both sides of your style sense with the Namerology collection of boys’ names that are certified as both timeless and intriguing.

To qualify as “timeless,” a name must have been given to at least five American boys every year since 1900. That steady history gives even rare names an ageless bedrock feeling. To qualify as “intriguing,” the name can’t be too popular. In fact it can never have been truly popular. No name on this list was ever given to 0.2% or more of babies in a given year, a threshold that rules out anything that feels too common or ordinary. To make sure that the names sound extra fresh today, I cut the popularity threshold down to 0.1% for the most recent year. I also eliminated any name with a strong past peak or a recent sharp decline, to avoid a dated sound.

After weeding out a few more categories (e.g. alternate spellings of common names, names that have become trendy hits for girls), I came up with a pure list of timeless intrigue. With 153 options from Dean and Clark to Thaddeus and Leander, you should find plenty of ideas to match your classic and creative sides. (Be sure to check out our timeless and intriguing girls, too!)