Here are 14 great under-the-radar choices for boys:

- Abner: Poor biblical Abner got rubified by the dim-witted hayseed comic strip character Li'l Abner, whose comics ran in the Sunday papers for 43 years. We think it's time to polish up the image of the name of the Old Testament commander of Saul's army. Another noteworthy bearer of the name is Abner Doubleday, a Civil War Union general often credited with inventing baseball.

- Augustine: There's August and Augustus and Augustine - all viable choices, but Augustine is the one that's undeservedly completely under the radar. It's most strongly associated with the illustrious fourth century saint, St. Augustine of Hippo, whose teachings and writings had a manifest influence on early Christian philosophy. Augustine's other Latin name, Aurelius, makes for another interesting possibility.

- Cormac: He's the name of a legendary high king of Ireland (Cormac Mac Art), a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist (Cormac McCarthy, born Charles) and a "Harry Potter" character (Cormac McLaggen) - so it's no wonder that Cormac is on track to be part of the new wave of fresh Irish options - though it hasn't hit the Top 1,000 quite yet.

- Cornelius: This ancient Roman family name was well used in turn-of-the-last-century America, ranking as high as Number 142 in the era of railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt. Cornelius been seen as the Minister for Magic in "Harry Potter" and a professor in "Prince Caspian." And if the nickname Corny is a turn-off, you could substitute Neely, as used in "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." Interesting international form: Kees.

- Denver: A more year-round Colorado place name possibility than Aspen, Denver has been unvisited for a while, but with its trendy 'er' ending, it now would fit right in with all those popular occupational surname names. The one noted first-named Denver was Denver Pyle of "The Dukes of Hazzard"; those representing the surname include singer John (born Deutschendorf) and Bob, who played Gilligan of "Gilligan's Island."

- Ephraim: Ephraim is a pleasing but neglected Old Testament name - he was the founder of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. In the past he frequently was seen in literary classics by Dickens, Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson and others, and on 19th century birth certificates, as well. His presence as shape-shifter Ephraim Black in the "Twilight" franchise might inspire some modern baby namers.

- Ford: Though most familiar as a surname (President Gerald, auto-industrialist Henry, actors Harrison and Glenn, director John, rocker Lita), Ford also works well as a strong, one-syllable first; Owen Wilson used it as the middle name of his son Robert. In addition to its automotive reference, it can be thought of as a nature name, a ford being a shallow part of a river or stream.

- Gordon: It would have seemed logical for stalwart Scottish Gordon to have shared in some of the popularity of the trendy, unisex Jordan a few years back, but au contraire - this once Top 100 name dropped off the list completely several years ago. Perhaps it's because some of its current bearers have an older image (U.K. former Prime Minister Gordon Brown) or a rambunctious one (celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay) ... but we'd like to see it come back.

- Guy: Guy was a Top 100 name for a quarter of a century but is nowhere to be seen today. It has had a wildly divergent group of well-known bearers, from French writer Guy (pronounced gee) de Maupassant to British political figure Fawkes to bandleader Lombardo (born Gaetano) to '50s hunk Madison (born Robert) to actor Pearce to director Ritchie to the "Sesame Street" Muppet Guy Smiley. But the bottom line is: Is Guy just too generic for your special little guy?