Spring is right around the corner, and that means baby showers, nursery paint swatches, and one of the most fun debates a new family gets to have: what are we going to name this kid?

If you’ve got a little boy on the way and the classic roster of Liams and Noahs feels a little too safe for your taste, you’re not alone. Parents across the country are leaning into a fresher wave of baby boy names, and honestly? Some of these are really, really good.

For the past decade or so, traditional and vintage names ruled the charts. The Social Security Administration tracked names like Oliver, Theodore, Henry, and James holding steady at the top of the popularity lists year after year. Those are great names. Solid names. But a shift is happening. Names like Kai, Asher, Santiago, Julian, and Wesley are climbing fast into the top 100, and parents are feeling more confident about picking a name just because it sounds cool and feels right.

And you know what? That’s perfectly okay. When a name genuinely speaks to you, you’re far less likely to second-guess it once that little guy is actually here.

So here are a few standouts worth writing on your baby shower wishlist along with the onesie sizes.

Ace is a one-syllable knockout. Short, punchy, and impossible to mess up on a spelling test. It carries serious winning energy without being over the top, and the SSA data shows it hasn’t cracked the top 1,000 much in recent years, so your kid won’t be sharing the name with three other boys at soccer practice.

Elliott has a little more length and a whole lot of heart. Picture the kid who grows up thoughtful and curious, the one who actually listens when you talk. It also carries the meaning “The Lord is my God” for families with religious roots, which gives it an extra layer of meaning beyond just the cool factor.

Fox is for the bold parent in the room. Animal names have been creeping into the baby name conversation for a while now, with Bear and Griffin getting attention, but Fox brings something different. It’s clever, a little unexpected, and the SSA confirms it hasn’t even registered in the top 1,000 recently. If you want your son to be the only Fox at his Little League team, this one delivers.

Jett hits like a great opening chord. It’s edgy without being try-hard, and it carries that classic rock energy that never really goes out of style. It was sitting around number 206 on the popularity chart a couple of years back, which means it’s out there but still uncommon enough to feel distinctive.

Kai is the name of the moment, and it’s earned it. The SSA placed it at number 61 among American baby boy names recently, a massive jump through the rankings. It has Hawaiian and Japanese roots with meanings like “ocean,” “sea,” “shell,” and “restoration.” That’s a lot of good energy packed into three letters.

Ozzie rounds things out with pure personality. You can just picture a kid with Ozzie energy tearing around the backyard, loud and laughing and completely himself. It’s got rock-and-roll roots without taking itself too seriously, and it works just as well on a kindergartner as it does on a grown man showing up to your backyard barbecue.

Here’s the thing about naming your kid. Everyone will have an opinion. Your mother-in-law will have three. But the name that actually makes you smile when you say it out loud, the one that sounds right when you imagine calling it across a soccer field or a school gymnasium, that’s your name.

This is what celebrating a new family looks like. Not overthinking it. Trusting your gut, having a little fun with the process, and knowing that somewhere down the road, there’s going to be a kid who absolutely lives up to whatever name you give him.

You gotta check out the full list and see which one sticks. Spring babies deserve great names, and there are plenty more where these came from.