Cohen

Before it was a given name it was a title and a lineage. The Hebrew kohen means priest, and Cohen as a surname has historically denoted men descended from Aaron, Moses's brother, who served at the Temple in Jerusalem — a sacred inheritance carried in a family name for three thousand years. That lineage is why the name remains fraught in some Jewish communities when used as a first name; it carries a weight the parents may not have intended to bestow.

Among non-Jewish American families the name has risen steeply: it broke the U.S. top 1,000 in 2006 and now sits at rank 239, drawn by the same sound and rhythm that made similar two-syllable surnames with hard endings — Logan, Owen, Caden — feel modern and substantial at the same time. The Coen Brothers gave it additional cultural texture as a filmmaker name.

Two syllables land cleanly — CO-hen — the first open, the second closing on a soft consonant that holds everything in. It pairs solidly with names from its orbit — Cohen Kairo, Cohen Elian, Cohen Callan — and takes no obvious nickname. The boy named Cohen tends to carry a quiet authority that doesn't explain itself and doesn't need to.