Boy Names Ending in N From Books, Movies, and Video Games

Boy names ending in N are dominating American naming right now — four of them sit in the US top 100 for 2025. Many of those names trace at least part of their cultural lift to a single book character, movie protagonist, or video game hero. Here's the full map: 90+ names ending in N from literature, films, and games, broken down by source, with real US Social Security birth data charting the rise of each.

The naming pattern is real. Aiden, Mason, Logan, and Ethan all sit in the US top 100 for 2025, and each one has at least one major game or film namesake. Below the top tier, names like Leon, Anakin, and Jensen have ridden specific characters from niche to mainstream over the past decade. And below that, there's a long tail of rare picks — Raiden, Finn, Auron, Flynn — that parents specifically choose because of one game or one movie.

The Crossover MVPs

These names appear as the lead in both a major video game and a major film. They're the strongest examples of cross-medium cultural penetration — and unsurprisingly, they're also the most popular in 2025.

Made Famous by Books

Before the screens, there were the pages. Some of the most enduring boy names ending in N come from novels — and a few of those names only exist as American baby names because of a single author's character. Books take longer to move name needles than blockbusters do, but the lift is more durable.

The deep book bench

Below the named tier, dozens of literary boy names end in N. These are the ones that fan-of-the-book parents reach for:

• Atticus — ends in 's' but worth mentioning the To Kill a Mockingbird reverberation; for actual -N picks see below.
• Bran — Bran Stark, A Song of Ice and Fire (George R. R. Martin, 1996–onwards). The TV adaptation later expanded it, but the name was on the page first.
• Cain — Genesis (the original) plus countless modern literary uses; Lord Byron's Cain: A Mystery (1821).
• Christian — Pilgrim's Progress (Bunyan, 1678) — original "Christian" protagonist; more recently Fifty Shades.
• Damian — Damian Hayes in The Omen novelization (1976).
• Dorian — The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde (1890). Easily the most famous -ian literary name.
• Ethan — Ethan Frome (Edith Wharton, 1911). Yes, before Mission: Impossible existed.
• Fagin — Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist (1838). Rare as a first name but iconic in literary memory.
• Finn — Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain (1884). The literary Finn predates every modern Finn by a century.
• Finnegan — James Joyce's Finnegans Wake (1939).
• Gideon — Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (2019); also Biblical Old Testament.
• Holden — charted above.
• Ian — Ian Murray, Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series (1991-onwards).
• Jordan — Robert Jordan, the author of The Wheel of Time (1990–2013); plus countless Jordans in fiction.
• Lucien — the librarian of dreams in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman (1989–onwards).
• Marvin — Marvin the Paranoid Android, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams, 1979).
• Nathan — Nathan Algren in Eugene Sue's lineage; many literary Nathans before the games.
• Owen — Owen Meany in A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989).
• Quentin — Quentin Compson in The Sound and the Fury (Faulkner, 1929); Quentin Coldwater in Lev Grossman's The Magicians (2009).
• Ron — Ron Weasley, Harry Potter (Rowling, 1997–onwards).
• Sebastian — Sebastian Flyte in Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh (1945).
• Simeon — Old Testament Bible figures.
• Solomon — ends in 'n', King Solomon, Old Testament + countless literary descendants.
• Stephen — Stephen Dedalus in James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist (1916); Stephen King uses his own first name throughout his work.
• Tarzan — Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan of the Apes (1912).
• Tristan — Stardust, Neil Gaiman (1999); Arthurian Romance Tristan + Iseult (12th century).
• Tyrion — Tyrion Lannister, A Song of Ice and Fire (1996).
• Vernon — Uncle Vernon, Harry Potter (1997).
• Westley — ends in 'y' but worth noting The Princess Bride (William Goldman, 1973).
• Winston — charted above.

Made Famous by Video Games

These boy names ending in N are most strongly associated with a single video game character — often the protagonist of a long-running franchise. A few have crossed into mainstream usage; most remain insider picks for gaming families.

The Long Tail of Game Heroes Ending in N

Below the named tier, there's a deep bench of game protagonists and major characters whose names end in N. Most are rare picks; some are quietly climbing.

• Auron — Final Fantasy X (2001), the stoic guardian samurai.
• Brendan — male protagonist in Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald (2002–2004).
• Cain — Deckard Cain, the Diablo series narrator (1996–onward); Cain in StarCraft.
• Eamon — recurring Fable character.
• Gideon — Mitchell Atlas in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (2014).
• Gordon — Gordon Freeman, Half-Life (1998–onwards). The reason silent-protagonist scientists are a trope.
• Hank — Hank Anderson, Detroit: Become Human (2018).
• Jansen — Lost Odyssey (2007), the loud mage.
• Jin — Jin Kazama in Tekken (1997–onwards); Jin Sakai, Ghost of Tsushima (2020).
• Kane — Command & Conquer (1995), the cult leader of NOD.
• Keegan — Keegan P. Russ, Call of Duty: Ghosts (2013).
• Ken — Ken Masters, Street Fighter (1987–onwards).
• Lan — Lan Hikari, Mega Man Battle Network (2001).
• Layton — Professor Hershel Layton (2007 onwards).
• Lucian — League of Legends Purifier (2013).
• Ramon — Ramon Salazar, Resident Evil 4 antagonist (2005).
• Ryan — Andrew Ryan, BioShock (2007), founder of Rapture.
• Sebastian — Sebastian Castellanos, The Evil Within (2014).
• Shaun — Shaun, Sole Survivor's son in Fallout 4 (2015).
• Simon — Simon "Ghost" Riley, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2009 reboot).
• Vaughn — Vaughn Hauser, Tales from the Borderlands (2014).
• Vincent — Vincent Valentine, Final Fantasy VII (1997); Vincent in Catherine (2011).
• Xen — the alien dimension in Half-Life (used as a name).

Made Famous by Movies

These -N boy names are most strongly tied to a film or franchise character. Hollywood villains, action leads, and animated companions all show up.

Star Wars (boy names ending in N)

• Anakin — chart above.
• Finn — sequel trilogy, charted above.
• Obi-Wan — Obi-Wan Kenobi, prequels + 2022 series. Rare as an exact-spelling US name but a recognized cultural reference.
• Ren — Kylo Ren, sequel trilogy. The name "Ren" itself climbed in the US after 2015.
• Tarkin — Grand Moff Tarkin, original Star Wars + Rogue One.
• Hutton & Hudson — surnames-as-first-names that show up in the expanded universe.

Comic-book and superhero films

• Bruce — wait, ends in 'e'. Skip. Logan — Wolverine, charted above.
• Gordon — Commissioner James Gordon, Batman films and Gotham.
• Jameson — J. Jonah Jameson, Spider-Man's Daily Bugle editor (1977 onwards).
• Owen — Owen Grady, Jurassic World trilogy (2015–2022).
• Ronan — Ronan the Accuser, Guardians of the Galaxy / Captain Marvel.
• Stephen — ends in 'n'. Doctor Stephen Strange (Marvel).

Animated and family films

• Damian — Mean Girls (2004); Wonder Woman 1984.
• Flynn — Tangled, charted above.
• Ramon — Ramon the penguin, Happy Feet (2006).
• Tristan — Stardust (2007); also a recurring Disney prince name.
• Joaquin — Coco (2017) and many Latin-set animated films.

Action, sci-fi, and horror

• Bryan & Brian — Bryan Mills, Taken (2008–2014).
• Cain — Boondock Saints (1999); RoboCop 2 (1990).
• Conan — Conan the Barbarian (1982, 2011).
• Duncan — Highlander (1986, 1992 onwards) — Duncan MacLeod.
• Dustin — Stranger Things (Dustin Henderson, 2016 onwards). Sci-fi adjacent.
• Hudson — Private Hudson in Aliens (1986); the Hudson Hawk title role.
• Ian — Dr. Ian Malcolm, the Jurassic Park / Jurassic World franchise (1993 onwards). One of the most iconic film scientists.
• Jason — Jason Voorhees, Friday the 13th franchise (1980 onwards); Jason Bourne (2002 onwards).
• Khan — Wrath of Khan (1982); Star Trek Into Darkness (2013).
• Norman — Norman Bates, Psycho (1960) and Bates Motel TV (2013–2017).
• Quentin — Saw (2004) and Saw III; also the John Green book / film Paper Towns.
• Thorin — Thorin Oakenshield, The Hobbit film trilogy (2012–2014).
• Tyrion — Tyrion Lannister, Game of Thrones (2011–2019). Technically TV, but the film-scale production made it cinema-influential.
• Vernon — Uncle Vernon Dursley, Harry Potter film series (2001–2011).
• Wilson — Wilson the volleyball, Cast Away (2000) — arguably the most famous inanimate-object character of all time.

Drama and romance

• Brennan — Step Brothers (2008) — Will Ferrell.
• Christian — Moulin Rouge! (2001); Fifty Shades (2015 onwards).
• Declan — Leap Year (2010).
• Dylan — Charlie's Angels (2000) — Dylan Sanders.
• Evan — Bruce Almighty / Evan Almighty (2003, 2007).
• Holden — Catcher in the Rye and adaptations; Almost Famous (2000) — Holden's writer character.
• Jackson — Jackson Maine, A Star Is Born (2018).
• Jordan — Jordan Belfort, The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).
• Justin — many — most famously Justin from 13 Reasons Why.
• Kevin — Kevin McCallister, Home Alone (1990, 1992); Kevin's English (Wonder, 2017).
• Sebastian — Sebastian Wilder, La La Land (2016).
• Shaun — Shaun of the Dead (2004).
• Simon — Save the Last Dance (2001); The Simon Birch title role (1998).

The Master Table

Every name ending in N covered above, with its primary source, year of release, and medium.

Top tier (US top-100 in 2025)

Mid tier (Top 500 in 2025)

Book-anchored picks

Niche tier (Top 1000, or below)

Rising vs Declining in 2025

Some -N names ending in N are still climbing on the back of recent media; others are normalizing from peaks. Where the 2025 SSA data tells a clear story:

Still climbing

• Aslan — nearly 7x since 2011. The cleanest book-driven climb in this dataset.
• Winston — almost tripled since 2011. Tracks every cultural moment when 1984 gets cited.
• Leon — up 1.4% in 2025 on top of a 280% climb since 2011. RE4 Remake didn't hurt.
• Jensen — up 14% in 2025. Tripled over the decade.
• Anakin — peaked in 2023 (541 births); slight dip in 2025 (427) but still 4x the 2011 baseline. The Disney+ Star Wars era anchored it.
• Raiden — bouncing around 700–900 births since 2018; still rare enough to feel like a deliberate pick.

Normalizing from peaks

• Mason — was #2 in 2011 with 19,528 births; now 6,291. Still top-50 but clearly past peak.
• Aiden — peaked 2009; current 5,046 births is solid but far below the 16,000 peak.
• Logan — peaked at 14,057 in 2017 (the year the Logan film released); now 5,576.
• Ethan — long-tenured top-10 name; current 7,852 is gentle decline but still very common.
• Nathan — gradual decline from 10,500 in 2011 to 4,975 in 2025. Uncharted's last big chapter shipped in 2017; the name is finding a lower steady state.

How to read the cross-medium effect

One observation that runs through the data: characters don't drive name popularity on their own — they boost names that are already on a rising curve, or stabilize names that would otherwise decline faster.

Aiden was rising in the early 2000s before Watch Dogs even existed; the game arrived at peak adoption. Logan was already a top-50 name when the X-Men films started; Wolverine's 2017 farewell film coincided with Logan's all-time peak. Mason climbed from sub-200 to #2 in a decade without any single character anchor — Alex Mason and Mason Evans Jr. arrived during the climb, not at the start.

The exception is the niche tier. Anakin, Raiden, Auron, Tarkin — these names essentially do not exist in American naming records before their character. Anakin had ~5 US births annually before 1999; the Star Wars prequels took it from zero to a tracked baby name. Same with Raiden post-Mortal Kombat. Those are the "this name only exists because of this character" cases.

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