40 Very Vibrant Boy Names That Start With V

Linguists aren’t precisely clear on the etymology of Vikram, an Indian name, but they generally agree it means something along the lines of “one who is brave, strong, and victorious.”

Synonymous with “winner” or “conqueror,” the Latin name Victor is perfect for your little champion.

The name Vincent comes from the same Latin root word from whence we get Victor and similarly means “to conquer.”

Best known as the name of Vito “Godfather” Corleone in The Godfather, this strong Italian name means “life” and is a pretty stellar boy name that starts with “V.”

A unisex English name, Vale is an antiquated or poetic word for a valley.

Another great unisex name hits the rare combination of “unique” but also “easy to spell and pronounce,” Valen is derived from Latin and means “healthy and strong.”

In the era of silent films, Rudolph Valentino (real name: Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla *phew*) was an icon, a status that persists to this day. The name Valentino has become synonymous with romantic appeal and old Hollywood glamour.

This Italian version of the classic “Vincent” has a built in totally rad nickname: Enzo! Vincenzo just sounds so strong as a boy name that starts with “V.”

A modern name of unclear origin, Van could be short for the surname Vance, short for Evan or Ivan, or just kind of its own thing! Whatever the origin, it definitely has a cool kid vibe.

This classic Indian name of Vihaan is strong, beautiful, and has a beautiful meaning: sunrise.

While “Valerie” may strike many as a “girl name,” Valery has historically skewed male and began as a surname. It comes from the same root as Valen and means “healthy and strong.”

This surname of Vaughn comes from the Welsh word bychan and means “small,” which means actor Vince Vaughn’s name roughly means “little conqueror”!

When it comes to Russian boy names, it doesn’t get any more classic than Vladimir, which in Slavic roughly translates to “powerful ruler.” This is definitely a traditional boy name that starts with “V.”

Coming from the Roman clan name Vergilius, the name Virgil means “flourishing” and is perhaps most famously attributed to the poet who wrote the Aeneid.

Another last-name-first-name, Vance is an English name that means “marshland.”

Pronounced “vin-CHEN-tee,” this Italian form of Vincent, Vincenti, is a great twist on a classic.

This “strong and healthy” name of Valentin is perfect for your little sweetheart (see what I did). Dropping the “e” changes the pronunciation from the more classic “Valentine” to “val-en-TEEN.”

A shortened version of the Greek name “Evander,” this “V” boy name of Vander means “good man.”

This very Roman sounding “V” name for boys, Valerio, means “to be strong.” If you wanted, you could use either “Val” or “Rio” as a nickname.

This Norse name of Viggo means “battle,” and was granted to the fictional “Viggo the Carpathian” of Ghostbusters II and the very real Viggo Mortensen of Lord of the Rings.

The name Vernon dates back to the days of Ancient France (back when it was called Gaul) and means “alder tree.”

Vanya is a nickname for the classic Russian name Ivan (sort of like how Mikey is for Michael) and means “God is gracious.”

The Slavic form of the Greek name Basil, Vasily (also spelled Vasili) means “royal” or “kingly.”

A Czech name meaning “more glory,” this unique “V” name of Václav is sometimes translated into English as Wenceslaus, as in the good king we sing about at Christmastime. (Incidentally, St. Václav is the patron of the Czech Republic.)

Vidal is a boy “V” name that means “life” and is probably most famously attributed to Vidal Sassoon, who not only made a name for himself creating iconic hairstyles for decades of movie stars, he also fought Nazis and fascists on the home-front in England during World War II.

Pronounced “vee-ECH-eh-slav,” this strong Russian name of Vyacheslav means “greater glory.”

No one seems to know where this unique “V” boy name of Verlyn comes from, which means someone probably just came up with it independently, but it’s giving powerful wizard.

I dig Vern, this shortened version of Vernon, which also means “alder tree.”

This Germanic name of Varrick means “leader who defends.” (It’s also the name of a street in Manhattan, though in that case it’s spelled with one R.)

A lot of the “V” names for boys on this list come from the Latin word meaning “victory,” and this Indian name of Vijay highlights the fact that Indian and European languages are more often than not drawn from the same primordial well. Vijay also means “victory.”

Judging from this list, it would seem that Italians are all about boy names that begin with “V.” And, like many on this list, Vittorio means “victory.”

I think Voltaire, the surname of the famous French writer and philosopher, is a unique “V” name for a little genius.

In Slavic languages, “slav” is a common element of a given name that means “glory.” Vlatislav is pretty straight forward and means “one who owns glory” or “famous.”

Look, is Vaemond a Game of Thrones name? Yes. Is it dope? Also yes. Was the character cool? Not especially, but the name really is and the character is minor enough so that you can probably get away with it.

Another nice spin on the Valen- names, Valerien has a similar classic vibe as Julian but with a unique “V” name twist. You could also spell it Valyrian if you want another Game of Thrones connection.

This Czech name of Vanek is another version of Václav and also means “more glory.”

The baby boy name Valiant as in “Prince Valiant!” I kind of dig it!

In Roman mythology, Vulcan was the god of fire, blacksmithing, volcanoes, and the forge, equivalent to the Greek Hephaestus.

Is this another Game of Thrones name? Sort of! While a lot of people probably first encountered this name in the series, Varys is a name of Latin origin and means “bow-legged.” (Also, Varys was one of the best characters on the series so... not a bad choice in any case!)

I know Vivian is a hard sell because, for some reason, once a name becomes associated with girls it stops getting used for boys (what a coincidence, that’s probably not at all misogyny...), but Vivian is traditionally unisex and maybe it’s time for boys to reclaim it!