You may be feeling a bit frustrated if you're trying to use song lyrics as inspiration for baby boy names. Why? Because, even though many songs feature names, the majority of these names are girl names. (This is probably because so many best-selling musical acts have been male singers or all-male groups.)

Boy names are comparatively rare in modern music. What's more, the boy names that are used tend to appear over and over again, leading to a lack of variety. For instance:

• Jack has been used in songs by Clint Black, Ray Charles, The Dresden Dolls, Billy Joel, John Mellencamp, Morphine, The Smiths, Steely Dan, System of a Down and The Who.


• Joe has been used in songs by Nick Cave, Rosemary Clooney, The Cranberries, The Cure, PJ Harvey, Cyndi Lauper, New Order, Tom Petty, Primus and Tom Waits.


• Johnny has been used in songs by Chuck Berry, Alice Cooper, El DeBarge, Fine Young Cannibals, Flogging Molly, Foo Fighters, Don Henley, The Kinks, Poe, The Replacements and Bruce Springsteen.

This doesn't mean you can't find intriguing male names in song lyrics, of course. It just means that you'll have to dig a little deeper to uncover enough names to fill out your list. Here are a dozen boy names to start you off:

• "Lord Anthony" by Belle & Sebastian


• "Billy" by James Blunt


• "Cooper" by Roxette


• "Eddie You Should Know Better" by Curtis Mayfield


• "Isaac" by Madonna


• "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" by Paul Simon


• "What's the Frequency Kenneth" by R.E.M.


• "Hats Off To Larry" by Del Shannon


• "The Ballad of Michael Valentine" by The Killers


• "Oliver's Army" by Elvis Costello


• "Stuart and the Ave." by Green Day


• "William, It Was Really Nothing" by The Smiths

Finally, don't forget to consider the surnames of various musical artists as candidates for first names. (This is perhaps the one area in which boys actually have the advantage over girls.) For instance, names like Dylan, Lennon and Jagger have all been used before as baby boy names.