Cairo

Cairo takes its sound from the Egyptian capital, whose Arabic name al-Qahirah means the victorious. The city itself carries pyramids, the Nile, centuries of poets and caliphs, and the name on a child lifts a small corner of all that weight. Two syllables, KY-roh, with a confident first beat and an open vowel at the close. It emerged on American charts in the 2010s among place-names like Cairo's cousins Kingston and Memphis and has been embraced more often for boys. The name feels worldly and contemporary, with a quietly regal underside. Cairo reads original and assured, a boy's name that steps out already in motion.