Simon

Simon comes from the Hebrew Shimon, meaning "he has heard" or "hearing" — derived from the root shama, "to hear." It was the birth name of the Apostle Peter before Jesus renamed him Cephas, and it appears throughout the New Testament as a common Jewish name of the period. Simon has been in continuous use in the English-speaking world since the medieval period, always carrying a quiet reliability.

Simon ranks #203 among America's most popular pet names, a name with centuries of reliable, distinguished use that has managed to feel simultaneously classic and fresh. There is something inherently pleasant about Simon — it is the name of a companion who listens, who pays attention, who is genuinely interested in what is happening around them. The cultural weight of Simon and Garfunkel, Simon Says, and Simon Cowell (the famously opinionated) gives it a range from musicality to wry frankness.