Short Names

Four letters or fewer, or one syllable. Short names pair well with long surnames and badly with short ones, which is the single most reliable thing anyone can tell you about choosing on sound.

Rankings for

385 names, most popular first in the United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Alya Alya is a girl's name of Arabic origin meaning "sky," "heaven" or "loftiness," from a root meaning to rise.
Girl Arabic #1,334 in US
Tori Tori means victory through Victoria, and a separate Japanese tori means bird — the two are unrelated, and the shrine gates called torii are a third word again.
Girl English #1,336 in US
Zeus Zeus is a boy's name from Greek mythology, the king of the gods and ruler of the sky on Mount Olympus.
Boy Greek #1,349 in US
Jad Jad is a boy's name from Arabic, generally read as generous or earnest.
Boy Arabic #1,356 in US
Jules Jules is a boy's name, the French form of the Roman family name Julius, traditionally explained as "youthful."
Boy French #1,395 in US
Freddy Freddy is far stronger in England than in America — 328th in England and Wales on 135 births against 1,422nd in the United States on 127, despite the two countries being nowhere near comparable in size.
Boy English #1,422 in US
Zack Zack is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "the Lord has remembered," a short form of Zachary.
Boy Hebrew #1,428 in US
Nick Nick means victory of the people, and the compound is political rather than personal — the Greek joins victory to the citizen body, so it describes a public triumph and not an individual one.
Boy English #1,444 in US
Pia Pia is a girl's name from Latin meaning dutiful or devout, the feminine of Pius.
Girl Latin #1,455 in US
Nour Nour is a girl's name of Arabic origin meaning "light," from nur.
Girl Arabic #1,532 in US
Laya Laya is a girl's name with two unrelated sources: a Sanskrit word meaning "rhythm" and a respelling of Leah.
Girl Sanskrit #1,545 in US
Steve Steve is a boy's name, the short form of Steven or Stephen, meaning crown or garland.
Boy Greek #1,615 in US
Asma Asma is a girl's name of Arabic origin meaning "loftier" or "more eminent," borne by the woman who carried food to Muhammad in hiding.
Girl Arabic #1,618 in US
Nell Nell is a girl's name that reached its modern form through a medieval habit of mishearing, from "mine Ellen" run together.
Girl English #1,628 in US
Guy Guy is a boy's name from a Germanic word probably meaning wood or wide, and one of very few names to have become an ordinary English noun — through Guy Fawkes, whose effigies gave the word its modern sense.
Boy French #1,643 in US
Lois Lois is a girl's name that appears once in the New Testament, in a letter naming Timothy's grandmother, and its meaning has never been established.
Girl Greek #1,669 in US
Issa Issa is a boy's name of Arabic origin, the Quranic name of Jesus.
Boy Arabic #1,679 in US
Naïm Naïm is a boy's name of Arabic origin meaning "ease," "comfort" or "bliss," and in the Quran the name of paradise itself.
Boy Arabic #1,691 in US
Chad Chad is a boy's name from a seventh-century English saint, and it has since become an American internet stereotype and, separately, the name of a country and a disputed ballot.
Boy English #1,700 in US
Josh Josh is a boy's name, the short form of Joshua, from a Hebrew name meaning the Lord is salvation.
Boy Hebrew #1,704 in US
Lori Lori is a girl's name, a short form of Laura meaning laurel.
Girl Latin #1,732 in US
Tess Tess is a girl's name of Greek origin, a short form of Theresa whose meaning has never been established despite centuries of attempts.
Girl English #1,783 in US
Don Don is a boy's name shortened from Donald, meaning world ruler.
Boy Scottish #1,794 in US
Donnie Donnie ranks 563rd in Ireland and 1,804th in the United States, so the country with a fraction of the births ranks it three times higher — a pattern we see when a name goes home.
Unisex Scottish #1,804 in US
Eesa Eesa is a boy's name of Hebrew origin, the Arabic form of Jesus.
Boy Hebrew #1,856 in US
Sammy Sammy means God has heard, or possibly name of God — the Hebrew admits both readings, and the Bible's own explanation of Samuel uses a pun on asking that fits neither.
Boy Hebrew #1,864 in US
Judy Judy is a girl's name, the pet form of Judith, from a Hebrew word meaning a woman of Judea.
Girl Hebrew #1,879 in US
Neal Neal has no agreed meaning — champion, cloud and passionate are all proposed for the Irish Niall and none is established.
Boy Irish #1,909 in US
Susie Susie means lily, shortened from Susan, and the Hebrew word was borrowed from Egyptian — where it may have named a lotus rather than a lily, which changes the flower entirely.
Girl English #1,916 in US
Lou Lou is a girl's name in France, a short form of Louise and Louis meaning "famous warrior."
Girl French #1,927 in US
Cindy Cindy is a girl's name, a pet form of Cynthia, which was a title of the moon goddess Artemis.
Girl Greek #1,929 in US
Lula Lula has no single parent — it shortens Louise, Lucille and Tallulah alike, and it is reviving, ranking 1,306th in England and Wales against 1,938th in the United States.
Girl English #1,938 in US
Fred Fred is a boy's name, the short form of Frederick meaning peaceful ruler.
Boy Germanic #1,939 in US
Dan Dan means he judged, and it is a full Hebrew name in its own right before it is short for Daniel — one of Jacob's twelve sons, and the tribe that gave its name to the northern border of Israel.
Boy Hebrew #1,972 in US
Tia Tia peaked far higher in England than its population would predict — 1,050 births in England and Wales in 2004 against an American peak of 1,189, in a country with roughly a fifth of the people.
Girl Spanish #1,977 in US
Tania Tania descends from a Sabine name nobody can translate, and Shakespeare's Titania is a different word — that one comes from the Titans, so the two are unrelated despite constant confusion.
Girl Russian #2,047 in US
Gina Gina is not one name — it is the ending of several different ones, and which name it shortens changes the meaning entirely.
Girl Italian #2,086 in US
Kari Kari descends from the same unexplained Greek root as Kaitlin in this group, but by a Scandinavian route — through Karen and Katarina rather than through Irish, and the pure gloss is equally unproven on both paths.
Girl Scandinavian #2,096 in US
Lizzie Lizzie means my God is an oath, and the oath is the point — Elisheva names a covenant rather than a feeling, which is why the name belonged to the wife of a priest in Exodus.
Girl English #2,142 in US
Jackie Jackie is the third most evenly divided name on this site — 48.9 percent of recorded births are female, behind only Emerson and Riley among names with more than 50,000 births.
Unisex English #2,166 in US
Tom Tom is a boy's name of Aramaic origin meaning "twin," a short form of Thomas used as a full name across Europe.
Boy Aramaic #2,186 in US
Gene Gene means well-born, shortened from Eugene — and it has nothing at all to do with genes in biology, which is a separate word coined in 1909 from a different Greek root entirely, by a Danish botanist.
Boy English #2,232 in US
Carol Carol is a girl's name with two independent sources: a short form of Caroline, and the word for a joyful song.
Girl English #2,239 in US
Toni Toni has no established meaning, because Antonia does not — the Roman family name Antonius is probably Etruscan, and the flower reading attached to Anthony is a Renaissance invention.
Girl English #2,265 in US
Ria Ria is a girl's name with two unrelated sources — a Spanish word for a river mouth, and a Dutch and German short form of Maria.
Girl Spanish #2,337 in US
Pete Pete means rock, and it began as a joke about a man's character — Jesus renames Simon as Cephas, the Aramaic for a stone, and the pun works in Greek but not in English.
Boy English #2,371 in US
Lela Lela means night on the Arabic reading, and that connects it to one of the oldest love stories in the world — Layla and Majnun, retold in Persian verse eight centuries ago.
Girl Arabic #2,386 in US
Dora Dora means gift, and it is the end of several names rather than a name in its own right — Theodora, Isidora and Dorothea all supply it, and Dorothy means the same thing with the halves reversed.
Girl Greek #2,393 in US

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