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

361 names, most popular first in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Jim Jim is a boy's name meaning supplanter, shortened from James — which is the same name as Jacob, split into two by Latin.
Boy English #3,160 in US
Zac Zac is a boy's name, the short form of Zachary, from a Hebrew name meaning the Lord has remembered.
Boy Hebrew #3,187 in US
Ted Ted is a boy's name that serves two unrelated names at once, and it exists because medieval English moved the n from "mine Edward."
Boy English #3,192 in US
Leyna Leyna is a girl's name with no single source, read as a form of Lena, of the Arabic Lina, or as a modern coinage.
Girl French #3,194 in US
Tim Tim means honoring God, and France ranks it 277th — far above the United States at 3221st, which is the reverse of what an English short form would normally do.
Boy English #3,221 in US
Kathy Kathy is a girl's name, the pet form of Katherine, and it inherits that name's genuinely unknown meaning.
Girl Greek #3,262 in US
Essie Essie shortens two names with nothing in common — Esther, whose root is probably Babylonian, and Estelle, which is the Latin for a star.
Girl English #3,334 in US
Jeff Jeff means peace, shortened from Geoffrey — but the first element of that compound is disputed between three different Germanic words, so only the peace half of the name is actually agreed on by the sources.
Boy English #3,351 in US
Beth Beth is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my oath," a short form of Elizabeth, and the seven in the Hebrew is the same idea as the oath.
Girl English #3,441 in US
Trisha Trisha is the fourth spelling of Patricia on this site, and England now ranks it above America — 1123rd in England and Wales against 3484th in the United States, having set its English peak this year.
Girl English #3,484 in US
Nikki Nikki means victory of the people, and both halves of the Greek are collective — nike is the victory and laos is the citizen body, so it describes a public triumph rather than a personal one.
Girl English #3,510 in US
Kaïs Kaïs is a boy's name of Arabic origin, borne by the poet of the Layla and Majnun story, one of the most famous love legends of the Islamic world.
Boy Arabic #3,535 in US
Sacha Sacha is a boy's name in France, the French spelling of the Russian diminutive of Alexander, meaning "defender of mankind."
Boy French #3,659 in US
Tadhg Tadhg is a boy's name of Irish origin meaning "poet" or "storyteller."
Boy Irish #3,677 in US
Tammy Tammy is a girl's name meaning palm tree, a pet form of Tamara.
Girl Hebrew #3,678 in US
Nino Nino is a boy's name in France and Italy, a short form of names ending in -nino such as Giovannino and Antonino.
Boy Italian #3,679 in US
Ora Ora has three unrelated sources — the Latin imperative meaning pray, the Hebrew for light, and an Albanian word for hour — and our data marks it reviving across three markets.
Unisex Latin #3,744 in US
Tanya Tanya is a Russian pet form of Tatiana, whose meaning is not known — the Roman family name behind it may be Sabine rather than Latin, and the Sabine language is barely attested at all.
Girl Russian #3,778 in US
Kay Kay serves two unrelated sources — the initial of Katherine, and Sir Kay of Arthurian legend, who is Arthur's foster brother and one of the oldest figures in the whole cycle.
Girl English #3,916 in US
Sohan Sohan is a boy's name of Sanskrit origin meaning "handsome" or "charming."
Boy Sanskrit #3,926 in US
Becky Becky means to bind, shortened from Rebecca, and the Hebrew is genuinely uncertain — a knotted cord and a snare are both proposed, and the reading has never been settled.
Girl English #4,024 in US
Jo Jo is a name serving as the short form of Joanne, Josephine and Joan for women and Joseph for men.
Girl Hebrew #4,053 in US
Jodi Jodi serves Judith, Joseph and Jude at once, which is why the wider Jody family never settled on one sex — three unrelated Hebrew parents pulling in different directions.
Girl American #4,057 in US
Vicky Vicky means victory, and it is one of the clearest cases on this site of a monarch making a name — Victoria was rare in English before the queen and ordinary for a century afterward.
Girl English #4,078 in US
Fionn Fionn is a boy's name of Irish origin meaning "fair" or "white," and by extension bright or blessed.
Boy Irish #4,179 in US
Brad Brad means broad clearing, shortened from Bradley — and the broad element is the same word as the modern English broad, one of the few Old English place-name terms still transparent.
Boy English #4,260 in US
Kim Kim is a name that arrives from three unrelated directions — an English place name, Kipling's 1901 novel, and the most common Korean surname in the world.
Unisex English #4,263 in US
Mandy Mandy means she who must be loved, and the grammar matters — Amanda is a Latin gerundive, a form expressing obligation, so the name is closer to an instruction than a description.
Girl English #4,488 in US
Adem Adem is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "earth" or "man," the Turkish, Bosnian and Albanian form of Adam.
Boy Turkish #4,491 in US
Greg Greg means watchful, and the Greek is a command rather than a description — gregorein means stay awake, which early Christians took as an instruction about the second coming.
Boy English #4,784 in US
Kristy Kristy is the seventh spelling of this name family in our gap band, and the count itself is the finding — one Latin word has produced seven separate pages on this site through American respelling alone.
Girl American #5,178 in US
Debbie Debbie is a girl's name meaning bee, a pet form of Deborah.
Girl Hebrew #5,246 in US
Bill Bill comes from William, and the B is the point — medieval English made pet names by rhyming, which is why Will became Bill, Rob became Bob and Rick became Dick.
Boy English #5,272 in US
Jill Jill is a girl's name, a medieval short form of Gillian, and it is half of the oldest surviving English nursery rhyme pair.
Girl English #5,795 in US
Terri Terri shortens Teresa, whose meaning has never been established — harvester, summer and a Greek island are all proposed and none of them is settled.
Girl English #6,184 in US
Bastien Bastien means venerable, and it is the Greek translation of Augustus — sebastos rendered the emperor's title in the eastern half of the empire, and cities renamed Sebaste carry the same honor in Greek dress.
Boy French #6,244 in US
Mamie Mamie has no single parent — it shortens Mary, Margaret and Miriam alike, and Mary's own meaning has never been established, so the name inherits an unresolved question three ways.
Girl English #6,258 in US
Margie Margie means pearl, carried from Margaret — and the Greek behind it may be a loan from an Indo-Iranian source, so the word for the gem traveled a long way before it became a name.
Girl English #6,600 in US
Reo Reo is a boy's name used in Japanese, where it is written with a range of characters, and in Māori, where it means voice or language.
Boy Japanese #6,830 in US
Christie Christie means a follower of the anointed one, and the anointing was a physical act — Christ translates the Hebrew mashiach, both describing oil poured over a king or priest at his installation.
Girl English #7,751 in US
Kristi Kristi is the fifth spelling of this name to appear in our gap band — after Kristin, Kristen, Kristina and Kristine, all of them American-led despite the form being Scandinavian.
Girl American #7,840 in US
Meabh Meabh is a girl's name of Irish origin meaning "she who intoxicates," from a root connected with mead.
Girl Irish #8,075 in US
Lyna Lyna is a girl's name, a French respelling of Lina, which has both an Arabic sense of a young palm tree and a European use as a short form.
Girl French #8,120 in US
Gail Gail is a girl's name meaning my father rejoices, clipped from Abigail.
Girl Hebrew #8,620 in US
Peggy Peggy is a girl's name meaning pearl, a pet form of Margaret by way of Meg.
Girl Greek #8,640 in US
Tricia Tricia and Trisha are the same name a syllable apart, and both shorten Patricia — which makes four spellings of one Latin word on this site, alongside Patty and Patti.
Girl English #8,708 in US
Cathy Cathy is a girl's name, a pet form of Catherine whose meaning has never been established.
Girl Greek #8,845 in US
Sue Sue means lily, shortened from Susan, and it is one of the steepest falls in our data — from 5,306 American births in 1947 to 11, a decline by a factor of roughly 482.
Girl English #9,306 in US

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A style is our reading of a name. A decade is the register — the names children were actually given, in order, with the counts.

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