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

Tonya Tonya is a short form of Antonia, and its meaning is unknown — the Roman family name Antonius has no established derivation, and the flower reading widely given for it is a Renaissance invention.
Girl English #9,318 in US
Carole Carole is a girl's name meaning free man, the French spelling of Carol.
Girl French #10,350 in US
Bob Bob comes from Robert, and the B is not a corruption but a system — medieval English made pet names by rhyming, which is why Rob gave Bob, Will gave Bill and Rick gave Dick.
Boy English #10,578 in US
Jacky Jacky is 98 percent male in our records, which is the reverse of the English Jackie — France took it as a boy's name and kept it, while English-speaking countries made it a woman's.
Boy French #11,096 in US
Shari Shari means a plain, if it comes from Sharon — the Hebrew names the fertile coastal strip of Israel, so the rose of Sharon is a region's flower rather than a person's.
Girl Hebrew #11,850 in US
Teri Teri descends from a name with no agreed meaning — Theresa has been traced to a Greek island, to a word for summer and to one for hunting, and none of the three has carried the field.
Girl English #12,606 in US
Stacie Stacie means resurrection, and it is a boys' name by origin — Anastasius was masculine, and the modern name descends from it through Eustace and Anastasia alike.
Girl English #12,802 in US
Patti Patti and Patty peaked one year apart at almost exactly the same size — 3,121 births in 1958 and 3,123 in 1959 — which is about as close as two spellings of one name get in our records.
Girl English #13,503 in US
Sheri Sheri means darling, and it is French by way of a misreading — English took the adjective chérie as though it were a name, which is why it has no history as one in France itself.
Girl American #13,527 in US
Lynne Lynne now ranks 2155th in France and 14047th in the United States, so a name that peaked in America at 2,471 births ranks far higher in a country that barely used it.
Girl Welsh #14,047 in US
Nelya Nelya is a girl's name with no single source, read variously as a Slavic short form, a form of Cornelia, or an Arabic name.
Girl French #14,130 in US
Patty Patty belonged to Martha before it belonged to Patricia — the pet form was reassigned in the twentieth century, one of several nicknames in English that quietly changed parents.
Girl English #16,459 in US
Vicki Vicki means victory, shortened from Victoria — and Victoria was a rare name in Britain before the queen, not a traditional one she happened to carry.
Girl English 155,049 births
Vickie Vickie is an American name that now charts only in France — it peaked at 6,957 US births in 1956 and has left the American rankings entirely, surviving at 6405th in a market it was never native to.
Girl English 111,330 births
Gayle Gayle carries 67,694 lifetime births and now charts in none of our six markets — one of the largest names on this site to have fallen entirely out of current use.
Girl English 67,716 births
Pat Pat is one of the most evenly divided names on this site — about 60 percent of the births in our records are female, because it shortens both Patricia and Patrick and neither side ever won.
Unisex English 66,955 births
Gabin Gabin is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "from Gabii," an ancient town near Rome.
Boy French 54,596 births
Lise Lise is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "my God is an oath," a short form of Elisabeth used across France and Scandinavia.
Girl French 42,481 births
Côme Côme is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "order" or "beauty," the French form of Cosmas.
Boy French 18,697 births
Livio Livio is a boy's name of Latin origin, the Italian form of the Roman family name Livius, usually connected to a word meaning bluish.
Boy Italian 9,775 births
Rym Rym is a girl's name of Arabic origin meaning "white gazelle," a traditional image of grace in Arabic poetry.
Girl Arabic 3,533 births
Conn Conn is a boy's name of Irish origin meaning "chief" or "hound," borne by the High King from whom Connacht takes its name.
Boy Irish 806 births
Aoibh Aoibh is a girl's name from an Irish word for beauty or radiance, and the root behind Aoibheann and Aoibhinn.
Girl Irish 684 births
Barra Barra is a boy's name of Irish origin meaning "fair-haired," a short form of Fionnbharr, and the Hebridean island of Barra is named for a different saint entirely.
Boy Irish 333 births
Liadh Liadh is a girl's name from an Irish word usually given as gray.
Girl Irish 287 births

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