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

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
Mimi Mimi is a girl's name that began as a pet form of Maria and Miriam, used especially in French and Italian.
Girl French, Italian, Hebrew #7,505 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 this group — 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
Solo Solo is a rare boy's name from the Italian word for "alone," which comes from Latin solus.
Boy Italian, Latin #8,439 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 on record — from 5,306 American births in 1947 to 11, a decline by a factor of roughly 482.
Girl English #9,306 in US
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
Barnes Barnes is a rare boy's name from an English surname meaning "barns," from a place in Surrey now part of London.
Boy English #9,572 in US
Brick Brick is a rare boy's name taken from the English word for a block of baked clay.
Boy English #9,964 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 on record, 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 on record.
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
Lune Lune is a girl's name meaning "moon," taken from the French word lune, which comes from the Latin luna.
Girl French, Latin #13,752 in US
Lynne Lynne now ranks 2,155th in France and 14,047th 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 6,405th in a market it was never native to.
Girl English 111,330 births
Gayle Gayle carries 67,694 lifetime births and now charts in no market — 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 recorded births 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
Soa Soa is a rare unisex name with no single origin.
Unisex Disputed, possibly Malagasy 695 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
Kruse Kruse is a rare boy's name from a German and Danish surname.
Boy German, Danish 76 births
Teak Teak is a rare boy's name from the hardwood tree.
Boy Malayalam, Portuguese 62 births

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