April 10, 2009

One-Syllable Names

one-syllable names - boy holding up a "one" finger with one in the background
© Carol Anne Hartman Photography

America loves lightning-quick names, especially to shorten a flowing formal name or to keep things simple and sweet on the birth certificate. As a mom, I can vouch for the fact that finding these names can be tricky. Parents need a list, and, um, THAT'S WHY I'M HERE!

Perfect Options for Middle Names
I created this post originally as a list of "one-syllable middle names," because I know a lot of you are on the lookout for quick options that fit your naming style. So many of us have longer surnames (three syllables over here!) and desperately need something less complicated in that middle spot. But I also want to point out these names make perfectly wonderful first names as well! (You already knew that.)


What You'll Find
One-syllable names have typically been dominated by boys, and it shows. Traditionally, the quick, simple words are associated more with the male sex. But you will find the girls' names listed here are elegant, sweet, and feminine; I only wish there were more.

One more thing—I didn't include too many "nicknames" or shortened variants of longer names. Some examples are Bob (Robert), Mike (Michael), or Jan (Janet), though those would work too. Feel free to post any additional ideas in the comments section!

Girls

Ann or Anne

Bea


Belle

Blake


Bleu or Blue

Blythe

Bree


Breeze

Brooke

Brynn

Cate or Kate

Claire or Clare

Cree

Dawn

Dea

Dove

Drew

Elle

Eve

Faith

Fawn

Fay or Faye

France

Gail or Gayle

Grace


Gray

Hope

Jade

Jane

Jean

Jill

Jo

Joan

Joy

June

Kay

Lane or Laine

Lark

Leigh

Love

Lu or Lou

Lynn or Lynne

Mae or May

Maeve

Maude

Nell

Neve

Paige

Pearl

Quinn

Rae

Rain or Raine

Reese or Rhys

Rogue


Rose

Ruth

Sage


Shae

Sky or Skye

Sloane

Snow


Swan

Star

Sue

Tess

Wind

Wren

Wynn or Wynne

Yael
Boys

Abe

Ace

Art

Ash

Beau or Bo


Blaine or Blayne

Blake

Blaise or Blaze


Boone

Bram

Brant

Bray

Breck

Brent

Brett

Brock


Brooks

Bronx

Bruce

Bryce

Brynn

Cade

Case or Kase


Cash

Chad

Chance


Chase

Clark

Clay

Clive

Cole

Craig

Cree


Crew

Dale

Dax

Drake

Drew

Earl

Finn or Fynn


Flint

Flynn

Fox

Fred

Fritz

Gage

Garth

Gene

Gent

George

Glen or Glenn

Graham

Grant

Gray or Grey

Guy

Hank

Hawk

Heath

Hugh

Jace, Jase, or Jayce


Jack

Jake

James

Jax


Jay

Jazz

Jett

John

Joel


Jude

Kai

Kade

Knox

Kurt

Lance

Lane

Lee

Lloyd

Luke

Mark or Marc

Max

Miles

Mitch

Nash

Neil or Neal

Oz

Park

Paul

Pax

Penn

Quinn

Ray

Reece, Reese or Rhys

Reed or Reid

Rhett

Rome

Ross

Sean, Shaun, or Shawn

Shane

Seth

Skip

Sky or Skye

Spence

Steel


Stone

Tate

Teague

Trace

Tre or Trey

Trent

Trig

Troy

Ty

Vance

Vaughn or Von

Vince

Wade

Walt

West

Wolf

Wray

Yale

York

Zac, Zack, or Zach

Zane

22 comments:

  1. I love your choices. I also like Kit (short for Katherine).

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  2. I don't see how any self-respecting parent could name their SON Skye. I think it's beautiful for a GIRL, but a boy named Skye would never make it through high school, nor should he be expected to!

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    Replies
    1. I knew a boy in high school named Skye. He seemed to make it through alive...

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  3. haha I have to laugh at the person saying Sky not being a boy's name. I actually have a customer where I work whose name is Branson Skye. And he's a very handsome, tall teenager with charisma and confidence to boot. who says it can't be a boy's name? I've also known a little girl whose name was River.

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  4. Oh, I needed to edit my post about my customer's name. He goes by Skye, and not many ppl know that it is is middle name rather than first. Just FYI, most names are unisex when you really think about it. Toodles!

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  5. My little brother's name is Skylar and goes by the nickname Sky almost always. The only high school problem he has is academic :p

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  6. My teenage son is Matthew Skye...I loved Skye as a middle name, and to boot he is tall,handsome and intelligent...
    Our 2nd son has the middle name Levi..
    I personally love both Skye and Levi as middle names for boys :)

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  7. I think Rhodes would be a great addition to the boys name list. We named our first son Rhodes because we both loved it since it wasn't very common, and it also happened to be a family name on my husband's side, as well as his middle name.

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  9. I agree with the name Skye for a boy. One of my swim coaches when I was growing up was Skye and all the girls were in love with him. He was very masculine and nobody ever said anything about his name being unusual.

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  10. You can also add the name Ren to the boys list.

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  11. You can also post Jude to both sides since it's considered unisex but mainly male.

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  12. i really like the name tate as a middle for makenzi for my unborn daughter only i was going to spell it tayte. . . but dads not to into it

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  13. I love the name Skye as a middle name for a guy!! I know a few and they are not picked on!

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  14. Blake is one of my favorite names. And I guess next to that I would pick Ace.

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  15. I'm ending the Sky controversy once and for all, and adding it to the boys list in addition to girls. I do often dislike categorizing a name as male or female, especially for names that are unisex like Sky. It's a cute name either way. :)

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  16. We have a Zane also but it can be spelled Zain as well. That's how it's spelled in the Bible. We also have a Trigg with 2 g's but it's original spelling is Trygg or Tryg (can't remember). It's Scandonavian though and means True, Faithful.

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  17. Another name to add to the girl's list is Liv, it's a full girl's name. It's Scandinavian, meaning "Life".

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  18. I notice that Cian is with Sean...From my experience, Cian is pronounced "kee-an." Perhaps it should be moved up with the "C's." Just an observation. :) Loved the list!

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  19. Rue would make a nice middle name for a girl. I like Bay too, for either boys or girls.

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  20. What about Bess for girls?

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  21. I love the name Kate too! It's a very strong name.. I'm naming my daughter Emery Kate.

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