One Syllable Names for Girls

Most will see this as a refreshing middle name possibility, but Bristol Palin baby daddy Levi Johnston used it as a first name for his new daughter, Breeze Beretta.

In Greek mythology, the river Styx separates the Earth and the Underworld, named for the goddess who gave it its power. Today Styx is also associated with the 1970s rock band of the same name.

Ala is the Igbo earth goddess whose symbol is the crescent moon. In a very different vein, Ala can be a diminutive for Alicja or Alexandra or really any other name with an A at both ends and an L in the middle. Ala is also an Arabic name meaning "excellence, supremacy"; could be confused as a homonym for Allah, or as part of a phrase like a la mode.

Yes, we tend to think of Claude as a male name and Claudia and Claudette as the female, but this ancient clan name is used in France for girls as well as boys, and could make a distinctively chic boy name for girls here too. You may be surprised to know that Claude was in fairly regular use for American girls in the 1880's and nineties, reaching as high as 553 in 1880.

Anglicized variant of Niamh.

Meg, perennially one of the Little Women, is a Margaret short form that manages to be neither quite in nor quite out of style. Meg is sleeker and more sophisticated than Maggie, more contemporary than Peg, more stylish than Megan, and still one of the best diminutives of Margaret.

Meg Ryan was born Margaret Mary Emily Anne.

A multicultural unisex choice that peaked for girls at the same time as Amy. Ami is also the French word for "friend."

Aza is an excellent Arabic choice: elegant and simple. Too simple for you? Consider Aziza.

Short, but still kind of a mouthful.

Less than ten percent of the babies named Rhys are girls, whereas Reese is given five times more often to girls than to boys, thanks to Ms. Witherspoon. It's a sleek and attractive name, but one that benefits from two accepted spellings that help clarify its gender identity.

Kick is a word name that some parents might use for their baby in utero — akin to Bean or Booboo — but it's increasingly being heard as a word name especially used in the middle, a la Jeremy Sisto for son Bastien. The Kennedy family has historically called daughters Kathleen "Kick" for short, and Kick can work as a nickname for a whole range of names male and female, from Nicholas to Keturah.

Ash is a gender-neutral choice that calls to mind the '80s favorite: Ashley. But view it as a nature name -- as in the tree, not the charred bit of soot in the fireplace -- and it makes a cool choice that fits with today's trends.

Sam as a name standing on its own was given to only 18 girls in 2021, versus over 400 boys. But as a short form it's appealing and down-to-earth for both sexes, and heard far more often: There were over 2500 baby girls named Samantha in the US in one recent year and more than 8500 boys named Samuel, so you will hear the name Sam a lot more often than you might guess judging by the numbers for this short form. Like the wildly popular Charlie, Sam is a nickname that works equally well as a girls' name as a boys'. All forms considered, Sam is still one of the most popular names that start with S.

Zoe is one of those popular names that's inspired many spelling variations, and Xoe is one of the new ones. A simple name sure to attract a lot of attention.

The young male star Shia LaBeouf has given this name a male image, but many would consider its sound soft and feminine.

High-kicking cohort of Coco, Gigi, Fifi, Kiki, et al.

Short and feminine, Ria has a rhythmic flow.

This regal French name is a descendant of the Latin Regina, as is the Spanish Reina. Reine is also a male name in Scandinavia.

A traditional Arabic name with cool short form Khai, which was used as a standalone by Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik in 2020.

A Greek island and a prestigious scholarship make an upper-crusty first name with the uber-stylish S ending. Rhodes was recently chosen by actress Emma Roberts for her son, born in 2020, but it has also started to be given to a small number of girls each year too.