One Syllable Names for Boys

Rein, along with Reign, have taken over from Rain as a trendy word name. Should you rein it in or let it rein? Okay, bad puns we know, but that's the downside of word names. This is a true unisex name, given to 15 girls and 12 boys in the US in one recent year.

Zayn and the more Western-friendly Zain sound exactly like the popular Zane but have a different root, in Arabic and African cultures. The name was made familiar to Europeans and Americans by British singer-songwriter Zayn, born Zain Malik. This is an easily-translated choice for a family that wants to bridge cultures, but you have to accept that people will be forever spelling the name "wrong".

Puck was Shakespeare's mischievous pixie who'a had a few television incarnations in more recent years. A popular name in The Netherlands but nowhere else, from what we can tell.

This unusual Indian name, which refers to one of the names of Lord Vishnu, has been one of the fastest-growing boys' names of the last decade. It first managed to climb into the US Top 1000 in 2014. The nickname Rey Americanizes it.

A straightforward, down-to-earth nickname many Walters, from Whitman to Disney, have chosen to go by.

Brisk, preppy York is an underused classic with the potential to really shine in the 21st century. It's most familiar as a place name — York is a city in England — and surname. New York City and State were named after the Duke of York.

As a surname, Viel is a French and English variation of Vial, ultimately from the Latin word for "life". The German variation is derived from the word vil, meaning "swamp" or "bog".

One of the old-school nicknames -- think Ray, Vince, Frank -- that's on the brink of coming back into style. Name him Stanislav or Constantine and he'll have a groovier long form to fall back on.

Usually pronounced to rhyme with nice — though others may rhyme it with Jace — Thijs is a popular Dutch name short for that country's form of Matthew. Matt Lauer's half-Dutch son is called Thijs.

Alive thanks to Ponderosa papa Greene and SNL creator Michaels, both from Canada, where the name is much more popular.

Jules Jephtha "Jep" Robertson, one of the stars of A&E's Duck Dynasty, is singlehandedly reviving this obscure nickname name. It's also allegedly been used as a nickname for Geoffrey and a little coterie of Scandinavian names, like Jeppe and Jepsen, though there, it would most likely be pronounced "yep."

A lot of attention was drawn to this name when Kim Kardashian and Kanye West announced it as the name of their baby daughter, making it instantly unisex.

Might suggest speed, excitement, even danger, were it not for its best-known bearer, conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh.

While this is an ancient male name, it's too similar to modern girls' choices like Mia and Pia to work for a boy today.

Refers, in literal terms, to a curved line -- as in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famed "arc of justice." Could also be used as a reference to Joan of Arc -- Arc being, there, derived from her father's name, rather than a place -- or, conceivably, to Noah's Ark.

In the Quran, Eyad (and names with similar roots like Iyad and Ayad) refers to a person/entity that strengthens another. Eyad is one of the modern Arabic names for boys.

Bright and energetic, Neon seems like it would be a modern coinage, borrowed from neon lights.

Parks is a rare member of the fashionable single-syllable, S-ending surname crowd, which includes trending choices like Brooks, Banks, Hayes and Wells.

Some names referring to expensive things -- Tiffany, Armani, Porsche -- are in fact declasse, but Price transcends that label with its simplicity and strength.