One Syllable Names for Boys

Popular Dutch name that reflects the short, clipped style in vogue in that country. Another Bartholomeus or Bartholomew short form also popular there is Bart.

Slate, Stone and Steel are on the rise, so why not Shale?

The name of the god of death and the underworld in Greek mythology is definitely a dark and daring choice. The Roman version Pluto is more associated with the used-to-be planet or Mickey Mouse's side-kick dog.

While there is some disagreement over the origins of this name, it's clearly fashionable and a new idea, for English speakers, of a way to spin either an old classic or a familiar favorite. Still, Loic is one of those French names for boys that is rarely heard outside its native land.

No, not Ben (you'll say a million times), not Van -- Venn. John Venn was a British logician and philosopher famous for introducing the Venn diagram, which is used in several fields, including logic, statistics, and computer science.

Musician Ry Cooder brought this short form into the lexicon -- his full name is Ryland -- and it feels more familiar now that more Ry- beginning names such as Ryder and Riley are, ahem, riding up the ranks. The Rye spelling makes it more of a word or a nature name and less of a nickname.

This elegant surname has great potential to turn into an unusual first name, especially with its literary associations to both Stephen and Hart Crane.

A charming addition to the ever-growing crop of virtue names, currently rising for both sexes.

Bix is a cool and jazzy nickname name, thanks to that final x. It's largely associated with the legendary and influential cornet player (and inspiration for the novel Young Man With a Horn), Bix Beiderbecke. He was born Leon Bismark Beiderbecke and his nickname derived from his middle name.

Pronounced CHY, it's a word name meaning tea in many Eastern languages. The Hebrew name is pronounced without the C as HAI.

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

A common Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean unisex name, and the name of a culturally rich Chinese Dynastic period. Yao Ming is the seven and a half foot Shanghai-born basketball star. Trivia tidbit: His parents were the tallest couple in China at the time of his birth.

Crash is a particularly calamitous entry in the badass boys' name category, taking Wilder and Maverick one -- or maybe a dozen -- steps further. But we can think of at least a dozen reasons you shouldn't name your baby Crash.

A perennial classic in the Netherlands, short-and-sweet Dirk is starting to feel like a fresher alternative to cousin Derek.

Poetic and easier to pronounce (it's keets) than Yeats (which is yates). This one of many poets' names to consider, such as Auden, Eliot, Frost, Byron, Lorca, Marlowe, Blake, Emerson and Tennyson, which was used by Russell Crowe.

If Holland works for a girl, why not Dutch for a boy? Gavin Newsom, Lt-Governor of California, kept up his geographical baby name theme when he called his 4th child Dutch William, (his other children are named Hunter, Montana and Brooklyn.)