One Syllable Names for Boys

A shimmering day name, with a bit of hippie residue.

Unique option honoring Spanish surrealist painter Joan Miró. Could have some pronunciation problems, but preferable to calling your little boy Joan.

More of an abbreviation than a short form that can stand on its own.

Has a slight aura of danger, from its being two types of weapons and a looming character in the Star Wars films. Best left as a nickname for Mason.

Shyam is one of the alternate names of Hindu God Krishna.

Unisex Japanese name used more often for girls these days. Potential successor to Kai.

Short and strong multicultural option for a son. Nev Schulman (born Yaniv) is the creator of the MTV series Catfish.

Russian form of Eli mainly used today by families with Russian Jewish heritage.

Better to stick with the Neil spelling in the US, where the word "nil" also means "zero." But this is a Top Ten name in Catalonia.

The ultimate dad name.

A unisex Chinese and Vietnamese with an appealingly simple, vowel-rich spelling.

Soan is a variation of Sohan, an invented French name that may be related to the masculine Jean. Both names rank in France’s Top 100, with the original Sohan pulling slightly ahead. The Soan version was popularized by a French singer Julien Decroix, who performs by the name Soan. He won the 2009 season of a music competition called Nouvelle Star.

Cool and breezy short form for names like Zephyr, Zephram, Zephaniel or Zephaniah.

The Old Norse god Óthinn was also known by the epithet Grímr — translated into Middle English as Grim.

This variant of the Arabic Zayd actually ranks higher than the original in the US. In the contemporary American culture, however, this name could be viewed as an alternative to recently invented name Zade.

The name of the main protagonist of Avatar: The Last Airbender was coined for the movie from Chinese characters meaning "peaceful" and "rise; raise". Aang is also used as a given name in Indonesia, where it derives from akang — a word used to refer to one’s elder brother or one of his peers.

An appealing Hindi name borne by Mindy Kahling's architect father Avu Chokalingam. She bestowed it on her son Spencer as a middle name in 2020.

Most familiar as the name of the titular character in The Life of Pi, in which it was short for Piscine Molitor Patel.