One Syllable Names for Boys

Grit became a buzzword in the 2010s, thanks to both the 2010 film True Grit and psychologist Angela Duckworth's 2016 book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perserverance. The book, based on Duckworth's research, attributes success to grittiness. Clearly, the message stuck with parents, as Grit debuted as a name for boys in 2021.

Brace yourself? You're going to hear that one a lot if you choose this word name for your baby son, as a handful of parents in the US did in a recent year. One reason for this word is being used as a name: It rhymes with the popular Jace.

A lovely name with many possible meanings depending on the characters used. A common feature of Chinese names for both sexes.

An interesting single-syllable name pronounced brahsh.

One of the classic hippie word names. In the 1970s, actors Barbara Hershey and David Carradine gave this name to their son...who later changed it to Tom.

Joab is the biblical name of an advisor of David, who led many military victories, and is surely much more usable than the burdened Job. A similar option is Joah, a possible replacement for Jonah or Noah.

A fiery-sounding Breton name with a fierce animal meaning. Bleiz has also been used in honor of the Catholic Saint Blaise, due to its similar sound.

Tuff, a corruption of "tough," has been given to approximately 50 baby boys each year for the past few years. Tough, on the other hand, has never charted as a baby name.

You'd be forgiven for thinking this is the Catalan form of Geoffrey, but it actually comes from a slightly different Germanic name — also with a peaceful meaning. It's a historical choice, belonging to several medieval counts. In modern times, Guifré Vidal is a leading quantum physicist.

A two-initial nickname sometimes used on birth certificates — although these initials have a slang meaning you may prefer to avoid.

Short but substantial, Russ does not need the full-form Russell to go on the birth certificate. Russ strikes a nice balance between familiar, friendly, and underused.

Teun, pronounced like something between ton and tune in English, is one of the most popular boys' names in The Netherlands, consistent with that country's preference for short, simple names. The equivalent of the English Tony, it doesn't travel quite as well as Dutch favorites Sem and Bas do.