Three Letter Boy Names

Rare, with a gleaming, golden image.

Raf is a raffish short form that many a cool boy would love to call his own.

Though rarely heard now, Coy has been around for a century and was not an uncommon name a hundred years ago. There have been a couple of NFL players named Coy, Coy Bowles is in the Zac Brown band, and of course there was Coy Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard. Due to the flirty connotations of the word "coy", McCoy is a more popular and recommended choice today.

Zio is a pet form for names ending with 'zio', such as Maurizio, Marzio and Tiburzio. As a full name in Italian, though it wouldl be like naming your son Uncle Uncle.

Not the most aspirational word names you could give to a child, although it does work as a nickname. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's daughter Chicago is often called Chi, pronounced "shy."

The surname of enterprising journalist Nellie Bly and poet Robert Bly makes a simple, modern, and upbeat sounding choice for either a boy or a girl.

Maz is occasionally used as an independent name, as is the case for Maz Quinn, New Zealand surfer. It can also be used as a nickname for any name containing M, A, and Z. Tomaz is perhaps the most likely option for a boy.

Also a synonym for the Hebrew month of Iyar, which usuually falls in May, would work and play well with others like Zev and Lev.

Despite its rakish western charm, still remains a cowboy costume without a real persona inside.

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

Pronounced hwee, this common Vietnamese name would be difficult to translate to an English-speaking culture.

This charming West African mini name fits in with the other similarly short names that are all the rage right now. Actress Ayo Edebiri is the star of TV's The Bear.

It's tempting to think of Gui as the Spanish form of Guy, but it's short for Guillermo.

While the name for May is used as a feminine name in many languages, the Slovene word, Maj, is considered a masculine name. Both Maj and the Mai variation are in the Slovenian Top 100.

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

Vowel names are popular, but this word-name possibility takes it to an extreme.

Tau, rhyming with cow, is a simple straightforward name with roots in two languages and cultures, the Kaurna language spoken by indigenous Australian people or the African Tswana language, a Bantu language spoken by five million people.

Bas is a fashionable name in its own right in the Netherlands, where it's been in the Top 10. Used throughout Europe, it may have a future here as a straightforward-but-charming nickname name. Baz is another, similar and more appealing possibility.

Ode could be part of the extended Otto/Otis family, or it might be a literary term, referring to an elaborate lyric poem.