Three Letter Boy Names

The short, cute Pim is a Top 100 boys' name in The Netherlands though little-known outside that country. But in a family overrun with Williams, Pim could make an original nickname setting a modern child apart from father Will and grandpa Bill.

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.

Rihanna and A$AP Rocky named their baby boy RZA, inspired by the frontman of the Wu-Tang Clan. RZA is the stage name of Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, who has produced the most records for the hip hop group.

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.

A masculine name from the Old Testament, but would likely be confused for Amy.

Old-school nickname with serious charm.

A small but mighty modern Hebrew name, Rom ranks in Israel's Top 100.

Guns 'n' Roses musician Axl (born William) Rose created this name by dropping a vowel, a la Barbra Streisand. The traditional Axel is more popular, though celebrity parents Fergie and Josh Duhamel deliberately chose the Axl spelling to honor her rock hero.

A simple and charismatic Chinese and Korean name, also spelled Joon.

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

Tim is a boyish short form very rarely given on its own.

With the rising popularity of Kai, this more phonetic spelling has been gaining traction as well. Kye debuted in the US Top 1000 in 2015, and was one of the fastest-rising names of the year in 2016.

This simple name has an animal meaning, like many Native American names, and can be used for either sex.

Sounds exactly like Ray—but with an on-trend royal vibe. The central protagonist in the newest Star Wars trilogy is a woman named Rey.

Fiery but slight middle name choice; much more apt to be a redhead's nickname.

The kind of name last found in northern Wisconsin in the 1950s, and even then it was probably a nickname for Delbert.

Xen and Zen, both pronounced the same way, are two hip new spiritual word names from Buddhist practice. Among the celebrity set, Corey Feldman has a Zen and Tisha Campbell Martin's son is Xen.

A unisex Hebrew name often found in combination with others, as in Tal-El and Tal-Or.

An alternative transcription of Tzvi, the latter of which is a Top 100 pick in Israel. It's a cool, sharp-sounding micro name which would make for a great distinctive alternative to Levi.