Names That Mean Short

Tassos makes this venerated Greek name more earthy and approachable.

Courtland, with its added U, is an English form of the Dutch habitational surname Cortlandt. Cortlandt was a village near modern-day Wijk bij Duurstede, Netherlands. Its name was derived from the Dutch elements cort, meaning "short" or "narrow," and landt, "land."

Kamma is an appealing Danish name signifying a combination of Katherine or Karen and Maria or Margaret. It may also be a short form of Kamilla, the usual Scandinavian spelling of Camilla.

A place and surname turned first name, as in aviator Cortlandt F. Bishop and four-star general Cortlandt V. R. Schuyler. Cortlandt was a village near modern-day Wijk bij Duurstede, Netherlands. Its name was derived from the Dutch elements cort, meaning "short" or "narrow," and landt, "land."

Actress Kirstie Alley popularized this short form that's been off the popularity register for a decade.

A jaunty, traditional name in Sweden's Top 100. Famous bearers include actor Svante Thunberg (Greta's father) and the father of physical chemistry Svante August Arrhenius. The name Svante is short for Svantepolk, the name of a Slavic nobleman who settled in Sweden in the 14th century.

Elizabeth is a name of hundreds of variations, but this German name for girls, redolent of the Olde Country, is unfamiliar in the U.S. and likely to remain so.

The Steen, Steena, and Stina nicknames for Christina are much more common in Scandinavia than in the English-speaking world, which prefers the Chris variations.

Nothing but a hound dog.

A Dutch surname which is given as a full name to a handful of boys in the US each year, possibly as a spelling variant of Kurt.

Walter is an old school boys' name that is gently on the rise again. Short forms include Walt (as in Disney) and Wally, but Wat was once commonly used in England as a diminutive of Walter.

There were no baby boys named Cay born in the US last year, but there's no reason why there couldn't be, especially with the rise in popularity of the similar Kai as well as the nouveau proper names Cayden, Cayson and so on. Cay Dose was an 18th century German architect and Christian Cay Lorenz Hirschfeld was a German garden historian of the same era.

Trini is a nickname-name that's gender neutral. It was made famous by singer Trini Lopez whose big hit was "If I Had A Hammer".

Trini is best known as the name of the (male) singer Trini Lopez, who sang "If I had a Hammer", but Trini is a gender neutral name that works equally well for girls or boys.