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.

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

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

Popularized in Scotland by Tam O'Shanter, the hero of one of Robert Burns' most famous poems, it's associated in the U.S. with the plaid cap he gave his name to.

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.

Wian, oe of the most popular of all Afrikaans names, has seldom been heard outside South Africa. It would doubtless prompt countless pronunciation issues, but might just be warm and friendly enough to be worth it.

Khaos debuted in 2008, two years after Chaos appeared on the charts. These days, it tends to be more popular than the original.

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

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.

Maoz is a symbolic name given to boys born at Hannukah because of the song "Maoz Tzur," "Rock of Ages," which is sung at that time.

An abbreviated, more modern-sounding version of Shakespearean and Ancient Greek name Laertes. If the "ae" is too confusing for you, Leart is another option.

This name of the largest river in Scotland, renowned for its salmon fishing, is usually thought of as a nickname for Taylor.

Soft and mellifluous nature-surname name, situated miles away from the dated Marshall.

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

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

Slim may be too on-the-nose for the child of two beautiful models, but it's the name Nara Pellman and Lucky Blue Smith chose for their son, Slim Easy. Smith, who has daughters named Gravity Blue and Rumble Honey, is known for choosing outrageous word names. But Slim — when pronounced as "SLEEM" — can also be a short form of the Arabic name Slimane. This origin is shared with Pellman's middle name, Aziza.

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.