Even though I am closer to be the kind of person who is more likely to gravitate towards Anastasias, Fiammettas, Leonardos, Zachariahs and the like, I think some of the one-syllable names are really endearing, and, after all, my most favourite male name ever – Jack – belongs to this category, hence I thought I’d share this post of Carrie-Anne’s with you guys.
Which one-syllable names are your favourite?
My most favourite of this list – except for Jac(k) that I’ve mentioned – are: Rhys (I prefer this spelling over Reese for both genders) Anne, Belle, Luz, Lyn(n(e)), Nell, Peace, Cliff, Finn, Flynn, John, Luke and Myles.
While some people gravitate towards long, flowery, ornate, multisyllabic names like Anastasia, Fiammetta, Leonardo, and Zachariah, others have a naming style which favours short, simple, and to the point. Towards that end, here are some names which fit the bill.
For the sake of relative brevity, I won’t be including Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese names. One-syllable names are the overwhelming rule in those languages, whereas they’re fairly less common in Indo–European languages.
Unisex:
Bay
Blake (I know this is traditionally male, but I was introduced to it through a female character on Guiding Light)
Dale
Drew
Lee
Quinn
Rain
Reese
Shai, Shay (means “gift” in Hebrew and completely separate from the male Irish name Shea/Shay)
Female:
Anne
Belle
Blaire
Blanche
Blythe
Bree, Brie
Brooke
Bryn, Brynn
Claire
Dawn
Dove
Eve
Faith
Fawn
Fern
Fleur
Gayle, Gail
Grace
Hope
Iynx (INKS), an obscure Greek love goddess. The English forms are…
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My Inner MishMash 
Spelling definitely matters. Anne has to be with an -e, and Rhys is far more interesting than Reese.
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Of course!
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Ooh, fun! one-syllable names? Okay!! I LOVE Jane. I always have. I just adore Jane. Uh… I like Lou for a girl. I think Blue would be adorable for a boy. I like Ry for a boy. Hmm…. Zen would be a fun name for either gender! Actually, in my current novel, I’ve got characters: Ry, Eve, and Flint. I love all of those! Leigh is pretty! Rose is nice. Scrolling down the list here… I don’t like Ruth, but I love the nickname Ruthie. Too many syllables, though!
Clyde is my dad’s and brother’s middle name! I’m not too fond of it, though. I do love Jack. I’m solidly in the Jack camp with you! I also love Luke (but I hate the overused Lucas!). What fun!
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Jane is such a beautiful, timeless classic and I love all the literary connections. Lou for a girl is great. I love Blue for both genders, slightly more for girls I guess. I don’t mind Ruth but Ruthie is so much more cute indeed. Yay for the Jack camp!
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My daughter’s first name has 3 syllables so for the middle name I just went with Rain.
And though American, I side with those who prefer Rhys for “Reese”.
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I think Rain is fantastic in the middle spot, and especially with a three-syllable first name, sounds like a very well-flowing combo!
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Well, I know it is not your legal name but it has been driving me nuts for a long time..how do you pronounce eirlysgwenllian? My brain interprets it as ‘girly swine’ and I apologize for that but…I dunno, at a loss on this one.
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My mind always mixes the letters up and reads it as Early Gen Ess Wenlian.
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Hahahaha, well yeah, it can be quite a mouthful when you don’t speak any Welsk. Eirlys is pronounced AYR-lis (lots of English speakers tend to damage this name completely and say airless or earless apparently 😀 ) and it means snowdrop, while Gwenllian is gwen-LLE-yahn, but the double ll is pronounced like something between “hl” or “sh”, kinda lispy sound, although I know a person who called her child this outside of Wales and she pronounces it just GWEN-li-uhn or something like this. Not really sure how you can get “girly swine” out of EirlysGwenllian but perhaps it’s because I’m not an English native so our perception is different. 🤣
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Dude, I didn’t have my glasses on earlier and thought someone’s user name said Cybunny, one of the Pokemon. Girly Swine was just how my brain perceived it, no offense intended. I am horrid at foreign languages.
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😀 It’s OK haha I didn’t take it as an offense at all, the more that it’s not my actual name. 😀
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Saw so many good names on that list:
eg Fern who will always be the protagonist of Charlotte’s Web [nicknamed a wonderful friend Fern].
Still split about Reece/Rees/Rhys – there is a Subversive Librarian who has the last as a surname. And I like Jean Rhys the author – Tigers are Better Looking is a short story collection I bought four years ago.
Bryn – yeah! In the 1980s I knew someone wonderful called that – and then I was able to read Nobody Nowhere and find Donna’s friend behind the trees who liked to share being and significance.
And do you think Rainn is more interesting/better with TWO N’s rather than 1?
Fleur-names are great even though I expand them to Fleurette and Fleurine – that is a little girl of a protagonist. It is 25 years since I created the little girl though she has not been in any public writings yet.
Another name in the Ruth mould is Ruti. And Ari is of course a one-syllable for anyone of any gender.
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Bryn is actually quite cool, and so is Fleur, although I much prefer the longer Flora. 🙂
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