Short names and nicknames

This name has become increasingly popular, though usually with the Addie spelling. In fact, Addy/Addie has taken over for Maddie and Allie as one of the most frequently-heard short forms for a range of also-popular formal names, including Adeline, Adalynn, Adeliaide, and Addison. As Addy, it's the name of an American Girls doll.

The popular single-named alternative singer (born Bek) has given this cool nature-meets-surname name a new lease of life. Another notable bearer is Beck Weathers, a Texan pathologist who survived the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, which was covered in the book and film Into Thin Air.

Combine the popularity of Betty White and Mad Men's glamorous Betty Draper Francis, with the residual sweetness of Ugly Betty's Betty Suarez, and the result is an impending return of the name. It's got presidential cred via Betty Ford and feminist history through Betty Friedan.

Billie is a tomboy nickname name, part of the growing trend for using boyish nicknames for girls and now destined for stardom along with its most famous contemporary bearer, music sensation Billie Eilish.

Brisk but rather brittle. Britt Eklund was a Bond Girl in the 1974 The Man with the Golden Gun. Britt is a contracted form of Birgit, but be aware that it does come with the strong possibility of being confused with Bret/Brett—or as a shortening of Brittany.

Cameron is still more popular as a boy's name than a girls and this simple, snappy short form works well for either sex.

Combine the charming heroine of the movie Legally Blonde with supermodel Elle Macpherson and the trend toward all names beginning with "el"—Ellie, Ella, Eleanor—and you have one hit name.

Gia is a cute if slight name that calls to mind stylish sisters Mia, Lea, Pia, Tia, and Nia. One of the most familiar Italian baby names in the US, Gia is a short form of Gianna, which in turn is a diminutive of Giovanna, the feminine form of Giovanni, the Italian equivalent of John—all of them meaning "God's gracious gift."

The girls have Violet and Scarlet and Ruby and Rose, but for the boys there's a much more limited palette of color names. Gray (or Grey), is one exception, which could make for a soft and evocative--if slightly somber-- choice, especially in the middle. Kaitlin Olson and Rob McElhenney recently named their son Leo Grey.

The longer Isabella stays in the Top 10—and it's been there for more than a decade—the more we hear the nickname Izzy (especially if we watch Grey's Anatomy). it's just a matter of time before it stands on its own, as it has as a first name for the daughter of Eddie Murphy and Paige Butcher.

Aviation enthusiast John Travolta put this fast-paced name in the lexicon when he used it for his late son, and George Lucas followed suit.

Josie is jaunty and friendly: among the most winning of all nickname names. She's been on the social security list since records began being kept.

In many minds this one belongs to Barbie, but with such positive meanings and international connections, can Ken make the transition to usability again?

Leo is a strong-yet-friendly name that was common among the Romans, used for thirteen popes, and is now at its highest point ever in the US thanks in part to Leonardo "Leo" DiCaprio.

Lex is still used mostly for boys, but like Alex, may cross over with the rising popularity of all long forms of the name. Lexi is another, more feminine option.

Lula has a firecracker personality, a singing and dancing extrovert. Interesting that Lulu was a Top 100 name when the Social Security list was born in 1880, but it's been sliding ever since and has not been in the Top 1000 for decades. Modern parents in love with Lulu might well reverse that trend.

Millie is back. It's a Top 100 name throughout much of the English-speaking world, though not yet in the US. Millicent would be an appealing long form, but many people are using Millie all by its cute self -- so many, in fact, that it returned to the Top 500 in 2015 for the first time since World War 2 and continues to climb.

Minnie was wildly popular at the turn of the last century — it was the fifth or sixth most popular name throughout the 1880s — but is completely obscure today. Blame Mickey's girlfriend. Regardless, it's possible that the up and coming trend toward old-fashioned nickname-names — think Maisie, Mamie, Millie — may give Minnie (all on its own, not as a short form of anything) a new moment in the sun. Minnie Driver (born Amelia) has given it some modern celeb cred.