One Syllable Names for Girls

Reece is a less popular respelling of Reese, made famous by actress Witherspoon. Reese is the most popular spelling for girls and Rhys for boys, with Reece given to about four times as many boys as girls.

Reece has ranked in the Top 1000 for boys in the US since the late 1980s, while it made the girls' Top 1000 only once.

Reece

The short but solid Irish surname Shea works well for both genders thanks to its soft, succinct sound. The traditional Irish form is Séaghdha, though it could also be used as a short form of Séamus, connected to James. 
 
Kevin James has a daughter named Shea, while Shea Coulée is a drag queen who featured on season 5 of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars. 
 For baseball fans: Shea Stadium was the home of The New York Mets until 2008, and has proved surprisingly influential as a namesake. Four of the players of the New York Mets named their children Shea in honor of the place, as did Jets player John Matlock and the aforementioned Kevin James. major League player Shea Spitzbarth also got his name from the stadium.
 
Another variation and the one that leans furthest toward the female side is Shae, for those who don't want the pronunciation confused with Shea Butter.

Shea

Ayat is a Quranic name for girls that literally translates to "sign" or "clue" but in the context of the name, it refers to signs of God, manifestations of the divine, or verses from the Quran. In Islamic tradition, Ayat al-Kursi, or "The Throne Verse", is considered the greatest in the Quran and is often displayed and memorised, giving this name a powerful feel.
 
Closely related to the name Ayah, Ayat currently ranks in the UK Top 300, while in the US, it has seen an increase in use over the last decade. While it is outranked by Ayah and Aya which are both in the Top 1000, Ayat was given to around 120 babies in a recent year.

Ayat

Sweet and sparky but maybe a little bit stuck in the 90s for some, Bria is a nickname-y style choice with various origins.
 
Unheard of until the 1970s, Bria only started to see substantial use in the 90s, when it rose up alongside its longer forms, Briana, Gabriella, and Sabrina. It fitted right in besides Brittany, Brooke, and Paige, and got a boost after comedian and actor Eddie Murphy used it for his daughter in 1989.
 
Peaking in 1993, Bria has been on the decline ever since. Given to 250 girls in a recent year, Bria has been replaced by the likes of Mia, Billie, Briar and Bridie.
 
Connected to poetry via its ties to the literary Briana, to the Bible through its link to Gabriel and Gabriella, to mythology through Brigid and Sabrina, Bria could holds an unexpected amount of meaning. It could also originate from the Italian word brio meaning "lively" or "confident" or from the Celtic Brigantī, meaning "high, exalted".
 
Namesakes such as basketball player, Bria Hartley, singer Bria Kelly, actress Bria Vinaite, and influencer Bria Myles help keep the name in the public eye - but what does the future hold for this short but punchy name? Only time will tell, especially with longer forms Briana and Brianna falling also down the charts in recent years.

Bria

A top ten choice in Chile and a popular name throughout the Spanish-speaking world, Maite is a mighty-sounding name with a soft and sweet meaning.
It is also found as a contracted form of María Teresa or María Esther.

Maite

Of all the botanicals, Fern has been one of the slowest to move back from the front parlor into the nursery, despite the appealing girl character in the children's classic Charlotte's Web. Fern was most popular from the turn of the last century through the 1940s, reaching a high of #152 in 1916. We can certainly see her rejoining the long list of popular greenery names.
 
Reality TV stars Jessa Duggar and Ben Seewald recently named a daughter Fern, which could easily give it a boost.

Fern

A variant spelling of either Irish Shea or Hebrew Shai, Shay feels at once vintage and modern.

Shay

May is a sweet old-fashioned name that hasn't been on the national charts in several decades, but is definitely sounding fresh and springlike. Parents are beginning to see it once more as one of the prettiest middle name options. May was as high on the list as Number 57 in the 1880s; it's now 228 on Nameberry.
 May started as one of the innumerable pet forms of Mary and Margaret, as well as a springtime month name along with April and June. She's represented in literature by May Bartram in Henry James's The Beast in the Jungle and May Welland in Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence. 
 Actresses Emily Morton and Madeline Stowe named their daughters May, and Eric Clapton and Jodie Sweetin used it in middle place for theirs.

Kya, a variation of the popular Kaia, the feminine form of the also-popular gender-neutral name Kai, was one of the fastest-rising girls' names of 2023.

Names starting with the ky (rhymes with by and why) sound are trending in general, with Kya along with four other names making up a full quarter of the fastest-rising names of 2023.

Among a small shower of rain-related names, this pure version can have a cool, refreshing image. 
 Richard Pryor named his now-grown daughter Rain, and Rain is also one of the nature-named Phoenix family siblings. More recently, 24 actress Marisol Nichols named her daughter Rain India.
 Rain also makes a nice nature middle name--Brooke Burke called her daughter Heaven Rain.
 If you want to embellish this simply spelling (and alter the meaning), you might also consider Raine, Raina, Rainn, Rayne, Reine or Reign, the middle name of Willow Smith. Or you could take the Holly Madison route all the way to Rainbow.

Rain

Some might think a girl named Liz on her birth certificate would feel deprived of her full identity, but in a time when mini names like Liv, Kit, Tru, Kai, Lou, and Bea are in style, Liz feels substantial enough that its bearer won't feel bereft.
 
A solid, succinct nickname, it was famously borne by actress Elizabeth Taylor, while plenty of others have used it professionally, even if they were born Elizabeth. A few noteworthy Liz's include actress and disability rights activist Liz Carr, politician Liz Truss, presenter Liz Bonnin, and actress Liz Fraser.
 
Liz ranks as a stand-alone choice in the Netherlands, pronounced LEEZ.

An attempt to make this name swing more to the feminine side, though the original Ryan is becoming perfectly acceptable for girls.
 Ryann O'Toole is an American professional golfer.

Ryann

All the old ae/ay <a href="https://nameberry.com/list/479/middle-names-for-girls">middle names for girls</a> are back — Kay, Fay, Mae/May — and Rae is one of the coolest, used as such by celebrities as Mark Wahlberg and Daniel Baldwin. 
 
Even more popular in the celebrisphere is the jazzy Ray spelling: among those who used it as their daughters' middles are Bruce Willis, Dermot Mulroney, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard, Uma Thurman and Lee Lee Sobieski. 
 But Rae is perfectly capable of standing on her own, as in Rae Dawn Chong; it was in the Top 500 in the first two decades of the twentieth century.

Zaya, which rhymes with Maya, came to attention as the name of basketball great Dwyane Wade's older daughter, the stepdaughter of actress Gabrielle Union. It's one of those names that hits the sweet spot of names that are both straightforward and distinctive.
 
Zaya may relate to a number of different names and origins, including: the Arabic Zayah (or Naziha, Nazaha, Nazaya), giving it the meaning "honest, pure"; the Biblical Isaiah ("Yahweh is salvation"), lending it a Biblical tie; and the Mongolian Zaya (meaning "fate, destiny").
 
Additionally, it may simply be a modern invention, inspired by the likes of Maia, Kaia, and Gaia.

Zaya

Liah

Rue has gone from Golden Girls actress to Hunger Games heroine to a fresh alternative to beloved middle name Rose. This botanical name is also a coincidental double word name, meaning "regret" in English and "street" in French. Despite these unfortunate secondary meanings, Rue has real potential to be one of the most popular new <a href="https://nameberry.com/list/479/middle-names-for-girls">middle names for girls</a>. 
 It's use in the popular TV series Euphoria has certainly brought it into the spotlight. Since the character of Rue Bennett was portrayed by Zendaya in 2019, the name has been used four times more often than it once was in the US. 
 The herbal plant Rue was introduced by the Romans and has been prized for its medicinal properties – the ancients believed it guarded against epilepsy and vertigo and improved the sharpness of vision.
 
As a name, it has been used as a nickname for Ruth and Ruby, meaning it fits in with vintage nickname options like Bea, Nell, Mae, and Lou, while also matching the style of modern word names such as Wren, Sage, True, and Hart.
 Actress Rue McClanahan, who played Blanche in The Golden Girls, was born Eddi-Rue, named for her parents' middle names Edwin and Rheua-Nell. Actress Sara Rue made her surname the middle name of daughter Talulah Rue.
 
In 2023, Rue was one of the fastest rising names in England and Wales, jumping into the Top 1000 for the first time. In the US, it has also been trending upwards and was given to around 180 girls in a recent year.

Jhene is a contemporary feminine name gaining recognition particularly through singer Jhené Aiko. The name appears to be a variant spelling of Jené or Jhené, with likely multicultural origins. It may have roots in French (where 'j' has a soft pronunciation) or could be a creative modern adaptation. 

The name has a melodic quality with its two syllables and accent on the second syllable: It rhymes with Rene. Jhene remains relatively uncommon but has seen increased interest due to the singer's popularity since the 2010s. Parents may be drawn to this name for its distinctive spelling, modern feel, musical associations, and cross-cultural appeal.

Jhene

Streamlined and succinct, Ema is a multicultural choice with wide-reaching appeal and versatility. 
 
From its German roots, Ema is a form of the classic Emma, used in Spanish, Portuguese, Slovene, Croatian, Bosnian, Czech, Slovak, and Lithuanian. A high-ranking choice in a number of Slavic and Baltic countries, it also features in the charts in Chile, Portugal, and the UK.
 
As a Japanese name, Ema (pronounced with both syllables stressed) has a variety of means, depending on what kanji symbols are used. Possibilities include (but aren't limited to): "favor + flax seed", "prosperity + abundance", "blossoming + affection, love", "reliant + jasmine", and "picture, painting + truth".
 
Ema also ranks highly in Israel where it may well be used as a form of Emma, but other sources suggest it can mean "divine mother" or simply "mother", from the Hebrew ima, combined with ah/eh, representing God. Additionally, it can be used as a short for of Emuna meaning "faith".

Though Tate is used almost exclusively for boys, we can see Tate as a stronger surname alternative to Kate or a clipped form of Tatum. 

Tate

An inspirational and aspirational word name that evokes ideas of loyalty, faith, honesty, and accuracy, True is a unisex name, which is just slightly more popular for boys. Like an updated form of Trudy and Prue and with the virtuous feel of Grace, Faith, and Hope, True was given to around 200 girls in 2024 (and about 225 boys). 
 
Forest Whitaker was well ahead of the trends when he named his daughter True in the 90s, but it was Khloe Kardashian's use of the name in 2018 that really gave it a boost. While it may still rank behind the Tru spelling, this traditional form might just come to be seen as the more authentic way to the sound and meaning.