Three Letter Names for the Gays

The original Pip was the main character in Great Expectations (full name Philip Pirrip). Cute for a tike, maybe too cute for an adult.

Like Ed, Eddie and Teddy, Ted is rarely used as an independent name – in the US, at least. In the UK, Eddie ranks just outside the Top 200, Teddy ranks just outside the Top 30, and Ted is a Top 200 pick.

Guns 'n' Roses musician Axl (born William) Rose created this name by dropping a vowel, a la Barbra Streisand. The traditional Axel is more popular, though celebrity parents Fergie and Josh Duhamel deliberately chose the Axl spelling to honor her rock hero.

Though short and brisk, no nickname name could have a more creative image. Comic actor Chris O'Dowd named his son Art, as in his native Ireland it's used as a name on its own, separate from Arthur., coming from an ancient word for ""a bear,"" and used in the sense of ""outstanding warrior"" or ""champion."" A pagan High King of Ireland, Art’s rule was so honest that two angels hovered over him in battle.

Cool short form of Alexander, fresher than Alex and less trendy than Xander... for now.

Taj is a cool-sounding name reflecting the magnificence of the seventeenth-century Indian Taj Mahal, chosen by Aerosmith's Steven Tyler for his son.

An international take on Theo that would be easily wearable for a child in the US or any European culture, Teo is a simple but versatile choice. It's popularly used across a number of countries, including Georgia, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia, Czechia, Italy, England, and Bosnia and Herzegovina too.

Luc is the sleeker Gallic cousin of Luke, and if you want to know the difference between their pronunciations, just watch Kevin Kline's hilarious description in the film French Kiss. Peter Gabriel and Sean Patrick Thomas picked this version for their sons.

Streamlined version of the classic boys' names, sometimes a short form of Jonathan, which is in fact an entirely different name from John attached to a different Biblical personage. Jon feels more modern than the traditional John, but some may find it an overly slight variation on an already slim name. Jon Snow is a popular character on HBO's Game of Thrones.

Though most Mels are playing pinochle with Murray and Morris, there was a notable Saint Mel. He is one of the earliest Irish saints, a nephew of St. Patrick. He became a priest, then built a great monastery where he served as abbot.

The sidekick in almost every movie or TV show with an Italo-American setting, this once common name has now fallen onto the endangered list, given to fewer than 50 baby boys each year.

Tim is a boyish short form occasionally given on its own. There were 37 baby boys named Tim in the US last year, versus over 1700 named Timothy.

Win is an upbeat, can-do name that can be a short form of one of the buttoned-up British choices above or can stand on its own. Welsh Wyn is another possibility.

Rey, a Ray-soundalike that has ranked on the boys' side for the past 15 years, is about to get more popular for girls too, now that it's the name of the new heroine of the latest Star Wars movie. While the sound of the name is nothing new, the royal connection is, joining names such as Reign (Kardashian) and Charlotte (the new Princess) in an expansive definition of royal baby names.

Fiery but slight middle name choice; much more apt to be a redhead's nickname.

As Theo and Thea get more popular, so do Teo and Tea, short forms of the Latinate variations of Theodore and Matthew -- which include Dorotea and Mattea. But like Theo and Thea, Tea can stand perfectly well on its own and blends seamlessly into any Anglophone or European culture, if that is your aim. Some may argue that the Tea version is the prettiest and it's certainly the sleekest.

Old-time nickname that's following in the fashionable footsteps of cronies Jake and Sam. Abe feels both fresher and cuter -- which is maybe the same thing? -- than those choices right now. You can also get to Abe via Abel, which may prove a friendlier formal name than the gray-bearded Abraham.

Jae is a versatile name with multiple cultural origins. In Korean culture, it appears as a component in many names, meaning elements like 'respect,' 'wealth,' or 'talent' depending on the Chinese character used. In Western usage, Jae is a unisex name -- about 40 babies of each sex were named Jae last year -- that often functions as a shortened form of names beginning with 'J' such as Jane or Jasmine.

One of the sweet simple unisex names balanced enough to stand on its own.