Three Letter Names for the Gays

Extremely popular in Wales, where it began as a nickname for someone with fair hair or a fair face, this bright and simple name is a winner by its very nature. Can also be spelled Wynn, Winn or the very literal Win.

While traditionally pronounced as a homonym for Lee, Glee actress Lea Michele pronounces her name like Leah, and it may also rhyme with Freya. Regardless of your preferred pronunciation, it's interesting to note that Lea has always charted in the US Top 1000, despite coming close to the bottom a few times, making it one of the girl names starting with L that both fits in and stands out.

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

Pronounced zheel, it's a dashing conquistador; as gill, it's the nice and slightly boring guy down the street.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Ron is a masculine name that functions both as a standalone name and as a shortened form of longer names like Ronald, Aaron, or Byron. Ronald, its most common source, derives from the Old Norse 'Rögnvaldr,' meaning 'ruler's advisor' or 'decision maker.'

One of the most familiar, and assertive, names found throughout the Middle East and India, Ram has an assertive and solid air about it. Derived from a number of different origins, in English speaking countries, it may also be considered a word name, associated with a horned male sheep — or a form of computer memory.

The Biblical Simon has been rediscovered and this appealing short form, an alternative to Sam, might be a way to make your Simon even more special.

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

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.

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.

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.

This zippy short form of Zachary is more and more often standing on its own -- sometimes as Zac, Zach, Zack, or even Zakk -- but this simple-yet-straightforward version may be the very best.