This spelling adds a little more femininity to the neutral Lee. Leigh and sister Lee were quite popular in the 1960s and 1970s among the first cool wave of unisex names for girls, but now have vanished from the Top 1000. The Biblical Leah is preferred.

Medieval name without much of a future.

Ralphie is one of those short forms that have been out of style for so long it just might have a chance of coming back in, if you can get past seeing it as a desperate attempt to cute-ify a stodgy old man's name.

Dick was a once-common short form of Richard; replaced by Rick or Richie, and finally by the full name itself. Rude meaning -- make that two rude meanings -- pretty much knocks this one out of consideration.

Arnie is a nerdy-tipping-into-cute nickname that may rise again, if not for this generation of babies then for their babies. Look for it in the nurseries of 2050.

The classic strong-yet-friendly nickname name, much used for charming movie characters.

Unlike Jake or Sam, few parents put Mike on the birth certificate.

Carrie lives on mainly on the screen, as the new/old antiheroine of Stephen King's classic Carrie, as turn-of-the-21st-century diva Carrie Bradshaw of Sex & The City, and as Claire Danes' Emmy-winning character Carrie Mathison of Homeland.

A diminutive of Daniel that's been immortalized in odes ranging from 'Danny Boy' to 'Danny's Song.'

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

Richie was once a popular enough nickname for Richard that it made the Top 1000 all by itself, blending in with Ronnie, Reggie, Robbie, and Randy. In the US, it last appeared in the charts back in the 70s, but its still in style in the UK where a recent year saw it rank at the latter end of the charts, alongside Drew, Wilf, and Bobbie.

Much-used midcentury diminutive, now fallen far from favor even as a middle name.

A warm and cuddly nickname name, although he famously "kissed the girls and made them cry" in the old nursery rhyme.

More commonly spelled JUDD, this is a strong but sensitive short form that can easily stand on its own.

Jolly Holly has always been among the favorite names for Christmas babies, evoking the symbolic shrub with dark green leaves and bright red berries. And Holly is the flower for the month of December, so it's also among the perfect names for December babies. Holly is scarcely heard on baby boys, but Robin Tunney and Nicky Marmet used it as the middle name for their son Oscar.

Chris is one of the longest-running and still most appealing unisex short forms, still used nearly equally for boys and girls. Though no longer fashionable, Chris still feels crisp and appropriate for both sexes.

Thad is a tad too slight to stand alone as a name, though as a short form of the imposing Thaddeus it's as serviceable as Ted or Ed.