Egyptian mythology place-name with an intriguing sound and appealingly peaceful meaning. Update for Aaron?

Aaru

Ajax was the strong and courageous Greek hero featured in Homer's "Iliad," known as Ajax the Great. But it's also the name of a foaming cleanser, and if you find that reference too strong, you might try the shortened Jax instead.

Ajax

Aken

Aloe

Refers, in literal terms, to a curved line -- as in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famed "arc of justice." Could also be used as a reference to Joan of Arc -- Arc being, there, derived from her father's name, rather than a place -- or, conceivably, to Noah's Ark.

Aria is a multi-cultural name with two extremely popular versions: this more word-like one along with Arya, the spelling used for the feisty young heroine of Game of Thrones. There were about 6400 baby girls named Aria in the US last year alog with 2400 named Arya, which counted together places the name in the Top 10.
 
The light and airy Aria entered the list in 2000 and now ranks among the Top 25 girl names in the US. In Italian, Aria's literal meaning is air, while in Hebrew it's a form of Ari meaning lion. An Aria is a musical term denoting a kind of song or melody, often in an opera.
Aria is a Top 100 name throughout the English-speaking world and also ranks highly in France and several European countries -- though notably not in Italy or Israel. In Persian, Aria is a male name, and in Indian it is considered unisex. 
Aria is also an improbably cool saint's name. Saint Aria (or Arria) of Rome was an early Christian martyr.

Aria

A short but strong biblical name with multicultural appeal, Asa is enjoying new visibility thanks to hot young actor Asa Butterfield of Hugo fame. 
 Asa was the name of an important biblical king of Judah, who reigned for more than forty years. In modern times, the name was long associated with the strong patriarch Asa Buchanan on the soap opera "One Life to Live," but since the character "died" in 2007, this gives the name plenty of room to rejuvenate. Popular with the Puritans, Asa can be found in the novels of James Fenimore Cooper and Theodore Dreiser. 
 A notable real-life namesake is the highly influential botanist Asa Gray, and Asa was the birth name of Al Jolson. Radiohead's Colin Greenwood has a son named Asa. 
 Asa could also be a path to the hip nickname Ace or an alternative to the rapidly rising Asher.

This name, with its great meaning, has seen a notable rise for boys since the mid-2010s. It debuted on the US charts for girls in 2021.

Azai

Modern, mini nickname for Rebecca, much fresher than Becca or Becky.

A popular name in Denmark, in this country Bo has some cowboy swagger and a lot of substance in its minimal two letters.
In Mandarin Chinese, Bo means "wave".

A homey sitting-by-the fire-type nickname name. 

Heavenly French word name used for both sexes.

Ciel

Cyan is a highly unusual blue-green color name, a classmate of Celadon and Cerulean. It does come with the homey nickname Cy.

Cyan

Cere

Chel

Crim

Esmé comes from the past participle of the Old French verb esmer, meaing "to esteem" or "to love." It can also be considered a derivative of the Spanish name Esmeralda, which means "emerald". 

 Esmé began life as a masculine name, as in its original bearer, Esmé Stewart,1st Duke of Lennox, and Esmée, with the same pronunciation, was the feminine form. Today both spellings are used as feminine given names, along with Anglicizations including Esmay and Esmae.

 
Esmé is a sweet, sophisticated and charming literary name, from J. D. Salinger's classic 1950 story For Esmé, With Love and Squalor. Esme is also one of the most stylish <a href="/list/434/Baby-Names-That-Mean-Love">baby names that mean love.</a>

 A current favorite among celebs, including Samantha Morton, Michael J. Fox and Katey Sagal, Esme got a lot of publicity via the character Esme Cullen, the vampire matriarch of the Olympic Coven in the Twilight Saga. Esme has long been more popular across the pond in the UK, where it currently makes the Top 50 baby girl names.

 The final accent indicates the pronunciation of ez-may, though in English you can just spell it Esme. Whatever the spelling, Esme is one of the fastest-rising <a href="https://nameberry.com/search/girls-names/e">girl names starting with E</a>.

Esme

A fresh, green, rising nature name for girls that would make a cool possibility for a baby boy as well. It has ranked in the US Top 1000 for boys a handful of times since naming records began.

Fern

Flo is an antiquated nickname not often used these days, possibly because "Aunt Flo" is a euphemism for a period. 

This unisex Israeli name, which rhymes with ball, is sure to receive more serious international attention now that actress Gal Gadot is the new Wonder Woman.

Gale for boys is more a storm name than a short form of Abigail. Since Gale has resurfaced as the name of Liam Hemsworth's daring character in The Hunger Games, it has new force for boys.

Gale

Gia is a cute if slight name that calls to mind stylish sisters Mia, Lea, Pia, Tia, and Nia. One of the most familiar <a href="https://nameberry.com/baby-names/166/italian-names">Italian baby names</a> 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."
 Gia first made a strong impression via Gia Carangi, the ill-fated supermodel whose biopic provided Angelina Jolie's breakout role in 1998. It entered the Top 1000 in 2000, and rose as high as Number 299 in 2011 before slumping down.
 Gia was chosen by Matt Damon and by Mario Lopez for their daughters and also gained recent fame as the name of the oldest daughter of Real New Jersey Housewife Teresa Giudice.

Grey is the more common spelling in Britain and Australia. This color name has a softness and ambiguity which makes it equally lovely for a boy or a girl.

Grey

Haze

A rare example of an a-ending boy's name that sounds masculine, Ilya has a large measure of creative Slavic charm. 
>p>Ilya Ilyich Oblomov is the central character in Goncharov's novel "Oblomov."  Unfortunately, he spends most of his life in his bathrobe and slippers.

Ilya

Ino was one of the Queens of Thebes who, after her death, became an immortal. Ino raised her nephew, Dionysus (son of Semele and Zeus), provoking the wrath of Hera. In desperation Ino threw herself into the sea and was thereafter venerated as Leucothea (The White Goddess).
 In Japanese, Ino means wild boar. Ino is most familiar in a Japanese context from Ino Yamanaka, a character in the Naruto anime.
 Despite being short and sweet, and bearing the fashionable "O" ending, Ino is one of the rarer Greek mythology names.

Isra

Ivah

The quirky, offbeat and energetic botanical name Ivy is enjoying a deserved revival, propelled even higher by its choice by high-profile parents Beyonce and Jay-Z for daughter Blue Ivy. Ivy is also traditionally used at Christmas, make this one of the perfect <a href="https://nameberry.com/list/577/names-for-december-babies">names for December babies</a>.
 Ivy is derived from the name of the ivy plant, which got its name from the Old English word ifig. Ancient Greeks presented an ivy wreath to newlyweds as a symbol of fidelity. In the language of flowers, Ivy signifies faithfulness.
 British novelist Ivy Compton-Burnett is a notable namesake and Ivy Baker Priest served as U.S. Secretary of Treasury. Another association is the prestigious Ivy League. 
Ivy has been a favorite of scriptwriters—she's appeared on everything from 90210 to Gossip Girl, Dollhouse to Downton Abbey, and is the name of a 1970's American Girl doll.

Used more for girls in Europe, but definitely sounds masculine enough for a boy here. 

Izar

Jace

When Jade first took off as a given name back in the 1970's, it was in fact considered unisex. It ranked in the US Top 1000 first for boys, then for girls, 7 years later. By the 80's however, Jade was more familiar as a girls' name and by the 2000's, it was gone from the charts for boys. 
Nonetheless, more than 60 boys are still given the name Jade each year, and with Jasper, Onyx, and similar sounding Jude on the rise, perhaps Jade could be seen as a fresh spin on Jay, Jayden, or James in the future.

Jade

June

Jaci

Joro

Jove

Cute name but be warned: Kali is the Hindu goddess of destruction, the fierce side of the goddess Devi. 

But many parents don't know or don't care about Kali's dark side and see the name simply as a respelling of Callie. It might also be a short form of such names as the Greek Kalista, the Arabic Kalila, or the Indian Kalinda.

Kali

Keno

With Noah taking the Number 1 spot in 2013, Koa is attracting more attention than ever.
 

A Hawaiian name with a fierce meaning, Koa is also a type of tree native to the islands, its wood favored for building canoes and surfboards. It strikes a nice balance: part-gentle nature name, part-bold adventurer.
 

No Doubt guitarist Tom Dumont has a son named Koa Thomas, a brother for Ace and Rio, and a name that fits right in with all of the band's stylishly named offspring.

While Corey and its variations are losing fashion steam, the sound-alike Kori has new appeal as a name with a trendy animal meaning from the Kikuyu culture.

Kori

Kyle is still appreciated by thousands of parents each year for its combination of simplicity, strength, and style; it was in the Top 20 for most of the nineties. As a Scottish surname, it dates back to the fifteenth century. 
 Kyle Broslofski is one of the enduring kid characters on South Park, and Kyle MacLachlan is a busy actor.

Kyle

Kiev

Levi, lighter and more energetic than most biblical names, with its up vowel ending, combines Old Testament gravitas with the casual flair associated with Levi Strauss jeans. 
 Now it's being rediscovered in a major way—Levi has been shooting up the charts in recent years. Extremely popular in the US, it's also a Top 100 name throughout the English-speaking world as well as in a diverse range of countries from Germany to Brazil.
 
In the Old Testament, Levi was the third son of Leah and Jacob, from whom the priestly tribe of Levites descended; in the New Testament, Levi was Matthew's given name before he became an apostle. It is suspected that Levi derives from the Hebrew word yillaweh, meaning "he will join." 
 Levi received a lot of attention as the sons of Matthew McConaughey, Sheryl Crow and Sara Gilbert.
 In the Thomas Hardy novel Far from the Madding Crowd, Levi Everdene is the father of the heroine. 
 <br/
Levon is a related name.

Levi

Loyd

The related Lucas and Luke are both hugely popular boy names in the US and internationally, and now Luca has joined them on boys' popularity lists around the world.

That's an astonishing success story for a name that was virtually unknown a generation ago. Only 13 baby boys were named Luca in the US in 1980, and by 1990 it was still only 32. But by the turn of the century, Luca took off and has now surpassed his more familiar brother Luke in the US.

Boy names ending in vowel sounds may have felt too feminine to early generations who lived by more conventional gender rules. And that old school he-man America also may have rejected names like Luca for being too "foreign". But in this era of Noah and Mateo, Elijah and Ezra, Luca has finally found widespread acceptance.
Along with its popularity in the US, Luca ranks highly in a range of countries that speak English, Spanish, French, and German, among others. While Luca is technically related to Luke and Lucas and so takes their ancient Roman habitational meaning, you might also see it as a relative of Lucius or Lucian, meaning light.
 Colin Firth and his Italian wife chose Luca for one of their sons, as did Hilary Duff, Vincent d'Onofrio, Rebecca Minkoff, and Jacinda Barrett and Gabriel Macht.

Luca

This name of a character played by Kirsten Dunst in the movie Virgin Suicides, originally a novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, is gaining attention, also thanks to the heroine Lux, Lady of Luminosity in the League of Legends games. Luz is the Spanish version.

Lumi

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.

Maan

Muse

When R & B singer Nivea made this highly original choice for her daughter's name, she claimed to have thought of it in terms of the color and not the seagoing armed service. You can look at it either way.

Navy

A simple but unusual name with roots in disparate cultures, Neri appears in the Bible as a male name and is still sometimes used for boys as well as girls. The appeal of Neri are its deep roots combined with its simple, upbeat, modern feel, ala Peri and Rory.

Neri

Nico is one of the great nickname names, full of charm, energy and effortless cool -- a neo Nick.
 Nico is commonly heard in Italy -- as a short form of Niccolo -- and also in France, Belgium, Germany, Holland and Spanish-speaking countries.
 As a unisex nickname name, Nico is associated with the German-born single-named Velvet Underground singer (nee Christa) promoted by Andy Warhol. And Nico Reilly was one of the female leads on the TV series Lipstick Jungle. But over 90% of the American babies named Nico are boys.

Nico

Nyx is the name of the Greek goddess of the night. It's used for baby boys in small numbers.

Ten times as many boys are named Oak as girls: about 50 boys last year to five girls. Of course, nature names don't have any traditional gender identification the way names like John and Mary do, so Oak works well for all babies. Oakley is the most popular Oak name for babies of all genders.

Ode could be part of the extended Otto/Otis family, or it might be a literary term, referring to an elaborate lyric poem.



Olivia and Olive are popular, but this mini-name cuts them down to their essence. It is unisex, and debuted for girls in the US charts in 2020.

Pax, one of the variations of <a href="https://nameberry.com/list/411/baby-names-that-mean-peace">names meaning peace</a> that are newly popular in these less-than-peaceful times, got a lot of publicity when chosen by Brad & Angelina for their Vietnamese-born son. Parents attracted to Pax may also want to consider Paz, the unisex Spanish version, or Paxton, a growing-in-popularity surname choice that shares that magical X-factor.

Hip new middle-name choice, conjuring up the gothic tales of Edgar Allan, and current single-named pop singer Poe. 

With the return of the less obvious virtue names such as Verity and Prudence, vintage nickname names like Pru may follow in their wake.

Warm-hued spelling spin on Rowan that was chosen by Sharon Stone for one of her three young sons.

Roan

Roux is the name of the dashing Johnny Depp character in Chocolat. Roux is French from a Latin word meaning russet or brownish red; it's also a cooking term for a mixture of flour and butter that forms the foundation of many gravies or sauces. Most of today's children with this name, pronounced roo, will actually spell it Rue, for the female character in The Hunger Games.

Roux

This charming mini name began life as a nickname for Rodrigo but has since taken on a life of its own, ranking as an independent name in Portugal, it’s country of origin. If you’re looking to honor a Rodrigo, Roger, or Roderick in your life, Rui is an appealing international option. Ruy is a spelling variation that is more commonly seen in Spain.
 
Rui had a brief appearance on the charts in France from 1967-1981.

Name with connotations both mystical and tragic, newly popular in Europe.  For English speakers, though, this name might be ruined by its homonym ruin.

Rune

Naming babies after precious gems as a protection against evil spirits is an ancient Japanese tradition. 

Ruri

Sweet short form of Riley. Nature lovers and whiskey fans alike can appreciate the androgynous simplicity of Rye.

A simple, importable Japanese name that is used for both males and females and carries a multitude of meanings depending on which character is used to denote it.  While most westerners pronounced it rye-oh, its real pronunciation is closer to ree-uh.  A similar male name, Ryu, means "dragon."


Common name among Japanese men that can be written with a variety of kanji, giving it different meanings.

Shin

A color name in two languages. As a Finnish word name, Sini is a fancy way to say "blue". In India, it means "white" or "fair".

Sini

A short and sweet Spanish and Portuguese name, meaning "sun". Sol has been used on its own for centuries (it belongs to one of the daughters in the 10th-11th century Spanish epic poem "El Cantar de mio Cid"), and it is also found as a short form of the Marian names María del Sol and María de la Soledad, and of the related names Marisol and Soledad. A famous bearer is Argentine TV presenter (María) Sol Perez.
 
Sol is also one of the <a href="https://nameberry.com/list/433/goddess-baby-names">goddess names</a> fashionable for baby girls: she's a Nordic sun goddess, also called Sunna.
 
Sol entered the Top 1000 for the first time in 2022, surpassing the previous favorite sunny form, Soleil. Along with Soleil, other intriguing longer forms include Marisol, Solange, and Solvieg.

Saff 

Sian

Tau, which rhymes with cow, is the alphabetical nickname Grimes and Elon Musk chose for their third child, Techno Mechanicus. Tau is the nineteenth letter of the Greek alphabet and a common variable in physics, biology, and mathematics. In ancient Greece, it was a symbol of life and resurrection.

Toby is an early unisex name with a Shakespearean pedigree; when used for a girl it retains its tomboyish quality. 

Toby

Tyce

Tyr is a very early embodiment of a Norse god, typically thought to guide the law, justice, war and victory.

Toph

This short but strong name, commonly heard in Israel, has a lot of crossover potential, and is among the most usable on the minuscule menu of U names. 
 The are two Uris in the Old Testament--the father of Bezalel, an artisan blessed with the skill to create the meeting tent and ark of the covenant for Moses, and the father of Geber, one of the twelve officials who provided nourishment for Solomon. Uri is a symbolic name for boys born on Hanukkah. 
Notable bearers: Uri Geller, self-proclaimed paranormalist known for his spoon bending on "The Tonight Show;" and prize-winning children's book writer and illustrator Uri Shulevitz. 
Longer related names: Uriah, the archangel, and Uriel.

Una 

Arcane 's list "Fresh Spunky Short Names " of 120 great name ideas: Aaru - Zest!

Fresh Spunky Short Names 

Spunky and Cute baby names from 2 to 4 letters long (Origin varies and depends on nothing). A lot of these can be used for either gender, but I tagged them to my preference (soft names for boys, tough names for girls). Tried to get at least two for each letter. 