250 Short Girl Names That Get Right to the Point

There are a lot of good reasons to choose a short baby name. Think of all the times a person has to sign their name in their life, and how having fewer letters to write could be an advantage. Shorter names are often easy to pronounce and easy to spell (though not always). And parents don't have to worry about if their baby's name will fit when they get it personalized. Perhaps that's why, even back in 2018, Quartz noted the rise of the four-letter baby name.

For families who are on board, these 250 short baby girl names offer some quick-and-sweet inspiration. Some of them rank among the most popular girl names of the year, according to the Social Security Administration (SSA), meaning they're right on-trend. Others are still ranking outside the top 1,000 names, so they're still flying under-the-radar or are not yet overused. Try these on for size, and see how powerful they sound.

Two-letter names are a tough sell, to be honest. While there are many two-letter girl names that fit various naming trends—like Io, a Greek mythological name that's also a moon of Jupiter, and the unisex name Jo—none have made it on to the SSA's list of the 1,000 most popular baby girl names. (There are two on the list of most popular boys' names—Bo and Ty—that could easily be snatched up for a girl.) Instead, two-letter girl names are most often shortened forms of longer names, like these:

1. An
2. Di
3. El
4. Em
5. Ki
   
6. Lo
   
7. Lu
8. Mo
9. Ro
10. Vi

The shortest girl names that have made the SSA list are at least three letters, which is almost as short as they come. Here's every one that made the top 1,000 this year, in order from most popular to least popular.

1. Mia
2. Ava
3. Zoe
4. Ivy
   
5. Eva
   
6. Lia
   
7. Ada
   
8. Ana
   
9. Amy
   
10. Noa
    
11. Gia
    
12. Mya
    
13. Joy
    
14. Mae
    
15. Ari
    
16. Eve
    
17. Aya
    
18. Ila
    
19. Luz
    
20. Sol
    
21. Sky
    
22. Lea
    
23. Liv
    
24. Tru
    
25. Emi
    

Some of these are as trendy as well as popular, landing themselves on the SSA's list of the fastest-climbing names. The most impressive is Emi, which jumped a whopping 143 places in rank between last year and the year before. Luz is right on its tail, hopping up 93 places, followed by Sol (+73), Tru (+74), Aya (+65), Noa (+45), Eve (+30), Lia (+23), Ana (+20), Joy (+12), and Zoe (+7).

These didn't make the SSA's list of top 1,000 most popular names, so they're good ones to consider for families who want something under-the radar.

1. Ali
2. Ann
3. Ash
   
4. Bay
   
5. Bea
6. Dot
7. Fay
8. Gem
9. Ida
10. Isa
11. Jan
12. Kay
13. Kit
14. Lee
15. Lou
16. Lux
17. Max
18. May
19. Nyx
20. Paz
    
21. Pia
22. Pip
23. Poe
    
24. Rae/Ray/Rey
25. Ren
26. Rio
    
27. Rue
28. Sam
29. Sia
30. Taj
    
31. Teo
    
32. Una
33. Val
34. Wyn
35. Zia

For many, four letters is the sweet spot: not too short, not too long. There are a lot of four-letter names on the SSA list, and many are climbing the charts at a rapid pace. These are the names that increased most in popularity between last year and the year before, plus how much they jumped in rank.

1. Romy (+357 places)
2. Indy (+142)
3. Siya (+128)
4. Xyla (+127)
5. Veda (+123)
6. Gwen (+119)
7. Zyla (+102)
8. Dani (+97)
9. Nala (+94)
10. Elsa (+92)
11. Noor (+84)
12. Aura (+82)
13. Noah (+81)
14. Reya (+69)
15. Drew (+65)
16. Ivey (+60)
17. Ezra (+59)
18. Kaya (+58)
19. Halo (+52)
20. Emmy (+52)

Some trends emerge: Many of these are gender-neutral names or traditionally boys' names that have flipped columns (or homophones of them), like Romy, Dani, Noah, Drew and Ezra. The -la names are getting hot, like Xyla and Zyla (Nyla also increased in popularity by 21 places in rank). And Halo is part of a trend of word-name names, like True and Dream, that's just starting to bubble up.

While those are the fastest climbers, there are plenty of other four-letter girls' names on the SSA list—this is the rest of them, listed in order of popularity, that haven't been mentioned already.

1. Emma
2. Luna
3. Nora
   
4. Lily
   
5. Aria
6. Ella
   
7. Mila
   
8. Lucy
9. Isla
10. Nova
    
11. Maya
    
12. Leah
    
13. Zoey
    
14. Ruby
    
15. Ayla
    
16. Iris
    
17. Eden
    
18. Lyla
    
19. Jade
    
20. Anna
    
21. Cora
    
22. Rose
    
23. Mary
    
24. Remi
    
25. Sage
    
26. June
    
27. Arya
    
28. Ruth
    
29. Kaia
    
30. Myla
    
31. Sara
    
32. Lila
    
33. Wren
    
34. Vera
    
35. Nyla
    
36. Zara
    
37. Lena
    
38. Jane
    
39. Lola
    
40. Zuri
    
41. Evie
    
42. Rory
    
43. Leia
    
44. Kali
    
45. Hope
    
46. Nina
    
47. Navy
    
48. Esme
    
49. Thea
    
50. Raya
    
51. Lana
    
52. Mira
    
53. Anya
    
54. Opal
    
55. Demi
    
56. Kira
    
57. Maia
    
58. Alma
    
59. Elle
60. Skye
    
61. Lyra
    
62. Kora
    
63. Cali
64. Kate
    
65. Faye
    
66. Kyla
    
67. Alia
68. Lexi
    
69. Iyla
    
70. Lina
    
71. Yara
    
72. Mara
    
73. Cleo
    
74. Mina
    
75. Rhea
    
76. Abby
    
77. Myra
    
78. Macy
    
79. Rosa
80. Remy
81. Ryan
82. Hana
83. Kyra
    
84. Lara
85. Andi
    
86. Nola
87. Maci
    
88. Aila
    
89. Erin
90. Elia
    
91. Love
92. Kori
    
93. Naya
94. Zora
95. Ayra
96. Vada
    
97. Ayah
98. Etta
    
99. Zoya
    
100. Dior
     
101. Lisa
     
102. Kara

Still bubbling under the radar, these haven't hit the list of the most popular names yet, so your kid will probably get to claim these as their own.

1. Amal
2. Army
3. Asha
4. Cami
5. Caty
6. Clio
7. Coco
8. Dede
9. Echo
10. Edie
11. Elma
12. Emme
13. Enya
14. Gaia
15. Gigi
16. Gish
17. Gina
18. Hero
19. Huda
20. Ines
21. Ivie
22. Jean
23. Juno
24. Lake
25. Lark
26. Leya
27. Lois
28. Lulu
29. Mika
30. Mimi
31. Mona
32. Nava
33. Neel
34. Nila
35. Nour
36. Orla
37. René
38. Rini
39. Rita
40. Saba
41. Saja
42. Shea
43. Sisu
44. Snow
45. Star
46. Suki
47. Tara
48. Tess
49. Tina
50. Troi
51. Utah
52. Varo
53. Vega
54. Vida
55. Xena
56. Yana
57. Yuan
58. Yuki

Looking for more baby-name inspiration? Check out these Good Housekeeping lists:

Disney Baby Names | Indian/Hindu Boy Names | Indian/Hindu Girl Names | Italian Baby Names | Japanese Baby Names | French Baby Names | Hispanic Boy Names | Hispanic Girl Names | Irish Boy Names | Irish Girl Names | Long Names for Boys | Long Names for Girls | Nature Baby Names | Short Names for Boys | Short Names for Girls | Gender-Neutral Names | Western/Cowboy Baby Names | 1920s Names | 1930s Names | 1940s Names | 1950s Names | 1960s Names | 1970s Names | 1980s Names | 1990s Names

Marisa LaScala

Senior Parenting & Relationships Editor

Marisa (she/her) has covered all things parenting, from the postpartum period through the empty nest, for Good Housekeeping since 2018; previously, she wrote about parents and families at Parents and Working Mother. She lives with her toy-collecting husband and daughter in Brooklyn, where she can be found helping out her team at bar trivia or posting about movies on Twitter and Bluesky.