Here Are the Most Popular Short Girl Names Right Now

When it comes to picking a baby girl name, everything comes in cycles. Sometimes, old-fashioned names are in, sometimes the new and modern takes over. Some years, a pop-culture event inspires a new wave of baby names — we see you, all the Bridgerton babies out there — other years veer toward the traditional, timeless names.

Believe it or not, the length of a baby name changes with the current baby-name trends, too. According to Quartz, a popular news organization, the era of long, flowing girl names like Jessica, Brittany, Amanda, Samantha and Ashley has given way to punchier, shorter names like Cora, Luna, Ava and Mia. Of course, you can always find counter-examples, like Charlotte and Isabella, two stunning, long girl names that have managed to stay in the top 10. But if you look at the data from the Social Security Administration (SSA), which keeps track of baby names, you can see that the top five names each year have been getting shorter since the '90s.

And why not? Short names are easy to remember, easy to spell and roll off the tongue. If you're looking for a quick moniker, we scoured the SSA list of the most popular baby names to find the hottest short baby girl names around, and also offer some suggestions for some up-and coming ones.

Short, Two-Letter Girls' Names

While there are two-letter girls' names out there — like Io of Greek mythology, who gives her name to a moon of Jupiter — none have made it on to the SSA's list of the most popular baby names. (There are two on the list of most popular boys' names if you want to snatch them for your baby girl: Bo and Ty.) Instead, two-letter girl names are most often shortened forms of longer names, like Di, El, Em, Jo, Lu, Mo, Ro, Vi or Yo.

Short, Three-Letter Girls' Names

There aren't as many three-letter girls' names on the SSA list as there are four-letter girls' names, so there's still something unique about them. If three is your magic number, try one of these names, listed in order from most popular to least popular.

  1. Ava

  2. Mia

  3. Zoe

  4. Ivy

  5. Eva

  6. Ada

  7. Amy

  8. Mya

  9. Gia

  10. Lia

  11. Noa

  12. Joy

  13. Ari

  14. Eve

  15. Mae

  16. Nia

  17. Liv

  18. Sky

  19. Lea

  20. Ila

  21. Kai

  22. Bria

  23. Aya

And while these didn't make the SSA's list of top 1,000 most popular names, so these are some to consider if you want something that's still under-the-radar (listed in alphabetical order).

  1. Ann

  2. Bea

  3. Dot

  4. Fay

  5. Gem

  6. Ida

  7. Isa

  8. Jan

  9. Kay

  10. Kit

  11. Lee

  12. Lou

  13. Lux

  14. Max

  15. Nev

  16. Nyx

  17. Pia

  18. Pip

  19. Ray

  20. Ren

  21. Rue

  22. Sam

  23. Sia

  24. Una

  25. Val

  26. Wyn

  27. Zia

a sleeping baby uses a pacifier while wrapped in a pink blanket
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Short, Four-Letter Girls' Names

For many, four letters is the sweet spot: not too short, not too long. These are all the four-letter girl names that made the SSA list — and, as you can see, there's plenty to choose from (listed in order of popularity).

  1. Emma

  2. Luna

  3. Ella

  4. Aria

  5. Mila

  6. Nora

  7. Lily

  8. Nova

  9. Isla

  10. Zoey

  11. Leah

  12. Lucy

  13. Maya

  14. Ruby

  15. Anna

  16. Cora

  17. Jade

  18. Iris

  19. Ayla

  20. Lyla

  21. Rose

  22. Arya

  23. Eden

  24. Remi

  25. Mary

  26. June

  27. Sage

  28. Ruth

  29. Sara

  30. Zuri

  31. Zara

  32. Lila

  33. Nyla

  34. Vera

  35. Hope

  36. Kaia

  37. Myla

  38. Ana

  39. Wren

  40. Lola

  41. Jane

  42. Kali

  43. Lena

  44. Evie

  45. Leia

  46. Thea

  47. Nina

  48. Cali

  49. Elle

  50. Demi

  51. Lana

  52. Esme

  53. Kira

  54. Rory

  55. Kate

  56. Lexi

  57. Skye

  58. Maia

  59. Navy

  60. Mira

  61. Lyra

  62. Raya

  63. Ryan

  64. Kyla

  65. Kora

  66. Maci

  67. Alma

  68. Anya

  69. Mara

  70. Dior

  71. Opal

  72. Remy

  73. Abby

  74. Erin

  75. Anne

  76. Mina

  77. Myra

  78. Alia

  79. Nola

  80. Faye

  81. Rhea

  82. Macy

  83. Yara

  84. Rosa

  85. Kyra

  86. Naya

  87. Lina

  88. Kori

  89. Lara

  90. Jada

  91. Noah

  92. Ezra

  93. Dani

  94. Halo

  95. Nala

  96. Aila

  97. Kara

  98. Cleo

  99. Iyla

  100. Hana

  101. Andi

  102. Drew

  103. Zora

  104. Avah

  105. Nyra

  106. Gwen

  107. Noor

  108. Vada

  109. Veda

  110. Elia

  111. Shay

  112. Etta

  113. Elsa

  114. Zoya

  115. Zoie

  116. Zola

  117. Vida

  118. Tori

Looking for more baby girl name inspiration? Check out our list of top Irish girl names, Indian/Hindu girl names, Hispanic girl names and long girl names, along with baby boy names and unisex names for good measure.

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