Baby Names With a Long Vowel in Every Syllable

What do the names Naomi, Rhys, Milo and Kaylee have in common? Stylistically, not much. Yet all four names have risen significantly in the past decade, and they have a shared pattern to thank: all of their vowel sounds are long.

English long vowel sounds are pronounced like the names of the vowels themselves. A as in Kayla, e as in Gene, i as in Lila, o as in Owen, u as in Hubert. In this vowel-centric naming age, they reign supreme. Long vowels have fueled recent hit names from Aidan to Zoe. They're among the reasons why James sounds more current than George, and why Grace has come back stronger than Pearl.

What happens if you concentrate their style power? What if all the vowel sounds in a name are long? I looked at all of the names ranked in the top 500 for boys and girls and found 103 that fit that description: 47 one-syllable names, 52 two-syllable, and 2 three-syllable.* A handful of the names, like Amy and Mary, were hits of past generations. As a group, though, the long-vowel all-stars capture the sound of the times across a wide range of styles:

Girls
Ainsley Kylie
Amy Lucy
Bailey Maci
Baylee Macie
Chloe Macy
Claire Mary
Daisy Miley
Faith Naomi
Grace Paige
Hailey Paisley
Haley Phoebe
Haylee Reese
Heidi Riley
Hope Rose
Ivy Ruby
Jade Ruth
Jamie Rylee
Jane Ryleigh
Julie Rylie
Kailey Sadie
Kaylee Sage
Kayleigh Skye
Khloe Sophie
Kiley Zoe
Kylee Zoey
Kyleigh
Boys
Beau Jude
Blake Kade
Brady Kai
Brody Keith
Bryce Kobe
Cade Lane
Casey Leo
Cody Levi
Colby Luke
Cole Milo
Colt Myles
Corey Noel
Dane Pierce
Dean Reece
Drake Reed
Drew Reese
Eli Reid
Gage Rhys
Grady Riley
Hugo Romeo
Jace Shane
Jake Tate
James Trey
Jay Ty
Jayce Zane
Joel

Can the vowels point us to potential new hit names? Here are some less-common choices with vowel power behind them:

Girls Boys
Blake Blaise
Brylie Bodhi
Cleo Bruno
Eve Case
Halo Clay
Jewel Crew
June Grey
Laney Hayes
Mae Hugh
Maeve Kane
Maisie Leif
Oakley Nico
Raylee Ray
Rayne Rio
Rory Stone
Shea Theo
Sloane Trace
Soleil Tyce

In identifying long-vowel names I skipped over nicknames, as well as Spanish and Arabic names because they have different sound patterns. I also counted an "oo" sound as a long u.