Elle

Elle is the French word for "she," a name that is also a pronoun, distilled feminine in three letters. It began as a short form of names like Eleanor, Elizabeth, and Ellen, then stepped out on its own. The fashion magazine of the same name and Reese Witherspoon's Elle Woods have both helped it read as confident and stylish rather than merely abbreviated. At 479 on American charts, it holds a steady, chic spot. One syllable, one soft L, one breath-released vowel. Elle is minimalism done right, a name that takes up little space on the page and fills the room anyway.