Rio

Rio is the Spanish and Portuguese word for river, two vowels on a single stretched syllable. It's Rio de Janeiro, sapphire bay ringed by green peaks and samba bars; it's the Duran Duran song on the yacht in the sun; it's Sheena Easton and the Rio Grande and Cormac McCarthy's borderlands. At 516 and unisex, it's one of the liveliest short names in current use, international without being exotic, sunny without being saccharine. The R rolls or doesn't depending on the speaker; either way, the o at the end stays wide open. Rio is a name like a held vowel.