too many to name one

[GoodTaste]

You are always optimistic. Are there any regrets in your life?

Of course there are. But too many to name one.

Do you think the phrase “too many to name one” sounds natural in English?

 

[Raymott]

Yes, it sounds OK to me. It means that naming any one regret would be giving it too much prominence given that there were so many.

 

[emsr2d2]

The standard phrase is "[There are] too many to name". That doesn't work in your context because you would be saying it was impossible for you to name all of them. In your context, I would use "There are too many of them to name just one".

 

[GoodTaste]

If so, would it sound a bit redundant since it follows “Of course there are”?

Or on second thought, the repeat of "there are" seems to be an emphasis. I am not sure:

Of course there are. There are too many of them to name just one.

 

[emsr2d2]

If so, would it sound a bit redundant since it follows “Of course there are”?

Or on second thought, the repeat of "there are" seems to be an emphasis. I am not sure:

Of course there are. There are too many of them to name just one.

The repetition of "There are" is unnecessary. To get around it, you could use either:

1. Of course. There are too many [of them] to name just one.
2. Of course there are - too many to name just one.

I meant to point out in my first response that I find the question a bit unnatural. I'd ask "Do you have any regrets?" Natural answers to that might be "Yes", "Of course" or "Of course I do [- too many]!"

The original question and my revised version don't ask you to just name one so you could stick with "Too many to name" anyway.

 

[Raymott]

I think the original would work in a verbal interview. Of course, it might sound better with the stress on "one".
Something made me assume this was an actual example from life - in which case, the stress would be known.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

You are always optimistic. Are there any regrets in your life?

Of course there are. There are too many to name.

Do you think the phrase “too many to name one” sounds natural in English?

"But" and "one" would not make sense there.

"But" means that you object or disagree, and you're not objecting or disagreeing. You're agreeing stongly. So what you mean is that you do have regrets — in fact, there are too many to name.

And "one" doesn't work because it would not be hard to name just one of them. It would be hard to name all of them.