My best advice is to go to your LFS, or a few if possible, and make as list of all the cichlids you see. No need to write down any of the rift lake cichlids ("African cichlids", basically any cichlid from Lake Malawi, Tanganyika, or Victoria). From there, we can narrow down what would be your best choice.
I would suggest a species of cryptoheros, although they aren't all that common, they still can be found. I just happened upon cryptoheros nanoluteus the other day at a random fish store. But I would suggest looking into the following species (gonna use latin names mostly because so many fish have a ton of common names it can get more confusing, but I'll try to include common names when possible).
Cryptoheros nanoluteus
Cryptoheros sajica (T bar cichlid)
Cryptoheros cutteri (blue eyed cichlid)
Cryptoheros spilurus (Jade eye cichlid)
Cryptoheros panamense (Panamense cichlid, beautiful cichlid, highly conspecific aggressive though)
Amatitlania sp. Honduran Red Point (Honduran Red Point)
Thorichthys meeki (firemouth)
Thorichthys aureum (Green firemouth)
Thorichthys pasionis (Yellow firemouth)
Thorichthys maculipinnis (Ellioti firemouth)
Archocentrus multispinosa (Rainbow cichlid)
Cleithracara maronii (Keyhole cichlid)
~Aequidens pulcher (Blue acara, not a guaranteed-to-work species, are hit or miss really)
~Aequidens metae (Yellow acara)
~Aequidens portalegrensis (Port cichlid)
Aequidens diadema
Acarichthys heckelli (Heckell's cichlid)
Australoheros sp. Red Ceibal (Red ceibal)
*Crenicichla regani (Regan's Pike Cichlid)
*Crenicichla compressiceps (Dwarf green pike cichlid)
~Heros esfasciatus (Green/gold severum)
~Heros sp. Rotkeil (Rotkeil severum)
Laetacara thayeri
Mesonauta festivus (festivum)
Phterophyllum scalare (Freshwater angelfish)
Biotodoma cupido (Cupid cichlid)
Pelvicachromis pulcher (Kribensis cichlid)
Pelvicachromis taeniatus
*mean that these aren't exactly good for a beginner. Most of these species are gonna be fairly easy if you keep your water clean and your parameters in check. Most stay under 6", but I will mark those larger species with a "~". This is a good list to get your research started. I suggest googling each species, seeing what you like and what you don't, and take a list of what you like to your LFS, or to a few as I suggested earlier. I tried not to list too many of the hard-to-find species, but these are ALL species I have seen myself at a LFS (although I have a fantastic LFS that carries many of the rarer species). Good luck! Feel free to PM me with any questions