Image via Wikipedia

She’s a medieval short form derived from a name made famous by a fourth century saint – and yet, she sounds completely at home in the 21st century.

Thanks to Heather for suggesting Margot as our Baby Name of the Day.

English speakers might find the silent t at the end of Margot confusing.  Margo is an equally valid spelling.  But given the current fashion for French names for girls, I’m sticking with the original for this post.

Margot first surfaces in medieval France.  A handful of Margots appear in the record.  It was the sixteenth century Marguerite of Valois who put her nickname on the map.  The daughter of a king and his Medici wife, sister to three kings and wife to the man who would rule Navarre and then France, you don’t get much more connected than the future Queen Margaret.

Her story was no fairytale.  Rumor had it that Margot’s mom poisoned Margot’s mother-in-law and sparked a wave of religiously-motivated murders and mob violence, forcing the bride to squirrel away her new husband just days after the wedding.  Not that theirs was a big romance.  Both she and hubby Henry were frequently linked to others.  Margot was also considered a trend-setting fashionista, and one of the loveliest royals of her time.

It is rumored that Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost was inspired by her life.  Opera, film, and more novels have included her as a character over the years.  Silent film star Constance Talmadge played the queen in D.W. Griffith’s 1916 master work Intolerance.

In the US, Margot charted most years from 1929 through 1966.  Margo fared better, appearing most years from the 1930s into the 1980s.  But, of course, the enduring Margaret was in the US Top 100 for most of that time, and many more women may have answered to Margo.

Other notables include:

• Margot Asquith was married to the British prime minister and wore the title countess, but she is best known for her sometimes dangerous wit.  Born Emma AliceMargaret, as Margot she became part of a late nineteenth century group of aristocratic intellectuals known as The Souls;
• Legendary ballerina Margot Fonteyn, born plain old Margaret Hookham, transformed her everyday appellation and became a star.  The Royal Ballet’s successful 1949 tour of the US made her a household name;
• Evelyn Waugh gave the name to a major figure in his novels, starting with Decline and Fall in 1928.  The Honorable Mrs. Margot Best-Chetwynde isn’t quite the upstanding citizen she appears to be at first glance;
• Margot Frank was Anne Frank’s older sister.  It is said that she, too, kept a diary, but it has never been found;
• Model Margaux Hemingway was born Margot – but changed the spelling to match the wine that had inspired her given name;
• Born Margaret Ruth, Margot Kidder made her name as Lois Lane in four Superman movies from 1978 through 1987;
• The high-achieving, completely dysfunctional siblings in The Royal Tenenbaums are Chas, Richie, and Margot.  Gwyneth Paltrow played Margot in the 2001 movie;
• More recently, Nicole Kidman played the lead role in 2007′s dark Margot at the Wedding.

Overall, Margot comes across as upper crust and even a little snobbish – but also creative and strong.  She’s one of the few ends-in-o names for girls with history, and that gives her a certain enduring stature compared to modern options like Harlow or Juno.  Margot sounds quirky but classic, creative but not flaky.  She’s a good compromise choice for parents stuck between Elizabeth and Echo.

Greta Garbo; Image via Wikipedia

She’s a Hollywood legend, but parents have mostly left her alone.

Thanks to Abbey for suggesting a choice that has long intrigued me.  Our Baby Name of the Day is Greta.

Greta is a mini-Margaret, one of many short forms associated with that saintly, regal appellation.  Gretel is trapped in a fairy-tale, while Greta feels more like an independent name.  In German, she’s gree tah, but in English, she’s greh tah, a short and simple choice with more bite than Ella or Jenna.

If you prefer a longer form for your daughter’s birth certificate but find Margaret a smidge too workaday, plenty of European variants might suit:  Margretha, Margareta, and Margaretta all come to mind.

But the most famous bearer of the name was born plain old Greta Gustafsson in Stockholm, Sweden, back in 1905.  You know her as Greta Garbo.

She to fame in silent films, and was one of the few leading ladies to make the transition to talkies.  Her first Hollywood production was in 1925.  In 1930, Garbo earned an Oscar nomination for her first role with sound, as Anna Christie in an adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer-winning play of the same name.  More nominations followed over the next two decades, for Camille and Two-Faced Woman, but she never took home the statue.

Garbo retired in 1941, and attempted to live a low-profile, if luxurious, existence.  Her image is deadly wedded to a phrase she uttered in 1932, as a Russian ballerina in Grand Hotel: “I want to be alone.”  Later in life, she’d quibble with the meaning, emphasizing that her character wasn’t looking for mere solitude, but a certain freedom from demands.  In the film, Garbo’s character was rejecting the advances of a rather persistent fellow guest.

For all the success of Hollywood choices like Audrey and Ava, Greta has always been relatively uncommon.  The evergreen Margaret was a Top Ten staple through the 1930s, and some of those girls may have been called Greta – though many more likely answered to Peggy and Maggie.

In the 1930s, at the height of Garbo’s popularity, Greta made it into the 300s.  More recently, the name was unranked through the 1980s and 90s.  She returned to the Top 1000 in 1999, and has since climbed to #666 – about as popular as Haven, Brinley, or Vera.

Greta’s return may be due to parents looking for the next Hollywood baby name.  But she can also appeal to parents seeking a strong-but-feminine option.  Other notable Gretas in recent years include:

• Journalist Greta Van Susteren has been in the spotlight since the 1990s.  She made headlines herself in 2002 when Fox News lured her away from CNN;
• Actress Greta Scacchi;
• Ingrid Bergman played Greta in Murder on the Orient Express;
• Days of Our Lives included a storyline about the swamp girl, a young woman living in the wild who turned out to be the daughter of a princess.  Oh, and swamp girl’s name was Greta.  Hey, it’s a soap opera!

Greta feels more substantial than some short, nickname-proof options for girls.  She’s a sophisticated name that isn’t too much for a child to wear.  If you’re looking for a pan-European choice that’s familiar but uncommon, Greta could be the right choice.

Image by holeymoon via Flickr

Between writing about Scarlett the other day and finally reading The Help, I’ve had Southern names on the brain.  Kathryn Stockett’s characters answer to names like Raleigh, Constantine, Eugenia and Mae Mobley – the “Southern double name” idea referenced by Nicole Kidman when explaining that her youngest daughter is called Faith Margaret, not just Faith.  There’s also a minor – but critical – character called Lulabelle, an intriguing smoosh of a name that brings to mind Breakfast at Tiffany’s Holly Golightly’s birth name, Lulamae.

This past week also saw a lively conversation about gender-bending names in the blogosphere this week:

• Laura Wattenberg investigated Alison, and all of the ends-in-son names that have followed her rise;
• I wrote In Defense of Riley Anne and Evan Marie: Ten Reasons Boys’ Names on Girls Are Not a Sign of End Times;
• Waltzing More Than Matilda weighed in on the topic, too;
• So did Nook of Names;
• Regardless of where you come down on the issue, parents are not likely to stop borrowing boyish names for some of their daughters, some of the time.  For Real spotted the following sibset: Bella, Cosette, and Reave, three big sisters – yup, even Reave – for Taite Victoria Paige.

Beyond the debate, it was a really interesting week.  I thoroughly enjoyed:

• Swistle’s list of plural-sounding names like Brooks and Wells.  Maternity concierge Rosie Pope gave the name Wells to her younger son; big brother is J.R.  Megyn Kelly of FOX News has a son called Yates;
• What do you think of Perpetua?  She’s featured over at British Baby Names;
• Nancy tallied up baby girls named Monalisa, like the painting – and the Oscar-winning song from Nat King Cole;
• I love the idea of Annecy, and pretty much all twelve of these water names at Nameberry;
• Babynamelover spotted the intriguing Ursula Cherry, a little sister for Hester;
• Unusual names mentioned at the AppMtn Facebook page this week: Betty, Wilbur-called-Willy, Cassity, Fletcher, and Kais, an Arabic name with tons of history, often spelled Qais – thanks to Allison for the name spotting on that last one, and Sarah for filling in the history!

In celebrity baby news, we learned that yes, Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied named their newborn baby boy Aleph.  Cue the Have Celebrities Gone Too Far With Crazy Baby Names articles.

We’ve also heard that both Kate Hudson and Victoria Beckham have welcomed their children – a second son for Kate, and Victoria’s first daughter after three boys!  No names announcements – yet.  Something tells me next week is going to be exciting, too …

Image via Wikipedia

Nameberry called her freckle-faced, but she’s picked up an edge in recent years.

Thanks to Claire for suggesting Polly as our Baby Name of the Day.

The precise evolution of Mary into Polly is fuzzy, but let’s say this: even purists who insist a formal name should always go on the birth certificate might find a little Mary called Polly confusing circa 2011.

Regardless, Polly does sound just right on a girl with pigtails, a pinafore, and yes, freckles.  ome of it is her nickname status: she’s one of many short forms that evolved over the many years Mary dominated choices for girls.  But most of it is about all those famous Pollys:

• Nursery rhymes tell Polly to “put the kettle on” for tea;
• Aunt Polly was the good-hearted guardian of Tom Sawyer;
• Eleanor Porter’s 1913 Pollyanna was about a super-optimistic orphan, able to melt the heart of her grim guardian Aunt Polly, while selflessly improving the lives of everyone she meets.  Sequels followed, as did film adaptations.  In 1920, Mary Pickford – then aged 27 – played the twelve year old.  (And you thought the kids on Glee were old!)  Hayley Mills’ 1960 turn as the ever-so-sunny youngster is also famous;
• Shirley Temple sang the children’s song “Polly Wolly Doodle” in 1935′s The Littlest Rebel, after rescuing her father from certain death;
• More recently, girls can play with Polly Pocket, a sort of mini-Barbie.

They’re sweet, even saccharine, but more recent uses are something of a mixed bag.  There’s

• Polly Holliday – you know her as the no-nonsense waitress Flo on 1970s sitcom Alice;
• 1970s Britcom Fawlty Towers included a staff member called Polly;
• 1980s staple thirtysomething included Polly Draper as Ellyn;
• Actress Polly Bergen has had a long career, with recent appearances on The Sopranos and Desperate Housewives.  Bergen was born Nellie Paulina;
• Polly Plummer is a character in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series;
• Meg, the heroine of Margaret L’Engle’s young adult novel A Wrinkle in Time eventually grows up and has a daughter of her own, named Polly – short for Polyhymnia.

Polly was popular in the late nineteenth century, and again in the 1930s.  At first glance, you might attribute her rise to Porter and Pickford, but there’s also Bertolt Brecht’s 1928 The Threepenny Opera, an adaptation of 1728′s The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay.  Polly is the daughter of a criminal mastermind, and she plans to marry Mack the Knife – also a thief.  The cast consists of beggars, prostitutes, and prisoners.  Polly herself is fairly virtuous, though that’s mostly by comparison to the notorious company she keeps.

The Kinks recorded a song called “Polly.”  So did Nirvana.   There’s also independent musician P.J. Harvey, born Polly Jean. The musical connection takes Polly in a different, darker direction.

Polly could’ve made a comeback thanks to the 2004 Jennifer Aniston-Ben Stiller romcom Along Came Polly.  Stiller played a risk-averse guy who has just been jilted when he meets fun-loving free spirit Polly Prince.  Their unlikely relationship takes off, but the film wasn’t enough to make parents reconsider the name.

Perhaps parents might revisit Polly as a short form of another name: Paulina, Penelope, Pomeline, or even Appoline.  Diminutives like Molly and Sadie have graduated to independent status, but Polly is not quite there – yet.  That could make her the perfect choice for parents seeking something different, but still familiar.

Image via Wikipedia

She’s a vibrant name with a legendary literary namesake.

Thanks to Ivy for suggesting Scarlett as our Baby Name of the Day.

One of the many tales about Gone With the Wind involves the name of the novel’s heroine.  Up until just before going to press, the story goes, Margaret Mitchell planned to call her heroine Pansy.

Mitchell had a last minute flash of inspiration, and you know the rest.

Up until then you might have met a Rose or a Hazel or an Olive; Pearl or Ruby, too.  But Scarlett was rare.  Scarlet appears as a masculine moniker on the US Census Indian rolls, especially in North Dakota.  And because Scarlett is a surname, it does appear as a given name before Ms. Mitchell’s novel debuted – though those Scarletts are sometimes male, too.

In Gone With the Wind, Katie Scarlett O’Hara is named after her paternal grandmother, Katie Scarlett.  Presumably that’s her grandma’s surname, indicating that one of their ancestors dyed or sold woolen cloth.

Scarlet cloth wasn’t necessarily red, but bright red was one of the most popular hues.  Over time, the fabric’s name transferred to the color.  The source of the word is likely the Persian saqirlat – fine cloth, from the Late Latin sigillatus – elaborately decorated clothes.  Sigillatus shares roots with sigil – a magical symbol – and signal and sign.

If sigil to Scarlett seems like a leap, it is – in between, the word became scarlata in Late Latin; escarlate in Old French and Spanish and scarlatto in Italian.

It’s a color with a past:

• In the Book of Revelation, there’s a scarlet beast and a woman wearing scarlet;
• Scarlet fever ravaged communities into the early twentieth century;
• Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter links the color to a sin once more;
• Sherlock Holmes’ first adventure was 1888′s A Study in Scarlet.  In this case, the color referred to “the scarlet thread of murder” in Holmes’ case;
• On a more heroic note, Baroness Orczy’s 1905 novel set The Scarlet Pimpernel to rescue French aristocrats from the guillotine at the height of the revolution.

Today, Scarlett remains a vivid shade of red and a dramatic name, but she’s lost her air of scandal.

As a name, Scarlett charted briefly from 1940 to 1943, and the height of Gone With the Wind.  She surfaced again from 1962 to 1963, possibly due to short-lived Canadian soap opera Scarlett Hill.

But then came 1991′s Scarlett, the authorized sequel to Mitchell’s classic, penned by Alexandra Ripley.  The novel was savaged by critics, but still topped the bestseller lists and was made into a can’t-miss-miniseries.  The name returned in 1992, but this time she stayed.  Why were the 90s different?

• Hugh Grant’s quirky red-headed roommate in Four Weddings and a Funeral answered to Scarlett;
• Young actress Scarlett Johansson – yes, that’s her real name – nabbed an Independent Spirit award nomination in 1996 and had her big breakout role in 2003′s Lost in Translation;
• Color, nature, and noun names are stylish today – even mainstream.  Violet rose at the same time.

In 2010, Scarlett ranked #114.  And why not?  She’s colorful, spirited, and stylish.  Her only downside?  She’s climbing rapidly.  If Savannah can reach #30, Miss O’Hara’s appellation surely can, too.

Image via Wikipedia

She’s a medieval rarity that would be right at home in today’s Top 100.

Thanks to Christina for suggesting Annora as our Baby Name of the Day.

Between the seventh and thirteenth centuries, a quartet of popes used the name Honorius.  There were also two saints, a Roman emperor, and possibly a medieval magician, too.

Honorius shares his roots with the Latin honorem, the source of our word honor.  Variant Annora surfaces in the Middle Ages:

• Annora of Saint-Valéry married Robert III of Dreux in the 1100s.  Her name is also given as Aenor, which links the name to Eleanor and suggests that more that one name might’ve contributed to Annora;
• Maud de Braose, Lady of La Haie and an heiress in her own right, married a powerful baron and defended their lands.  She also incurred the wrath of King John and paid with her life.  Among her sixteen children were daughters called Flandrina, Loretta, and Annora, who entered religious life;
• In the thirteenth century the Scottish Earl of Buchan gave the name to his fifth daughter and youngest child, though the girls’ names are listed inconsistently.  Elizabeth is also Elizabetha, Emma is sometimes Agnes, and Annora appears as Margaret, too.  I’m not sure if that’s due to inconsistent recordings, or a difference between their baptismal names and those used in daily life;
• But the real story of Annora’s endurance has to do with the Pierrepont family.  Sir Henry Pierrepont’s ancestors were part of the Norman invasion.  Henry married Annora de Manvers, heiress to Holme, a town near Nottingham, England, in 1281.  Holme Pierrepont has been the village’s name ever since, and you can still visit the family’s ancestral home, pictured above.

In fact, the Pierreponts should get credit for preserving Annora:

• In the early nineteenth century the 2nd Earl Manvers named his daughter Annora Charlotte.  She married Charles William-Wynn;
• In 1853, the 3rd Earl – Annora’s brother – named his daughter Emily Annora Charlotte;
• Maud Annora Williams-Wynn married Lord Harvey of Tasburgh in 1920.  I’m not positive of the connection, but there’s that name again, still standing, just like Holme Pierrepont.

Honora and Honoria are also in use.  Honoria has a particularly distinguished history, from Ancient Rome to the novels of Charles Dickens and PG Wodehouse.  Annora could succeed because she fits with so many trends:

• She’s a virtue name, as gentle as the Top 20 Grace, but distinctive without venturing into the new-agey vibe of choices like Serenity;
• There’s always a place for Ann names.  Hannah and Brianna had their day. Annabelle, Anneliese, and frilly Lilianna are current now.  Annora can even feel like an elaboration of Anna;
• Nora has made a comeback, but some parents are debating if Eleanor is the right formal name, or if Nora can stand alone.  Annora is a nice compromise; it is also a smoosh of Ann and Nora, if you’re trying to honor two grandmothers;
• Lastly, let’s not forget impact of starbaby Honor – she and daddy Cash with their trend-setting noun names could prompt more parents to flip to Annora in their baby name book.

But mostly, Annora remains undiscovered.  That’s good news if you’re looking for something a little bit different that your daughter won’t have to share, something traditional that isn’t common.  She could also serve as culture-spanning choice – remember the Arabic Noor?  Anura is a variant form.

With nicknames from the cute Annie to the elegant Nora, her medieval pedigree, and a great, undisputed meaning, Annora makes for that most elusive of finds: a truly wearable rarity.

T44 by Too Far North via Flickr

Tammy is stuck in the 60s, but this unrelated import could wear well in 2011.

Thanks to Fran for suggesting Tamsin as our Baby Name of the Day.

Tammy typically comes from Tamar and Tamara, names with Hebrew and Sanskrit roots.  Tammy and Tamara had their moment in the sun in the 1960s, propelled by a series of films starting with 1957′s Tammy and the Bachelor.  The cinematic Tammy was actually short for Tambrey.  There was also a short-lived television adaptation, and actresses like Debbie Reynolds and Sandra Dee made their names as the Southern-fried good girl looking for true love.

Even if Tammy hadn’t been a Top Ten pick from 1966 through 1971, the pop culture reference is enough to make her feel dated.

Tamsin shares a first syllable, but has a totally different story.  She’s a contracted form of the equally rare Thomasina.

Given all the men named Thomas over the years, it isn’t surprising that there’s a feminine form. Thomas comes from the Aramaic word for twin.  Saints and other notables have made him a classic.  Girls have answered to names like Tomasa and Tommie; the latter is almost certainly the most popular feminine form in the twentieth century.

In Thomas Hardy’s 1878 Return of the Native, one of the main characters is Thomasin, often called Tamsin.  The name picks up a literary vibe thanks to the novel.

When you go looking for women named Tamsin or Thomasina, they’re almost always found in the UK.  Or, possibly, they are cats.  In 1964, Disney’s The Three Lives of Thomasina adapted a 1957 novel about a rather special cat and her family.

Princess Ileana of Romania; Image via Wikipedia

Looking for a Romanian heritage name other than Nadia?  Seeking an intriguing royal choice beyond Mary and Margaret?

Thanks to Photoquilty for suggesting one option: our Baby Name of the Day, Ileana.

It’s likely that Ileana comes from Helen, Eleanor, and company.  Given the name’s lengthy history and many foreign variants, it is a reasonable assumption – but I can’t quite trace the evolution.

Whatever her origins, Ileana has a regal air in Romania.  First there’s a mythological princess, a dark-haired, brave, faithful, and hard-working girl who triumphs over a monster.  Okay, there’s a noble prince who does the heavy lifting.  But Ileana seems to have a little more gumption than the average fairytale figure.

The 20th century gave us a real life Princess Ileana of Romania, the youngest daughter of King Ferdinand I.  She married an Austrian Archduke.  Like her mythological namesake, Ileana’s accomplishments speak of diligence and a sensible outlook.  She brought the Girl Guide Movement to her country and worked with the Red Cross, too.  During World War II, not only did she work as a nurse, she converted her family’s castle to a hospital.  While she ultimately gave up her titles and lived in exile, Ileana continued to live an exemplary life.  Late in her years, she took religious orders and established a monastery in Pennsylvania.

Hollywood royalty also has claimed the name.  Angelina Jolie played FBI profiler Ileana Scott in 2004 thriller Taking Lives.  There’s also Ileana Douglas, an actress with a long list of credits, from Cape Fear to Ugly Betty.  She’s the granddaughter of two-time Oscar-winning actor Melvyn Douglas.

There are also Spanish and Indian uses of Ileana that lend her a certain international vibe.  The only thing that might give parents pause is Ileana’s similarity to a cluster of similar-sounding names.  The chart-topping Ella has encouraged adoption of picks like Eliana (#411 in 2009).

But if you’re looking to honor your roots in Romania, or maybe that study abroad semester in Bucharest, Ileana is a viable option.

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Barbara is your aunt, the mom who called her daughters Ava and Madison.  But this exotic nickname spin might just revive her from a middle aged slump.

Thanks to Jana for suggesting Basia as Baby Name of the Day.

In Polish, Basia is a pet name for Barbara.  The pronunciation is a bit too close to bash for some – BAH sha.  But with the equally Slavic Sasha growing up in the White House and Anya leaping up the popularity charts, it isn’t unreasonable to look around and consider what other names we can import from Warsaw and Moscow, Kiev and Prague.  After all, Tanya spent a decade in the US Top 100 during the 1970s.

The saintly Barbara – she was a third century martyr, though there’s speculation that her story is too fantastic to be believed – spent the years 1927 through 1958 in the US Top Ten, peaking at #2.  Many of us have a beloved Barb on our family trees.  The first President Bush married a Barbara; the second President Bush passed the name on to his daughter.  But few parents are doing the same today.  As of 2009, Barbara had fallen to #656.

Despite her long history, it is more challenging to update Barbara than some other names.  American parents called their girls Barbie and Babs and Bobbie, but it is a relatively small stable of nicknames compared to Margaret, Elizabeth, or Katherine.  International variations also tend to look an awful lot like Barbara – the Czech Barbora, the Russian Varvara.

The -sia ending is unfamiliar in the US, and tempts some to say bah SEE uh.  Other Polish diminutives share the form, like Gosia from Margaret and Kasia from Katherine.

There’s a second possible source for Basia.  The Hebrew Bithiah, Bethia, or Batyah – famously worn by the Egyptian princess who rescued and raised baby Moses – might also be a source for Basia, as the name was simplified from three syllables to two.

Plenty of notables have answered to Barbara.  Look her up in a baby name guide and you’ll see that she means foreign – though you probably won’t hear that she shares her root with the word barbarian.

The Basia who might come to mind is the one pictured above, singer Basia Trzetrzelewska, though she uses only her first name professionally.  In the 1980s and 90s, her recordings fared well internationally.  In her video from “Time and Tide,” she starts out by correcting a guy who calls her Basey.  “It’s Basia,” she says.  If that doesn’t ring any bells, click on “Cruising for Bruising” – probaby her biggest single.

Basia is still performing, but if you live in Arizona, you’re more likely to think of the grocery store chain, Bashas, founded by nineteenth century Lebanese immigrant Najeeb Basha and his sons.

There are other options to reinvent Barbara – the medieval Barbary, though all of her associations are tainted, from the slave trade on the Barbary Coast of Africa to San Francisco’s nineteenth century red-light district.  Elaboration Barbarella might hold promise, if not for Jane Fonda’s sexy sci fi heroine from 1968′s cult classic film by the same name.

But if you’re looking for a Slavic heritage choice, Basia could prove surprisingly wearable.

Thanks to Danielle for suggesting Meadow as Baby Name of the Day.

The world met Meadow Mariangela Soprano in 1999, when she was the teenaged daughter of fictional mobster-in-therapy Tony Soprano.  Growing up Soprano was no easy path.  Sure, she drove a Lexus.  But one of her boyfriends met an untimely end thanks to daddy dearest.  Still, Med graduated from Columbia, so as mobster sprog go, she ended pretty well.

There may’ve been 1960s era Meadows at Woodstock with Sunbeam and Maple, but not enough to register in the US Top 1000.  Meadow’s debut was in 2001, at #804.  She made in into the 760s a few times during The Sopranos’ run, but had fallen to #864 by 2009.

But Meadow ought to fare better in the age of River, Lily and Skye.  She’s a bona fide nature name with Old English roots.  Mædwe referred to grass-covered land; a prairie.  (Speaking of Prairie, a word with the same meaning from the Latin pratum, that’s another nature name that’s even less often heard, except for one minor Muppet and a Thomas Pynchon character.)

One bearer of the name is Meadow Sisto, sister to veteran television actor Jeremy Sisto, of Law and Order and Six Feet Under.  I can’t say if their parents were hippies, but multiple biographies tell us that they were farmers.

Meadow does appear sparingly in US Census records, used for both men and women, perhaps because Meadows remains a fairly common surname.

The same parents embracing Harper and Piper for their frills-free, yet feminine, might fall in love with Meadow.  And now that Willow, propelled into use by a television witch and Hollywood royalty, has reached #315 and shows no signs of slowing down, Meadow could emerge as an alternative.

Unlike some meteorological nature names – Misty and Stormy spring to mind – there’s nothing lightweight about Meadow.  She’s not a classic like Margaret, but she doesn’t seem as outlandish as many an appellation.

Perhaps parents dislike the short form Med, but it is no more of a hazard than Pi or Har.  Of course if you really craved a nickname, you might arrive at Maddie or Mimi, though both are a stretch.

Meadow occupies a nice middle ground – like many word names, she’s familiar and easy to spell, but your child will never answer to Meadow G.  Her nickname-proof style will appeal to many, as will her crunchy granola vibe.

It is possible, of course, that you’ll be asked if you named her after Tony and Carmela’s kid.  But as the series fades into the background, chances of that happening are slim.  The only real challenge is that Hollywood might yet embrace Meadow, a sibling for Sparrow and Violet and all of those baby Harpers born of late.

But lightning can strike with any name, so for now, file Meadow with those modern choices that manage to be both distinctive and easy-to-wear.