Agnes

Agnes arrives with a lamb in its lap. From the Greek hagne, pure, the name was early conflated with the Latin agnus, lamb, and the two meanings fused in the medieval imagination. Saint Agnes of Rome became one of Christendom's most painted martyrs, a girl with a lamb at her feet. In Sweden the name has a cool, frost-edged sound, two crisp syllables that close on a quiet hush. It peaked in Scandinavia in the nineteenth century, then returned in the early 2000s as part of the broader revival of vintage girls' names. Agnes reads soft-spoken and self-possessed, with a clear inner light.