Angel

From the Greek angelos, messenger, the word Christian translators reached for when rendering the Hebrew malakh. In Spanish-speaking countries Ángel has been a fixture for centuries, a boy's name borne by saints, soccer players, and matadors; in English it more often lands on girls. The name has held a steady place in the American top hundred for decades, lifted by Latinx naming traditions. Sylvia Plath's Ariel had a poem about it; Buffy had a vampire; José Martí wrote verses to one. It currently ranks 63 and is given to about one in 346 American babies. A word so familiar we forget it was ever foreign.