Annabelle

Annabelle blends the Hebrew Hannah, meaning grace, with the Latin bella, meaning beautiful, a medieval compound that first surfaced in Scotland and never quite left the English-speaking imagination. Three syllables that swell and fall, AN-a-bell, ending on a soft, bell-like note. Edgar Allan Poe's Annabel Lee gave the name its haunted-seaside romance, and decades later it reached the American top 100 during the 2010s nostalgic-name wave. The horror films have done little to dent its lace-and-ribbon charm. It feels both grandmother-familiar and fairy-tale fresh. Annabelle suits a girl with long hair and long attention, equally comfortable in a tutu or in mud.