Bianca

Bianca is the Italian word for white, bianco in the masculine, and the name has graced Shakespeare's stages twice, as Othello's Bianca and as the sweet younger sister in The Taming of the Shrew. It shares its meaning with Blanche, though Bianca arrives with more espresso and sunlight. At rank 460 in the U.S., it sits among the Romance-language classics parents keep quietly returning to. Three clean syllables, a crisp front, a soft landing, the double consonant ringing in the middle like a little bell. Bianca feels at once elegant and lived-in, the name of someone with good instincts for textiles, music, and the truth.