Eli

Eli has the shape of a name carved small into a wooden beam. From the Hebrew meaning ascended or exalted, it belongs first to the high priest who raised the young prophet Samuel in the temple at Shiloh. The name has moved quietly through American history with Puritan ancestors and inventor Eli Whitney, then retreated, then returned; it now holds near the top 92 for boys. Two syllables, long e, long i, balanced like a scale. Eli reads as thoughtful, a little self-contained, the kind of child who reads the dictionary for fun and asks the waiter's name. Short, certain, entirely unimprovable.