Emilia

Shakespeare gave the name to Desdemona's fierce, clear-eyed friend in Othello — the one who refuses to keep the secret that could save her own life. Emilia is the Latin feminine of Aemilius, a Roman clan name likely rooted in aemulus, "rival" or "emulous," though centuries of use have softened that edge into something closer to elegance. The name has always been at home in Italian, Spanish, and Scandinavian nurseries, and American parents have caught up in earnest over the past decade; it now sits at rank 43. Three rounded syllables, gentle on every vowel. Literary, European, and unexpectedly modern on a small child.