Fernanda

She came from the Visigoths. Fernanda is the feminine form of Fernando, both descended from the ancient Fredenandus, a Visigothic compound of frid, "peace," and nand, "brave" — an unlikely pairing that somehow produced the most natural name in the Iberian world. The Visigothic kings who carried this name built Spain around it; the Portuguese and Spanish crowns carried it into the Americas; and today it belongs as naturally to São Paulo as it does to Seville.

Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres won a best actress prize at Cannes in 1998 — the second Brazilian actress ever to do so — and gave the name an international moment it has never quite relinquished. Fernanda Castillo has brought it back into television prominence across Mexico and the United States. These are women who carry the name with a particular self-possession, which suits a name that means both peace and bravery simultaneously. It currently sits at rank 500, the edge of the top five hundred, growing steadily.

Three syllables — fer-NAN-dah — the stress on the second, the name ending on an open vowel with the kind of warmth that closed-consonant names cannot produce. It pairs beautifully in sibling sets with Amanda and Meredith and Clementine, all long names with classical bones and present-day ease. Nicknames include Fer and Nanda, each one with its own geography. Picture the woman who holds the room not by talking more but by listening more carefully than anyone else in it, who finds the common ground before the argument starts, and who means both things her name promises — peace and courage — at the same time.