Holland

The Dutch houtland meant "wood-land," a name for a region of timber and bog that eventually stood in for an entire country — windmill country, canal country, the country of Rembrandt painting golden light in rooms full of shadow, of tulip fields in strict stripes of red and yellow and white. That is a great deal of image to carry in two syllables, and Holland carries all of it without appearing to strain.

Holland Taylor has given the name a theatrical elegance; Tom Holland has given it a younger, more kinetic energy — two entirely different personalities anchoring the same name on opposite sides of the Atlantic. It currently sits at rank 602 on the unisex charts, thoroughly comfortable in the contemporary moment without feeling invented by it.

Two syllables — Hol-land — the first rounded and closed, the second a soft landing, the double-L giving the middle a small echo. Alongside Sevyn, Lyric, Ocean, and Memphis, it reads as the name in the group most likely to age elegantly: rooted in geography and art history, modern without having tried. The child who grows up as Holland tends to be comfortable in rooms where the conversation is good — someone who has read enough to be genuinely interested in almost anything.