Jane

Jane is one syllable of quiet conviction. The English feminine form of John — from the Hebrew Yochanan, "God is gracious" — Jane arrived in the sixteenth century and promptly attached itself to queens (Jane Seymour, the nine-day queen Lady Jane Grey), novelists (Jane Austen), and a thousand literary heroines from Eyre to Bennet. After mid-century ubiquity it slipped far down the charts, then began an artful return in the 2010s; it now sits at 269, feeling rediscovered rather than retro. Three letters, one syllable, long A, soft closing N. Plainspoken, literary, beautiful precisely because it refuses to perform.