Kingsley

Kingsley is an Old English place name meaning king's meadow or king's wood, the kind of compound that conjures a stile, a hedgerow, and a very green middle distance. It's been a surname for centuries and a given name for just as long in Britain, home to the novelist Kingsley Amis and his son Martin. In West Africa, particularly Nigeria, it's a popular boys' choice, and more recently it's gone fully unisex in American use, landing at 984. Stately without being stiff, the three syllables move cleanly from crown to soft landing, a name with a long view.