Mallory

It begins as an insult and ends as something you would want stitched on a leather bag. Mallory descends from the Norman French maloret, meaning the unlucky one — etymological mischief that most parents are delightedly unaware of when they choose it. The name crossed the Channel with William's army in 1066 and spent centuries as a family surname before American culture pulled it into the first-name pool, where its misfortune has been entirely forgotten.

The 1980s sitcom Family Ties gave Mallory a specific American personality — older sister energy, preppy and slightly exasperated — and that pop-cultural debut lodged the name in the national consciousness with considerable staying power. It registered as a vintage flourish for parents of the 1990s and has aged into something more literary and deliberate, chosen now by those who appreciate its Norman architecture and the way it sounds both established and edged. Three syllables with a rolling cadence, it pairs easily with siblings named Matilda or Helena, and rewards anyone drawn to names that carry old-world history without requiring explanation.