Mallory

Mallory began as a medieval Norman surname meaning the unlucky one, from Old French maloret, a piece of etymological mischief most parents are happy to ignore. The name shed its rough edges centuries ago and reemerged in the 1980s on the sitcom Family Ties, worn by Michael J. Fox's older sister. That pop-culture debut gave Mallory an American suburban glow, preppy and faintly literary, with the l's rolling pleasantly into the ee. It still sits comfortably in the 400s, familiar without being common. There is something unbothered about Mallory, a name that walks into a room without explaining itself.