Marina

Marina comes from the Latin marinus, of the sea, the feminine adjective pulled free and pressed into service as a given name in late antiquity. Several early saints bore it, including a Marina of Antioch the Orthodox still venerate as Margaret. The name runs warm through Italian, Spanish, Russian, and Greek use, and in the English-speaking world it keeps a quiet literary afterlife — Shakespeare gave it to the sea-born daughter in Pericles. Three syllables, mah-REE-nah, with a long clear central vowel. The name smells of salt rope and sun-warmed stone. It suits daughters who love open water, who swim well, who prefer the horizon to the wall.