Maya

A single syllable that speaks several tongues at once: the Roman goddess of spring who lent her name to May, the Sanskrit word threading through Hindu philosophy for the illusion of appearances, a Hebrew diminutive meaning water. Maya Angelou turned it into a byword for American literary conscience, and Maya Lin carved it into the dark granite of the Vietnam Memorial. The name has held steady in the U.S. top tier since the early 2000s, currently at 51, given to about one in 382 girls. Soft at the start, open at the end, impossible to mispronounce.