Molly

She walked out of a medieval Irish cottage and never really went back. Molly began as a pet form of Mary, from the Hebrew Miryam, and became so fully its own name that most people who use it never think of the original. There is a double-l warmth at the center that belongs entirely to this name — soft as flannel, freckled, at home on a barstool in Galway or a diner in Ohio with equal ease.

Molly Brown survived the Titanic with her characteristic refusal to drown quietly. Molly Bloom closed Ulysses with a yes that ran for forty pages without a period. Molly Ringwald defined a particular kind of teenage intelligence for an entire generation. The name has covered a remarkable range of human experience. Currently at rank 208, it has leveled off after dipping slightly in the 2010s, the name of someone who has been through things and remained recognizably herself.

Two syllables — MOL-ly — the stress front and solid, the double-l slowing the landing just enough. As siblings, Lila, Ana, Gemma, Jasmine, or Mackenzie keep it in good company. The girl named Molly tends to be the first person in any situation to use the word ridiculous about something that is, in fact, ridiculous — which is a form of public service.