Opal

Opal flashes like the stone itself, the October birthstone of shifting fire whose name comes from the Sanskrit upala, meaning precious stone. It entered English nursery life in the late Victorian era, alongside Pearl and Ruby and the other jewel names, peaked in the 1910s, and then slept for the better part of a century. At rank 450, it's back with the rest of the antique revival, carried along with Hazel, June, and Iris. Two clean syllables, an open O and a soft landing. Opal is small and bright and a little mysterious, a name with milky iridescence and quiet Southern-grandmother warmth.