Palmer

Palmer carries frond and footstep. The English surname originally named a medieval pilgrim who had traveled to the Holy Land and returned with a palm branch as proof — a palmer, from the Latin palma. The occupational name became hereditary, then recently crossed over as a first name, aided by golfer Arnold Palmer's enduring cool and the surname-chic wave of the 2010s. It sits around 258 on the US charts, currently tilting slightly female though historically unisex. The long open vowel, the soft L, the clean R — it reads preppy, coastal, a little literary. A name for a child who will be both observant and unhurried.