Rachel

Rachel comes from the Hebrew rachel — ewe, a young female sheep — and in Genesis belongs to Jacob's beloved wife, the mother of Joseph, whose beauty made him work fourteen years for her hand. The name entered wide Christian use after the Reformation, carried by families reading the Old Testament in English. It held a spot in the American top 100 from 1966 through 2004 and got a generation-defining boost from Jennifer Aniston's Rachel Green on Friends. Two syllables, a soft middle CH, a quiet L-landing. Biblical, literary, and still the hairstyle answer at a 1997 salon.