Sophia

Sophia is the Greek word for wisdom itself — personified in Byzantine mosaics as a serene, golden figure, and enshrined in Istanbul's Hagia Sophia, that great domed cathedral-turned-mosque. The name traveled through Orthodox churches, German royal courts, and Italian operas before landing, improbably, at the top of the American charts in 2011, where it held the number-one spot for three years running. Two rounded syllables, the ph softening everything like a held breath. It carries a scholar's gravity without any chill. A name for a girl who will ask the question no one else thought to ask, and then wait, patient, for the room to catch up.