Summer

Summer arrives with the smell of cut grass and sunscreen on a pool deck. A word name drawn directly from the Old English sumor, it entered the American given-name charts in the 1970s on a wave of nature and season picks, and it has stayed in steady circulation ever since, now at 142. Two syllables, soft and open, the long opening vowel closing on a warm R, almost a sigh. No translation is needed, the meaning is the weather itself. Sunny, easygoing, a little bit nostalgic for something that has not happened yet. A name that suggests bare feet, long evenings, and a wide horizon.