Victoria

A small woman in black took the British throne at eighteen, reigned sixty-four years, and lent her name to an entire century of architecture, literature, and sensibility — Victoria ruled before she was a style, but the style has a long memory. The Latin victoria means simply "victory," and before the queen there was a Roman goddess with wings who handed out wreaths to the winning chariots. The name now sits at rank 48 in the United States. Four syllables, stately without being stiff, with the easy nickname Tori for off-duty hours. A name with a throne in the closet and a cardigan on over it.