Amelia

Amelia, a lovely Victorian name, with a heroic connection to aviatrix Amelia Earhart, is one of the fastest-rising girls' names as an alternative to the overused Emily and Amanda, jumping 169 places in ten years. Amelia emerged as the top British name in 2011, is in the Top 10 in Australia and Poland, and has now risen to Number 23 in the U.S. So while Emilia and Emelia are sound-alike names closer to the mega-popular Emma and Emily, it's the Amelia version that's on the fast track.

Kids might associate Amelia with the wacky children's book character Amelia Bedelia, while adults could appreciate its Shakespearean cred as a character in A Comedy of Errors--spelled Aemilia,as well as as the eponymous heroine of the Henry Fielding novel, and also appearing in novels by Trollope and Thackeray, a Harry Potter name, and as detective Amelia Peabody in the Elizabeth Peters series. Angelina Jolie played patrol cop Amelia Donaghy in The Bone Collector.

Amelia became a British royal name via the daughters of Kings George II and III (are you listening Kate and Will?) Another American hero is feminist Amelia Bloomer.

Trivia tidbit: Amelia is the birth name of Minnie Driver.