Dahlia

One of the rarer flower names, used occasionally in Britain (where it's pronounced DAY-lee-a); here it is recovering from what was perceived as a slightly affected la-di-dah air, and coming back for consideration. The flower was named in honor of the pioneering Swedish botanist Anders Dahl,which means dale.

In P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves stories, Dahlia is Bertie Wooster's more sympathetic aunt, described as being constructed along the lines of Mae West. Reporter Dahlia Lithwick covers legal matters for the online magazine Slate.