By Linda Rosenkrantz

Before you fire up the barbie or pack up the picnic basket, why not take a minute to think about what Memorial Day memorializes. The holiday—originally called Decoration Day—was first commemorated on May 30, 1868, not long after the Civil War had ended, and was given that name because it was when flowers were placed on the graves of the Union and Confederate soldiers buried at Arlington National Cemetery. In the course of this brutal war  that tore the country apart, over a thousand soldiers reached the rank of general, several of whom went on to reach high offices in government, including six presidents– Ulysses S. Grant, Andrew Johnson, Benjamin Harris, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield and Chester A. Arthur.

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We’ve looked across history and geography at the men and women whose inventions have affected our lives—in both major ways (the electric light bulb, the elevator)  and minor (the coffee filter, the crossword puzzle)—and picked those with the best baby-name potential.

And here are our top Nameberry picks of historic baby names based on those of important inventors:

Alessandro Volta–Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Gerolamo Umberto Volta was an Italian physicist who invented the battery in the nineteenth century.

Amalie Auguste Melitta Bentz –As you might have guessed from her second middle name, A.A. Melitta  Bentz invented the coffee filter.

Arthur Wynne—Liverpool-born journalist Arthur Wynne created the first crossword puzzle.  Originally called word-cross, it debuted in the New York World newspaper in 1913.

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