Potential Names

Adelaide is now heading straight uphill on the coattails of such newly popular sisters as Ava, Ada, and Audrey, and in the company of Adeline and Amelia. It was chosen by actress Katherine Heigl for the name of her second daughter.

Now more popular than Georgiana in Britain, this elegant Dickens. Jane Austen name deserves attention. Most American parents prefer Georgia to Georgina or any other feminization of George.

Lillian has ranked among the US Top 50 for the past 20 years, making it Lily's less popular but more grownup cousin.

The lovely Lorelei, a name from old German legend, was a beautiful Rhine River seductress whose haunting voice led sailors to hazardous rocks that would cause them to be shipwrecked. And this siren image clung to the name for ages.

Scottish Marjorie and her English twin Margery were early twentieth century favorites that date back to medieval times, when it was popular among the royals. They were at their height in the 1920s, when they were seen as more lively versions of the old standard. Marjorie was always the preferred spelling, in the Top 25 from 1920 to 1927.

This saintly name--she was the mother of St. Augustine--plummeted after the double whammy of Lewinsky and the demise of Friends.

More stylish than either Paula or Pauline, it was given a glamour gloss by model Paulina Porizkova in the nineties.

Susannah is by far the most stylish form of the classic name now that Susan and Suzanne have retired. Susannah has biblical and musical pedigrees, is impervious to trends, and has an irresistible, flowing rhythm. It can be spelled just as properly with or without the final 'h.'