From the Past

Like Verity and Amity, this inclusive virtue name used by the colorful British literary Mitford family is ready to join its more popular peers Hope, Faith, and Grace.

Honor and bravery are certainly virtues any parent would want to encourage, and this word itself is obscure enough that it manages to sound like a real name.

Vera was the height of fashion in 1910, then was for a long time difficult to picture embroidered on a baby blanket. Now, though, it has come back into style along with other old-fashioned simple names such as Ada and Iris.

Verena is pleasant but old-fashioned. Whether that's the outdated kind of old-fashioned or the so-out-it's-in-again kind is your call.

More often spelled VERENA, this name is attached to a third century Swiss saint. But the "virtue" name VERITY, is more appealing and comes more directly to the point.

If you love Puritan virtue names and want to move beyond Hope and Faith and Grace, this is a wonderful choice, both for its meaning and its sound. A rare find here, though occasionally heard in England. It was used in Winston Graham's Poldark novels, was Madonna's name as James Bond's fencing instructor in Die Another Day, and made a brief appearance in Harry Potter. Not to mention being a fixture on British and Australian soaps. Verity also appears in one of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple mysteries.

Wilhelmina was long burdened with the Old Dutch cleanser image of thick blond braids and clunky wooden clogs, but that started to be changed somewhat by the dynamic Vanessa Williams character on Ugly Betty, and even further by the choice of Wilhelmina by ace baby namers Natalie and Taylor Hanson. For the less adventurous, Willa is, for now, still a more user-friendly female equivalent of William.

An ancient tree that figures in literature from Shakespeare to Harry Potter and is believed to possess magical powers, Willow is a lovely name, as graceful as its inspiration.