Angela

Derived from the Greek word angelos, meaning messenger. The name circulated through southern Europe for centuries before appearing with any regularity in English records during the late nineteenth century. American parents embraced it in earnest after 1900, eventually pushing it into the national top ten in 1971.

The name reads as someone who came of age with cassette tapes and knows how to organize a carpool schedule without an app. With 53 percent of living holders belonging to Generation X, the name sits squarely in 1971, the year it peaked at sixth place nationwide. An Angela tends to be pictured holding a clipboard, signing off on shift trades, and keeping a spare set of house keys on a coiled wristband. Today the name has slipped to rank 408, leaving the field largely to women who remember when long-distance phone calls were billed by the minute.