Arabella

Medieval Scottish records show the name as early as the twelfth century, likely derived from the Latin orabilis, meaning prayerful or obliging. It floated through English aristocracy and Victorian drawing-room novels for centuries without ever crossing the Atlantic in volume. American parents largely ignored it until the early twenty-first century, when multi-syllable vowel-heavy names surged back into fashion.

The name reads like a character from an Edwardian costume drama who owns a pony and several pairs of white cotton gloves. In practice, three out of four people bearing the name belong to Generation Alpha. It suggests floor-length silk, but the average bearer is currently negotiating fourth-grade math homework. It carries considerable phonetic drama for a name mostly called across suburban soccer fields.