Daphne

From the Greek word for laurel. In mythology, Daphne escaped Apollo by turning into a bay laurel tree. English speakers adopted it during the late nineteenth-century plant-naming craze, though it kept a sharper profile than Daisy or Violet.

The name reads as quick-witted, slightly literary, and immune to trendiness despite a recent revival. For decades it belonged to mid-century mystery novelists and animated sleuths. Today it is just as likely to belong to a toddler who insists on carrying a small twig everywhere.