Lucy

English form of the Anglo-Norman Lucie, derived from the Latin Lucius, from lux, meaning light. The name entered England after the Norman Conquest and appeared on manor rolls by the thirteenth century. In America, it appeared consistently on late-nineteenth-century ledgers before fading for several decades and mounting a major revival after the year 2000.

A Lucy today is overwhelmingly likely to be under the age of fifteen, running on playground wood chips. The name carries none of the studio brass that once attached to nineteen-fifties television; instead, it suggests wooden blocks, canvas sneakers, and a thermos with a screw-top lid. About forty-four percent of all living Lucys belong to Generation Alpha. The remaining demographic weight tilts toward retirement age, leaving the middle decades strangely unoccupied.