Precious

Derived from the Old French precios and Latin pretiosus, meaning of great price or value. The word spent centuries as an endearment before American parents began formalizing it on birth certificates in the late nineteenth century.

The name reads as an unapologetic statement of parental devotion that skipped the metaphor stage entirely. Most holders are in their twenties or early thirties today, squarely placed in the turn-of-the-millennium cohort. It carries the energy of late-nineties pop radio and monogrammed keepsake boxes. It leaves very little ambiguity about how the room was supposed to receive the baby.