Scarlett

Derived from the Old French escarlate, referring to a luxury wool dyed a vivid red, which became an occupational surname for cloth merchants. Margaret Mitchell put it on the map with the 1936 publication of Gone with the Wind, leading directly to the name's debut in American government ledgers in 1937. It remained rare for the rest of the twentieth century before accelerating rapidly after 2000.

A Scarlett is widely imagined wearing velvet, holding court, or running for middle-school student council. Despite its Old South literary origins, the name today belongs almost entirely to the playground set. The average Scarlett is eleven years old and likely shares a classroom with an Audrey and a Harper. She has spent her entire life with people asking if she was named after Scarlett Johansson.