For the Girls...

Gloria is beginning to move beyond its de-glamorized Grandma image, most recently thanks to glamorous young Hollywood parents Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard, who chose it for their second daughter. Gyllenhaal was quoted as saying they had been inspired by Patti Smith's rendition of the Van Morrison song "Gloria" at a concert and thought " 'We'll name our daughter that one day'."

Helena is one of those classic names that just misses making the US Top 1000 girl names for its entire history, falling off for a single year in 1992. Since then it's been drifting lazily up the charts, and makes a perfect choice if you want a name that both fits in and stands out.

Theodora is one of the most revival-worthy of the charmingly old-fashioned Victorian valentine names, softly evocative but still substantial, as is the reversed-syllable Dorothea.

For a girl, we'd say Val-en-teen, though many would insist on pronouncing it like the holiday.