Albert

Albert travels well. Rooted in the Old German Adalbert, "noble and bright," it moved through Latin chronicles into nearly every European language, including Polish, where it arrived via medieval missionary Adalbert of Prague. The name has worn many crowns: Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg, Einstein's equations scribbled under it, Camus holding up The Stranger. In American usage it peaked in the early twentieth century and has drifted into vintage territory, which is precisely where its appeal now sits. Two clean syllables, the t landing with a tailor's precision. Slightly professorial, reliably kind, with the built-in nickname Al for anyone who prefers a softer register.