Argentina

Argentina traces back to the Latin argentum, silver, the same metallic root that names the South American republic whose rivers glinted promisingly to sixteenth-century explorers. As a given name it appears most in Italian and Spanish-speaking tradition, occasionally in Greek records, used since the nineteenth century for daughters born under a lucky sign. Four syllables, ar-hen-TEE-nah in Spanish, ar-jen-TEE-nah in Italian, each with a shimmer at the stressed middle. The name reads like a mineral turned ornament, cool and fine-grained. It suits a girl with pale steady eyes and a talent for precision — accountants, astronomers, long-distance runners who know their own pace.