Cynthia

Cynthia descends from the Greek Kynthia, an epithet for Artemis, born on Mount Kynthos on the island of Delos — goddess of the moon, the hunt, and untamed places. The Roman elegist Propertius named his beloved Cynthia, and Elizabethan poets borrowed the moon-queen imagery for Elizabeth I. It hit number seven on the U.S. girls' chart in 1957, a fixture of the midcentury American nursery alongside Linda and Susan. Three crisp syllables open with a soft sibilant and close with confidence. The name has an intellectual grace, at ease on the spine of a book, and wears its classical pedigree without strain.