Delilah

A Philistine woman in the Book of Judges talks a Hebrew strongman into revealing the source of his strength, learns it lies in his uncut hair, and then waits until Samson is asleep with his head in her lap before calling for the Philistines to come and shave him — Delilah is one of scripture's most famously dangerous figures, a femme fatale before the term existed, and the name has never quite shed its seductive shadow. The Hebrew Delilah (sometimes Delyla) has been connected to a root meaning delicate or languishing or hair (the rabbinical commentary tradition has always seen wordplay between her name and the hair that becomes the story's hinge), though centuries of storytelling have colored the name in deeper, smokier tones.

The story has inspired Camille Saint-Saëns's opera Samson et Dalila (1877), Cecil B. DeMille's 1949 film Samson and Delilah with Hedy Lamarr in the title role, and more visual art than perhaps any other Old Testament woman except Eve. Tom Jones sang the modern "Delilah" in 1968 (a Welsh-language pop hit about a different kind of dangerous woman); the Plain White T's 2006 hit "Hey There Delilah" gave the name a new generation of associations. American parents came around in the 2010s.

Delilah entered the SSA top 200 in 2009, the top 100 in 2014, and the top 50 by 2022, currently at rank fifty. Famous Delilahs include the radio host Delilah Rene (the soft-rock evening DJ syndicated across the country), Delilah Hamlin (Lisa Rinna's daughter), and a small wave of fictional Delilahs across young-adult fiction. Three syllables — de-LI-lah — all soft consonants and liquid l's. Pairs beautifully with both biblical and modern middles (Delilah Rose, Delilah Mae, Delilah June). Nicknames span Lila, Lily, Dee, Della. Biblical, gothic, luxuriously musical to say aloud.