Lucille

Lucille glows at the end of a long hallway. A French elaboration of Lucia — from the Latin lux, "light" — the name arrived in the English-speaking world in the nineteenth century and found its defining inhabitant in Lucille Ball, whose I Love Lucy reshaped American television between 1951 and 1957. B.B. King named his guitar Lucille in 1949. The name slept through the late twentieth century and has now climbed back to 274 on the US charts, riding the broader revival of Lucy, Lucia, and Lucinda. Two syllables, the soft L's, the rising final emphasis. Vintage glamour without kitsch. Warm, witty, luminous.