Mariana

Mariana is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian elaboration of Maria, with the diminutive -ana tacked on for warmth — little Mary, dear Mary. The name has ecclesiastical weight (the Mariana Islands were named for Spanish queen Mariana of Austria in 1668) and literary pedigree (Tennyson's "Mariana in the moated grange," pining behind a weathered wall). In Latin America it's a perennial top-twenty name; in the U.S. it has held steadily inside the top 300 since the 1990s. Three syllables that roll easily — ma-ree-AH-na. A name with stained glass and siesta light in equal measure.