Meredith

Meredith comes down from the green hills of Wales, originally Maredudd, thought to mean "great lord" or "great ruler." It began life as a masculine name, borne by Welsh princes and bards, before crossing into English and, somewhere along the way, swapping sides entirely. By the twentieth century it had become firmly feminine in America, cemented by characters from Meredith Willson's The Music Man to Grey's Anatomy's tormented surgeon. Now ranked 492, it carries that rare combination of professional poise and old-country softness, a name that belongs equally in a boardroom, a garden, and a pew.