Naomi

A widow on the road back from Moab to Bethlehem, having lost her husband and both her sons, tells her two daughters-in-law to turn around and go home to their own people — and Ruth replies with the most devoted sentence in the Hebrew Bible: "Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." The woman Ruth refuses to leave is Naomi, whose name comes from the Hebrew No'omi and means pleasant, sweetness, or my delight.

The Book of Ruth is one of the shortest and most psychologically tender narratives in the Hebrew Bible; it has been loved for three thousand years for its portrait of female loyalty across ethnic and religious lines (Ruth was a Moabite, Naomi an Israelite). The name carries that gentleness without any sugar. It also belongs to a strand of Japanese tradition, where it can be written with characters meaning straight, beautiful or above all, beauty — and in modern Japan and the Japanese diaspora it has become a popular unisex name. Naomi entered the American top 100 in 2010 and the top 50 by 2018, currently at rank forty-four.

Famous Naomis include Naomi Campbell (the British supermodel), Naomi Watts (the British-Australian actress), Naomi Osaka (the four-time Grand Slam tennis champion, who carries both Japanese and Haitian heritage), and Naomi Klein (the Canadian writer of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine). Three soft syllables — NAY-oh-mee, or NYE-oh-mee, both pronunciations widely used — that land like a sigh. Pairs beautifully with both Hebrew-leaning and modern middles (Naomi Rose, Naomi Mae, Naomi Wren). Nicknames span Nay, Mimi, Mi. Quiet and profoundly graceful.