Patrick

Patrick comes from the Latin patricius — nobleman — and belongs most famously to the fifth-century missionary born in Roman Britain who was captured by Irish raiders, escaped, returned as a bishop, and made himself the island's patron saint. The snakes he drove out were almost certainly metaphorical. The legacy was not. For generations the name was the signature of Irish America, a top-100 fixture through most of the twentieth century.

It has drifted since, sitting now at rank 221, and that modest distance from the peak may be the best thing that ever happened to it. Patrick is no longer the name everyone in the class is called; it has become the name one thoughtful family chooses, which gives it back a little of its original weight. There is no shortage of notable Patricks to draw on, though the input list leaves that to the reader.

Two syllables, the Pat hitting cleanly and the -rick closing with a small click. Alongside Abel, Rafael, Griffin, Colter, and Brody, it holds the vintage-with-current-footing position well. The boy named Patrick tends to know the room's history before the room does, the kind of person who is already thinking about the next three moves and gracious enough not to say so.