Samuel

In the Book of Samuel, a boy wakes in the night to hear God calling his name and assumes, three times over, that it must be the old priest Eli — a small, strange scene that has imprinted itself on the name ever since. Samuel comes from the Hebrew Shmu'el, heard by God. Samuel Johnson gave it a dictionary; Samuel Beckett gave it absurdist weather. It has held a top-thirty American spot for more than a century without ever feeling dated. Two syllables with a calm, measured cadence. It yields Sam, the friendliest of nicknames. A name for a thoughtful boy, and the thoughtful man he will become.