Timofey

Three syllables with a lift on that final fey, and a saint's CV behind it: Timotheos in Greek means 'honoring God,' and the biblical Timothy was one of Paul's closest companions, the recipient of two letters in the New Testament. The name traveled through Byzantium into Russian as Timofey and has been climbing in Russia in recent years — a saint's name that parents are rediscovering precisely because it still sounds fresh to ears accustomed to Aleksandr and Dmitry.

Nabokov gave the name its most affecting English-language life. Timofey Pavlovich Pnin, the bumbling, tender, deeply human professor at the center of Pnin, is one of American literature's most sympathetic characters — a man perpetually slightly out of place but never defeated. The diminutive Tima is effortless, warm, almost mischievous, with none of the stiffness its full form carries. Rare on English birth registries, approachable enough in sound to work outside the Slavic context, Timofey has the unusual quality of feeling both traditional and undiscovered at once. It pairs naturally with Aleksandr, Gennady, or Vladimir in a sibling set that takes its Russian roots seriously.