Virtuous Names: Saintly and Holy

The quality of mercy makes this lovely Puritan virtue name a quiet favorite today. Although it was most popular in the late nineteenth century, Mercy is on its way to a comeback -- it rose 143 spots between 2012 and 2013, making it one of the year's fastest-rising names. Right now, it's still stylish and distinctive, a rare and wonderful combination.

Modesty is a virtue name dating to Roman times, but never widely used, except for hot 1960s movie spoof heroine, Modesty Blaise, based on a comic strip.

With parents beginning to show an interest in virtue names for boys, this Puritan favorite just might be revived, for what could be more admirable than nobility in terms of having strength of character, dignity, and high moral ideals?

It may have been used by the Puritans, but any modern child would chafe under this name.

Pacific is an adventurous kind of place-name, with the added bonus of the association with peace.

Patience is a passive virtue turned engaging name, fresher than Hope, Faith, or even Charity. Its resemblance to the trendy Payton may be one reason for its recent spike in popularity.

Peace may be an admirable sentiment to convey in a child's name, but the translated and thus more subtle versions, like Pax or Placido, might work better as first names.

Spaniards use Pax and Paz, Hebrew speakers Shalom, for Greeks it's Irene, so why can't we make the English word Peace a name? Peace Adzo Medie is the author of the novel His Only Wife.

Pius is the very definition of a religious name, used appropriately enough for several popes. Only a handful of baby boys receive this name every year. Despite the rise of similar ancient Roman names such as Justus and Magnus, we don't see Pius enjoying the same kind of turn in the sun.

An admirable quality to impart; Pleasant was used by Charles Dickens in Our Mutual Friend and in modern times is known via American Girl dolls creator Pleasant Rowland.