Noms de l'Opéra

In Paris, it's charming, but in America, it's still Jean, as in blue jean. Or Aunt Jean.

An underused member of the Lily group of names. The spelling makes it clear you want it to rhyme with Willa.

Lisette, also spelled Lizette, is a dainty,, if somewhat dated, Gallic offshoot of Elizabeth. It reached its U.S. peak of popularity in 1999, then fell off the list in 2001.

Kate and William shocked the world when they announced that they'd named their third child Louis -- Prince Louis Arthur Charles, to be more precise. But we've been predicting a comeback for this classic name for a long time.

Louise has for several decades now been seen as competent, studious, and efficient—desirable if not dramatic qualities. But now along with a raft of other L names, as well as cousin Eloise, Louise is up for reappreciation—sleek and chic, stylish in Paris, and starting to become so in the US as well. Louisa is perhaps more in tune with the times, but Louise has more edge. Louise has been on the rise lately, and reentered the US Top 1000 for the first time in a quarter century in 2016.

Lucas is a Top 10 boys' name with a slightly-less-popular almost-identical twin brother, Luke. Like Elijah and Elias, Lucas and Luke come from the same root and have the same meaning and so feel even more popular than they are.

The French spelling of Lucy feels particularly light and shimmery.

Lucille and its alternate spelling Lucile are both popular in France, but in the US, Lucy rules with the more-antiquated sounding Lucille a distant second. Lucile fell off the Top 1000 more than 60 years ago and it's hard to imagine what might make this spelling preferable to the original. As with Jenifer, subtracting that letter doesn't add anything.