Eliana

Every baby feels a little like an answered wish, and Eliana comes right out and cheerfully says so. It is a Hebrew name, and it means "God has answered", a sentiment that lands with particular force at the end of a long wait for the tiny, demanding person now keeping you very much awake at night.

It is also a beautifully musical name, four flowing syllables that seem to rise and fall almost entirely on their own. And it is remarkably generous with nicknames: Ellie, Elia, Ana and Liana all live comfortably inside it, so your daughter has plenty of room to choose her own register as she grows up and works out exactly who she wants to be.

It is a name on a quiet, steady climb. Eliana sits at number 43 in Canada, ties at number 53 in both the United States and Australia, and carries on at number 70 in New Zealand and number 116 in England and Wales, thinning out to number 155 in Mexico City, number 257 in France and number 321 in Argentina. Familiar enough to feel settled, uncommon enough that it still feels a bit like a lovely private discovery.

It has a genuinely lively international cast of bearers, as well. In Brazil, Eliana is a household name as a television presenter and singer, and Eliana Pittman carried it through a long career in music and acting. Eliana Jones flies it on screen over in Canada, while Eliana Gaete ran it round the track as a Chilean athlete. Broadcasters, singers and sprinters alike, it clearly suits a busy sort of life.

On a sibling list it pairs handsomely with the gentle, faith-tinged favourites of the moment. Line it up with Gabriel, Lucas, Juliana or Maya and the whole set sounds warm, melodic and quietly timeless.

There is a lovely softness to the way it sounds, too, without ever tipping into the frilly. It flows rather than fusses, and it reads as gentle and warm the world over, which helps explain why it slides so easily between languages and borders. A name that carries real meaning and still feels this light on the tongue is a genuine find, and plenty of parents are clearly discovering exactly that.

The catch is the loveliest kind of problem to be landed with: a name this hopeful makes it terribly hard to move calmly along to the next candidate. And yet on you must go, because that is the strange magic of naming, the search only really ends when the right small face finally makes the decision for you. Back to the list, then, one hopeful name at a time.