Gabriel

Say Gabriel out loud and it almost sounds like it's carrying good news, which, as it happens, is rather the point. From the Hebrew, the name means God is my strength, a quietly powerful sentiment wrapped in one of the most graceful-sounding names around. It has the rare knack of feeling both mighty and melodic at once.

The world has certainly noticed. Gabriel is the number one boy's name in France, and it barely lets up from there, tenth in Brazil, nineteenth in Argentina, twenty-third in Canada, twenty-sixth in Catalonia and twenty-ninth in Mexico City. It reaches thirty-eighth in the United States and seventy-fourth in England & Wales, which makes it a name that crosses borders and languages with barely a change of accent. Few names sound so at home in quite so many places.

Its most famous bearer is, fittingly, not of this world at all. Gabriel is the great messenger angel of the Abrahamic religions, the one who tends to turn up at the pivotal moments with something important to announce. That heritage lends the name a certain luminous quality; it arrives with a faint whisper of the celestial about it, even on the most ordinary Tuesday. Not many names get to be quite so heavenly and still work perfectly well on a nursery peg.

Happily, it's an easy name to live with day to day. Gabe is the relaxed, hands-in-pockets version, friendly, unfussy, instantly likeable, while Gaby keeps things softer and sweeter. The full Gabriel stays in reserve for the grander occasions, so a child gets the best of both: a name with real weight, and a nickname with real ease.

It's a natural team player on a shortlist, too. Set it beside Samuel, Lucas, Evelyn, Audrey or Julian and it slots straight in, that same blend of the timeless and the gently lyrical running through the lot of them. Gabriel never feels out of step; it's the sort of name that harmonises with almost anything you pair it with.

What you end up with is a name that's strong without being stern, beautiful without being delicate, and reverent without ever feeling heavy-handed. It suits a giggling toddler and a grown adult with equal grace, which is about the highest praise a name can earn.

And yet, as ever, knowing all this settles precisely nothing. That's the delicious agony of naming a baby, you can find a name as strong and lovely as Gabriel and still spend weeks talking yourself in and out of it. God may be its strength; the stamina to actually decide, sadly, is left entirely to you.