Louisa
Louisa May Alcott was born on November 29, 1832. Author of the quintessential novel Little Women in 1868, Louisa and her characters Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy are adored by generation after generation.
Louisa astonishingly wrote the entirety of Little Women in under 3 months. This may have been helped by the fact that the characters and stories were based on Louisa and her own sisters — Louisa, the tomboyish feminist she was, inspiring the character Jo.
Most recently the girls’ stories were re-imagined in the 2019 movie adaption directed by Greta Gerwig (also the director of Barbie), and starring big names like Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Emma Watson, Eliza Scanlen, and Timothée Chalamet.
The name Louisa is sweet as they come, but has a subtle strength through its meaning “renowned warrior”. Very popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, Louisa fell off the US charts from 1969 until 2014 and now sits at #825 — surprisingly underappreciated and underused.
Her French sister Louise sits at #639 in the US, but is as stylish as ever in native France at #2. And Spanish Luisa gained significant attraction from Disney’s Encanto, rising over 100 spots last year to #885.