One of my best friends picks some pretty awesome names for her kids. There's Henry, my daughter's first love, and Veronica Violet (known as V.V.)—she's a four-year-old who wears her Superman cape everywhere, and prefers Ironman to Barbie. She sticks her tongue out and makes goofy faces whenever she sees a camera. She's one of those wild and crazy little kids you see, with the rumpled shock of hair and the mischievous twinkle in her eyes—the kids you know have something smart and bright and shining inside them, the ones you know will do something interesting with their lives.
Veronica's a pretty interesting name. It means "perfect image," and is the name of the saint who wiped Jesus' face with her veil as he walked toward his crucifixion. It's a name that's currently at #316 in the U.S., and has been pretty steady in popularity for the past several decades.
Veronica has some serious pop culture pedigree—there's the spoiled little rich girl from the Archie comics, the early 1990s pop song by Elvis Costello, and my favorite, the hardboiled modern Nancy Drew, Veronica Mars (soon to come to a movie theater near you). And there's classic movie actress Veronica Lake, who played the femme fatale in a series of 1940s films. (She was apparently famous for her luxurious hair—kinda befitting my friend's daughter with her awesomely wild ringlets.)
Veronica's usually shortened to Ronnie or Vera, but my friend uses her daughter's initials of V.V. for her nickname. I think Veronica also pairs beautifully with Lily, May, and Jane.
What do you think of the name Veronica? Yay or nay?
