Meaning: Its source is a Latin expression meaning "Wonderful."

Popularity: The name Maranda ranked 974th in popularity for females of all ages in a sample of 2000-2003 Social Security Administration statistics and 1528th in popularity for females of all ages in a sample of the 1990 US Census.

Though this name has fluctuated in use, it has been quietly present throughout the last century.

Narrative: This name was invented by William Shakespeare for the young heroine of his play The Tempest. In the play, fifteen-year-old Miranda, who has never met a man other than her father, Prospero, meets young Fernando (to whom she proposes marriage) and other members of an expedition seeking her father. Reflecting on these encounters, she delivers the famous line, ''O brave new world that has such people in't!''