Magnolia is named after Pierre Magnol, a 17th-century French botanist after whom the magnolia tree was named in 1703. The magnolia is one of the oldest flowering plants on earth — fossil records show it existed before bees evolved, when beetles were the principal pollinators.
Magnolia as a girl's name is recent, entering the U.S. top 1000 in 2013 and rising. The Southern American association is strong — Mississippi is the Magnolia State. The name belongs to the modern wave of botanical names favouring longer, more elaborate flowers.
Magnolia reduces to eight — the number of established beauty.