Lissa

I recommend not asking for recommendations. Linux is an exercise in learning how to learn. It is a different paradigm of computing than the OSes people are coming from, and you will find it rapidly frustrating if you can’t figure things out in large part for yourself. So I recommend that folks hop on wikipedia, do some reading, and then pick whatever strikes their fancy, secure in the knowledge that you can always switch to a different distro and that the learning process is the fun of it.