Place Names

The name of this historic European city is more distinct than Paris and London.

In the Bible, there is a reference to the Kerith Ravine, where God told Elijah to hide in order to be provided with water during a drought. There is also a Kerith in the James Michener novel The Source. A soft and gentle and very unusual addition to the category of biblical place names.

A preppy-yet-rugged choice that proves there are plenty of last names as first names that are rare and distinctive, but not wacky or made up.

A bold and evocative African place name. The country of Kenya gets its name from Mount Kenya, referred to it as "Kirinyaga" or "Kerenyaga" by the local Kikuyu people, meaning "mountain of whiteness" due to its snow-capped peak.

Why has it taken so long for us to discover Italy? The name, that is.

The name of a beautiful village on the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall, Veryan actually derives from a series of misunderstandings: Sen Veryan ("Saint Veryan") is a Cornish corruption of Severian, which is itself a corrupted form of the saint’s name Symphorian, to whom the village church at Veryan is dedicated.

The name Lamorna belongs to a village, valley and cove in an area of outstanding natural beauty in West Cornwall, and to a popular Cornish folk song referencing the area. The name possibly derives from nans "valley" + mor "sea", or from lann "area around a church" + morlanow "high tide".

Transferred use of the geographical name Jerusalem, which is a sacred city in many religious traditions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It is given to around a dozen babies of each sex per year in the US.

Merrilee has several different origins. It's an alternative spelling of the unusual word name Merrily, as well as a variant of the smoosh name Marilee (Mary + Lee). Merrilee, Merrilees or Mirrlees are also found in Scotland, deriving from a Scottish place name. Merrilee hit the Top 1000 for a few years in the 1940s, but disappeared from the charts completely back in 2007. In 2023, however, 5 baby girls were given name, as it joined a number of vintage revivals making a reappearance in the US.

An established place name, associated with a sunny island in the English Channel, the Garden State in the US, knitted pullovers, reality TV, and a Broadway musical. It peaked in the late 2000s and though it is now in decline, 130 girls and nearly 50 boys received the name in 2023.

-ey meaning "island". Alternative theories suggest it comes from jarl ,meaning "earl" or hjǫr meaning "sword".

Variant spelling of Fife, borne by English musician Fyfe Dangerfield and Scottish journalist and reporter Fyfe Robertson.

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian have done it again for their third child: Chosen a name that feels iconic yet strangely inevitable. They named North and Saint's younger sister Chicago, after Kanye's hometown. The name Chicago derives from a Native American word for "wild garlic," which once grew plentifully in the Illinois city, the third most populous in the US.

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus appears to two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus after his death, burial and resurrection.

A Hebrew name also used for girls, with many variations to choose from. Hadara is another version. The name is associated with the holiday of Sukkot.

Zerynthia is one of the alternate names of Hecate, deriving from one of the caves in which she appeared. Zerynthia is also the name of a set of strikingly-coloured Spanish butterflies. This is one name that deserves more attention.

Kenya, a name borrowed from the East African nation and theoretically unisex, is now used mostly for girls. While it's had its ups and downs since entering the US Top 1000 in 1968, it currently ranks lower than spelling variant Kenia.

Consider ODESSA instead.

This French place name, which may derive from a word meaning "plowed land", is occasionally used for girls. It is best-known for two things: the grand Palace of Versailles, the historic seat of the French royal family; and the Treaty of Versailles, which ended the First World War.

While many will see this as a alternate version of more popular Alexandria and Alessandra -- and some parents may indeed intend it as such -- it is also the name of a province and city in northwest Italy. Just 12 baby girls in the U.S. were given the name Alessandria in 2016.

Ravello is an Italian town on the Amalfi Coast. It's a popular travel destination and was a favorite spot for many notable creatives, including Virginia Woolf, Greta Garbo, and Tennessee Williams.