Names That Mean Place

This name of the capital of an ancient Egyptian dynasty makes Lois X-rated.

A new crop of gender-neutral English place names have suddenly become trendy — those ending in -ton. Multi-syllabic but not dramatic, these names are rising quickly for girls and boys. Think Charleston, Lexington, and Kensington. Livingston isn't as hot as some of the others, but its time will soon come. For a girl, Livingston boasts the nickname Liv.

A utopia is the concept of a perfect society — a lot to live up to as a baby name! Despite that, Utopia was used for a string of years in the late '70s and early '80s. However, it has never been given to more than eight baby girls in a single year.

According to legend -- and, crucially, the Wonder Woman comics and movies -- Themyscira is the home of the Amazons, a mythical race of powerful female warriors. As depicted in the DC comics, Themyscira is a lush utopian island in the middle of a vast ocean. It was also the name of a real town in the Ancient Greek world, on the southern coast of the Black Sea in modern-day Turkey.

Most parents attracted to this name will be devotees of the author William and would be better off using it in the middle.

As Ashley becomes one of today's "mom names" thanks to its popularity amongst millennial-borns, Ashton is a fresh alternative. This particular spelling is nearly completely equally split between girls and boys in 2022.

Brixton is a once-tough now-gentrifying-and-cool area of London that has also become one of the hottest boys' names in the US, entering the Top 1000 names list in 2015. Spelling variation Brixten was used for less than 10 percent of the babies given the name,. Names with an x in the middle tend to sound cool and modern even when their roots are anything but. Another reason Brixton and Brixten are hot is its similarity to the increasingly popular Braxton.

The name America is given to around 100 baby girls each year, mostly within the Hispanic and Latin American communities. The national charts do not record diacritical marks like accents, but at least some of those baby girls spell their names with one. Model América González is among them.

Lisa Loeb used this intriguing name as the middle for her son Emet.

Family surname or feminist statement name? Either way, this literary surname has a cool, current sound.

A Catalan county name used for both girls and boys in its homeland.

Bardou is a holiday destination in France, known for its pictureque village nestled in mountains. It is also a region of Guinea. As a name, it is more commonly known from its English derivation, meaning axe-wielding wolf.

A family name, a bit haughty.

A Pilgrimage site in Italy that also serves as a unisex given name.

Valletta is the capital city of Malta. It takes on an air of attractiveness via model Amber Valletta and could make an appealing alternative to the somewhat dated Valerie.

The historic name for the south-west corner of Wales, deriving from the British tribe of the Demetae.

The city name Dublin ultimately derived from Irish elements dubh, meaning "dark," and lind, "pool." The dark pool in question was a tidal pool behind Dublin Castle.

A jaunty nautical-sounding name.

Guthrie, folk singer Woody's last name, makes a perfectly fine first choice for a girl. Names such as Guthrie that have no gendered history can make true nonbinary names.