Rare Place Names for Babies

  1. Sahara
    • Origin:

      Arabic
    • Meaning:

      "desert"
    • Description:

      A beautiful and evocative place-name that deserves wider use.
  2. Assisi
    • Origin:

      Italian place-name
    • Description:

      This lovely Umbrian hill town became a striking first name for the young daughter of Jade Jagger.
  3. Lomond
    • Origin:

      Scottish place name
    • Meaning:

      "elm or blaze"
    • Description:

      Lomond is one of those names that exists mainly in one place in the world, Scotland, thanks to its famous Loch Lomond (with its bonnie bonnie banks).
  4. Venice
    • Origin:

      Italian place-name
    • Description:

      This name of one of the most romantic cities in the world could easily find its way onto an American baby girl's birth certificate.
  5. Jersey
    • Origin:

      English place name, Old Norse
    • Meaning:

      "Geirr's island"
    • Description:

      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".
  6. Italia
    • Origin:

      Italian place-name
    • Description:

      Authentic, melodic place-name for the adventurous, chosen by rapper LL Cool J for his daughter and given to nearly 80 baby girls in the US last year. Italia of course is what the Italians call Italy.
  7. Romany
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "Romani"
    • Description:

      Romany is a melodious name referring to the Roma or Romani community and their culture, which makes it a potentially controversial choice for a baby not of that heritage. Romany Malco is an actor who appeared on the television show "Weeds." Other similar ideas: Roman, Romano, or Romeo.
  8. Cuba
    • Origin:

      Place-name
    • Meaning:

      "abundant fertile land; great place"
    • Description:

      Soul singer Cuba Gooding and his actor son of the same name put this unexpected geographical name on the map for boys, but it has a longer history of use than you might expect. Deriving from the island in the Caribbean Sea, it had a brief spell of popularity in the US at the end of the 1890s when Spain lost possession of the island during the Spanish-American War. Used predominantly (though rarely) on girls throughout the last century, it has occasionally be given to a handful of boys too.
  9. Cayman
    • Origin:

      Place-name
    • Description:

      This name's connection to the Caribbean Cayman Islands gives it a nice resortish feel, while still feeling like an in-tune-with-style boy's name.
  10. Veryan
    • Origin:

      Cornish place name
    • Meaning:

      "accompany, bring together"
    • Description:

      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.
  11. Louisiana
    • Origin:

      French place-name
    • Description:

      Louisiana is a geographic spin on the Louise theme. Pretty, if a bit of a syllable overload. Short form Lou or Lulu lightens it.
  12. Russia
    • Origin:

      Russian place name
    • Description:

      Consider ODESSA instead.
  13. Albany
    • Origin:

      Place-name
    • Description:

      Not yet on the place-name map, this name has Shakespearean ties via the Duke Of Albany character in King Lear.
  14. Manila
    • Origin:

      Place name
    • Description:

      The name of the capital city of the Philippines is just conceivable as a baby name, giving off the faint scent of vanilla.
  15. Quintana
    • Origin:

      Spanish
    • Meaning:

      "the fifth girl"
    • Description:

      Mexican place-name famously used by Joan Didion for her daughter, Quintana Roo.
  16. Tahiti
    • Origin:

      Tahitian, meaning unknown
    • Description:

      The Polynesian place name Tahiti was given to the island by its natives, although the origins of this name have been lost to history. Tahiti was once a Polynesian kingdom, but today is a part of the Society Islands in French Polynesia.
  17. Philippine
    • Origin:

      French, feminine variation of Philippe
    • Meaning:

      "lover of horses"
    • Description:

      Philippine would be taken as an ethnic identification rather than a name in the U.S. Better try Philippa, though if you don't mind eternally correcting people, Philippine can make an interesting alternative. Pippa can be a short form of Philippine as well as Philippa.
  18. Dublin
    • Origin:

      Irish place-name
    • Description:

      With Galway and Ireland in play as names (not to mention Shannon and Kerry), there's no reason this one can't work, too.
  19. Genoa
    • Origin:

      Italian place-name
    • Description:

      One of the newer geographical site names, it has the advantage of sounding like a real girl's name because of its jen beginning and feminine a ending.
  20. Atlanta
    • Origin:

      Place name
    • Meaning:

      "Atlantic Ocean"
    • Description:

      The capital of Georgia is far from the ocean, but got its name from the Western and Atlantic Railroad which ran through the city. Best known as a hub of industry and transport, and for its roles in the Civil War and Civil Rights Movement, it has never been popular as a baby name despite sounding like one. Its peak popularity was in 1995, the year before Atlanta hosted the Olympic Games.