Place Names for Babies

Though it was derived from a feminine name, Kamari is more popular among baby boys in the US. However, with the rise of unisex Amari on the girl's charts, Kamari is feeling stylish as well.

Zorah, the Old Testament home of Samson, is both soft and substantial.

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

Evokes picture-postcard image of colorful Indonesia. Bali Barret is a Paris fashion insider who oversees women's style for Hermes. Bali rhymes with tally or galley.

Transferred from the geographical name, Jerusalem 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.

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.

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.

Consider ODESSA instead.

Similar to but distinct from Samara, this pretty name was chosen for his daughter by rapper LL Cool J.

An ancient city in Assyria, where Jonah was sent to spread the word of God.

Derby might be considered a word name or a surname-name. In England, it would be pronounced darby, causing confusion with that similar name.

Not strictly Spanish but Guanche, the original inhabitants of the Canary Islands, this place name became popular as a first in Spain via a trilogy by Alberto Vazquez Figueroa. The Guanche meaning of the place name is "one who shares equally."

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

This name of one of the most romantic cities in the world could easily find its way onto an American baby boy's birth certificate. You could also think of it as a fun, atlas-inspired twist on Denis.

The island home of Odysseus, and city site of Cornell University, sounds soft and pleasant enough to make it a candidate for babynamehood.

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.

Abyssinia is the ancient name of the Ethiopian Empire, no longer found on any map but with a possible future as a melodic girls' name in the ever-expanding place-name category. Among African names for girls, this one is undiscovered.

Mexican place-name famously used by Joan Didion for her daughter, Quintana Roo.

Detroit, the name of the down-on-its-heels Michigan city, has a so-far-out-it's-gotta-be-cool quality. A handful of boys were named Detroit last year, and if you have ties to the Motor City -- familial or musical -- you may want to consider it, especially as a middle name.