Place Names for Babies

A pleasant and adaptable place name for a part of Tel Aviv.

More unusual than Dakota or Austin, Colorado conjures images of majestic mountains and windswept wilderness. Some will prefer the more preppy Aspen, but Colorado feels like the true explorer.

This country name has come into steady use for girls in recent decades, and it's occasionally given to boys too. With interest in other -land names like Leland and Roland, we can see this patriotic heritage choice becoming more gender-balanced.

The state capital of Tennessee — and the capital of country music — has seen some use for boys in recent years, now that more parents are daring to use meaningful place names. While not as popular as Memphis, Nashville has a cool, laid-back charm... and has the option of Nash as a nickname.

Kimberley is a town in South Africa associated with diamonds and with wealth and luxury in general. It was name for Lord Kimberley, whose surname derived from an English place name. Used for boys in the early twentieth century, it re-emerged as a girls' name in the 1940s, usually spelled Kimberly.

Moab is a Biblical name and an ancient place name. In the Old Testament, Moab was the son of Lot. The Kingdom of Moab, in modern-day Jordan, was Biblically significant for often being in conflict with Israel.

Associated with the poet and novelist Galway Kinnell, this name of an Irish city, county, and bay would make an evocative choice. For further literary cred, writers Liam O'Flaherty and Frank Harris both hail from Galway.

If you're looking for an African place-name, this one belongs to the main town in eastern Morocco.

Miami -- or Florida, for that matter -- hasn't achieved the place-name stardom of southern sisters like Savannah and Georgia. Quincy Jones used it as his daughter KENYA's middle name.

Derived from Kitt as a diminutive of Christopher, Kitts is known as the larger of the two islands making up the nation St. Kitts and Nevis.

A city in Benjamin's territory that makes a perfect first name.

A city of the Shephelah that works as a first but you'll be forever explaining why it's not Kayla.

There's a Perth in Scotland and a bigger one in Australia; this name could make a statement similar to Heath.

This name of an attractive and arty California town could make an unusual but friendly choice.

This Basque name, which derives the name of a small town, is less well known than its diminutive version Arantxa. The name comes from the Basque word aratza meaning thornbush.

Austria is an nteresting, appealing, unexplored geographic destination, much fresher than American cousin Austin.

Long synonymous with the American outlaw Harry Longabaugh, aka The Sundance Kid, who got his nickname from the town of Sundance, Wyoming, where he was incarcerated as a teenager. The place name Sundance was taken from the sun dance ceremony practiced by local Native American tribes.

The name of cities in Mexico and Colorado, Durango is a pleasant, fresh option from the atlas.

The meaning of the place name Berian, in Pembrokeshire, is not known, but it may mean "plain" or "burial place". It would make an interesting -ian ending option for lovers of names like Julian and Adrian who want something a bit more off-the-beaten-track.

Evocative Spanish city name that would make a one-of-a-kind given name.