Place Names for Babies

Tiree is the anglicised name of the Scottish island of Tiriodh in the Inner Hebrides. It’s known as Scotland’s "sunshine isle", benefiting from an uncharacteristically warm and sunny climate and beautiful beaches which are popular with surfers and windsurfers. As a given name, Tiree is in rare but regular use in Scotland, England and Wales.

A capital place-name possibility.

Chenoa is the Native American name for the Kentucky River. This name has come into prominence as the stage name of Argentine singer María Laura Corradini Falomir. In the US it is given to a handful of girls each year.

Among the Top Ten Basque baby girls' names, this is actually the place name of an island and is related to other such names as Isla. An unusual O-ending girls' name.

Pronounced Bah-hah, this name of the Mexican peninsula attached to California makes for an out-of-the-ordinary possibility.

Has much too strong of a Brooklyn accent.

A quirky habitational surname, Kilby is a town in Leicestershire in England. Derived from Old English and Old Norse, it could mean "child's settlement" from the elements cilda and by. Though it is rare as a given name, it has been borne by ice hockey player Kilby MacDonald and by folk musician Kilby Snow.

Rhythmic name with both religious and geographical ties, commonly heard in Latin countries.

When Kim Kardashian and Kanye West named their daughter Chicago — after West's hometown — we expected it to rise for baby girls. But American parents have taken to Chicago as a boy name. It's been given to more boys than girls every year since 2018.

A familiar Canadian city name that could easily translate to use as a baby name. Cal and Callie are potential nickname options.

Tribeca was the term created for New York City's TRIangle BElow CAnal Street. Stangely enough--that aside--it almost does sound like a plausible girls' name, nicknamed Becca.

A phonetically attractive place-name that can be used for babies but rarely is.

The name of a tidal island off of Loch Creran in Scotland, Eriska means "water spirit or brownie island", the name borrowed from the Scottish Gaelic
Ùruisg
. The island is now privately owned and not to be confused with the similar Eriskay, the name of an island in the Out Hebrides.

Would make a difficult choice even for those with ties to the Virginia city or British county.

Popular etymology derives this West African country's name from the Wolof words sunu gal, "our canoe". It's an appealing image, of a nation of people all in the same boat. Some country names have taken off as baby names, but this one, not yet.

American place and tribe name, derived via French from the Dakota word ayúxba "sleepy ones".

Gentle and southern-inflected, redolent of the North Carolina landscape.

Unlike other place names, this one might be tied too tightly to a single locale -- the Maryland suburb of D. C. -- to work as a first name.

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