Place Names for Babies

Originally the name of a town in northern England, Airton and common variant Ayrton have taken on lives of their own as first names in Portugal and Brazil. This version is closely associated with Brazilian soccer player Airton Ribeiro Santos.

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

Also a dog breed

Fargo as a baby name? Though we haven't heard of any babies named for this frigid North Dakota city, it's certainly on the map of possibilities.

Son of Sicily.

Idalah is a town in Zebulon that makes a distinctive first name for a modern girl. Where the boys get most of the ancient yet unusual Biblical names, Idalah is one for the girls' side.

Name taken from a hermitage dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Aitzpea was the name of Basque actress and director Aitzpea Goenaga.

Lindus or Lindos was one of the most important towns in ancient Rhodes. Lindus also was the native place of Cleobulus, one of the Seven Sages of Greece.

Ephratah appears in the bible as both the name of a woman--she was the second wife of Caleb and grandmother of one of the spies sent by Moses to Canaan to gather information about the Promised Land--and as that of two places. Ephratah is where Rachel died while giving birth to Benjamin and is also the ancient name of Bethlehem, where Jesus Christ was born.

A pretty private park in Manhattan, doesn't quite make it as a baby name.

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

The name of the capital city of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County, which is thought to come from a Kansa word meaning "good place to grow potatoes".

A geographical name that does the samba...and was also borne by a Celtic saint: a winning combination. Well used in the Creole community.

A southwestern city name that could make a distinctive alternative to Dallas.

An undiscovered place-name with an appealing o-sound ending.

With so many other places translating to first names, why not this major Japanese city -- especially if it holds some personal significance.

If you're tired of Olivia, you could be the first on your block to introduce this unique sound-related place-name with Latin flair.

A pleasing place-name that hasn't yet appeared in the baby name atlas.

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.