Place Names for Babies

The Alhambra, which means "red city," is in Granada, Spain. British writer Ali Smith used it for a character in her novel The Accidental.

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

A new crop of gender-neutral English place names have suddenly become trendy — those ending in -ton. Multi-syllabic but not dramatic, these names are rising quickly for girls and boys. Think Charleston, Lexington, and Kensington. Livingston isn't as hot as some of the others, but its time will soon come. For a girl, Livingston boasts the nickname Liv.

According to legend -- and, crucially, the Wonder Woman comics and movies -- Themyscira is the home of the Amazons, a mythical race of powerful female warriors. As depicted in the DC comics, Themyscira is a lush utopian island in the middle of a vast ocean. It was also the name of a real town in the Ancient Greek world, on the southern coast of the Black Sea in modern-day Turkey.

Britain is an attractive place that is used nearly equally for boys and girls. But spelling it Britton makes it considerably more popular for both genders.

Place-name that suggests the highest heights and carries a hippyish aura.

Columbia is a rarely used name with many associations. From the eighteenth century it has been used as a female personification of the United States, often appearing as a flag-draped patriotic figure. And as such it's inspired a plethora of place and company names, from the District of Columbia to Columbia University to Columbia Records, and songs like "Columbia, Gem of the Ocean." A character called Columbia appears in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

This name of Angola's capital city has occasionally been used for baby girls.

One of the most picturesque and enchanting areas of France could become a distinctive baby name.

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.

Mythical wonderland makes strong, evocative first name for either gender.

A place name that became a heady way of life, and a rarely-if-ever-used baby name.

Martinique is a Caribbean island that’s part of the Lesser Antilles, and is a region of France. This could be a fresh way to honor a Martin or Martha.

Cool tropical Latin word name.

Lisa Loeb used this intriguing name as the middle for her son Emet.

The sidekick in a John Wayne western.

A city name that sounds more legit than most because of its similarity to Peyton and other such names in circulation.

The Arabic word for Palestine made the US charts for the first time in 2021. It makes a unique first or middle name choice to honor Palestinian heritage.