Place Names That I Like

Place-name with character.

Colton is a trendy two-syllable choice, with the popular 'on/en' ending.

If you want to honor your grandfather Hal but can't work up much enthusiasm for his full name Harold, consider the more stylish (if a bit pretentious) capital of Nova Scotia.

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

Kensington is a place name with a number of referents; there are cities by the name in Australia, Canada, South Africa, the UK, and the US. As a girls' name, it entered the US Top 1000 in 2015, likely as a fresher way to get to nickname Kensie/Kenzie than Mackenzie, Mckenzie, or Makenzie.

Morocco is an attractive and rhythmic name, evocative of such fabled cities as Casablanca, Tangier and Marrakesh, in a country whose unique landscape and rich culture attracted such twentieth century writers as Tennessee Williams, Paul Bowles and William Burroughs.

Odessa, a Ukrainian port city, was given its name by Catherine the Great, who was inspired by Homer's Odyssey. It would make an original and intriguing choice.

Orlando, the ornate Italianate twist on the dated Roland, with a literary heritage stretching back to Shakespeare and before, has appealing book-ended o's, and is open to combination with almost any last name, a la British actor, Orlando Bloom.

Salem is a Biblical place name in Canaan, believed to be the same as Jerusalem, as well as the Massachusetts town famous for its late 17th century witch trials. Salem is also a popular first name in its own right throughout the Arabic world.

Sedona is an Arizona city name renowned for its beauty and tranquillity and easily could translate into an agreeable baby name, along the lines of Siena, Sierra, Astoria, and Sidony.