Place Names for Boys!

We love this partly for purely personal reasons, since it is one of our surnames. We used it as the middle name of a son –and it can make a good first choice too. Redmond – also found as Reamann or Raemonn – is the Irish form of the Germanic name that occurs in modern English as Raymond.

Rochester was Jack Benny's famous valet and sidekick, played by early African-American comic Eddie Anderson.

Given that Rome is arguably the most important city in European history, it has been used as a first name remarkably little. However, with Roman in the Top 100 and one-syllable choices in vogue, it was only a matter of time before parents started looking toward the city's name as a potential baby name.

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.

After Dallas, Austin, and Houston, the new cowboy on the block. Old-school Western nickname: Tex.

Creative choice, evoking the high-kicking can-can girls and other colorful figures in the works of Toulouse-Lautrec.

Trinidad, an island off Venezuela in the southern Caribbean, is Spanish for ‘trinity’ and is a common unisex name in Latin America. Notable namesakes include performers Trini Lopez (male) and Trini Alvarado (female), both born Trinidad.

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

Place-name waiting to be discovered.

Lincoln, Tyler, Taylor, Jackson, Jefferson, Harrison, McKinley, Grant, Kennedy, Carter -- yes. Washington -- probably not.

Brisk, preppy York is an underused classic with the potential to really shine in the 21st century. It's most familiar as a place name — York is a city in England — and surname. New York City and State were named after the Duke of York.