State Names California Edition

Seems suddenly possible, in this era of Apple. But Clementine would be much better.

This surname is on trend with its S ending, and could honor people such as athlete Jesse Owens. But it has strong potential for confusion with Owen singular.

Pacific is an adventurous kind of place-name, with the added bonus of the association with peace.

Poppy, unlike most floral names which are sweet and feminine, has a lot of spunk. Long popular throughout the rest of the English-speaking world, Poppy is finally starting to rise toward the top in the US, where it entered the Top 1000 for the first time in 2016.

Quirky in the way that all Q names are quirky, Quincy was once a buttoned-up, patrician New England name, an image countered in recent years by the talented and ultracool musician Quincy Jones (middle name: Delight; nickname: Q).

Energetic, sunny, and slightly romantic, Rafael is a popular choice in Germany, Spain, Portugal, and Croatia. Used internationally, Rafael is a Spanish variation of Raphael, that lends itself easily to the nicknames Rafi, Rafa and Rafe.

Strong and mighty nature name.

Rice is really stretching the nature name boundary to its outer edges. But you may want to take it that far.

As nature names get more popular, parents look to undiscovered nature words and terms that can be turned into baby names. Rice is certainly undiscovered, but may not make the transition from word to baby name as smoothly as, say, River.

River shares the tranquil feeling of all the water names, and seems to have pretty much escaped its past strong association with River Phoenix and his unfortunate fate. Actor Joaquin Phoenix named his son with actress Rooney Mara after his brother River.

As sweet-smelling as Rose but with an international flavour, Rosa is one of the most classic Portuguese, Spanish and Italian names, which is also favored by upper-class Brits, having an ample measure of vintage charm. Rosa has been on the popularity charts for every year that's been counted, especially popular from the 1880s through the beginning of the twentieth century.

Might suggest speed, excitement, even danger, were it not for its best-known bearer, conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh.

Nickname name hep in the era of Grease.

This name of a giant tree, itself named for a nineteenth-century Cherokee who invented a way to write his tribe's language, makes a strong, stately statement.

A Californian mountain name revered by healers and spiritualists, Shasta has a New Age, cowboy feel. The mountain takes its name from the Indigenous American tribe, the Shasta people - though this name is believed to have been given to them either by white people, or by the nearby Klamath people.