Names That Mean Place

This Canadian city name would make a unique but very wearable choice for a son or daughter. Cal is a good nickname — skip Gary.

The name of a port town in Maine, named after the birthplace of one of its founders Alexander Shapleigh, of Kittery Court, Devon, England.

The name America is given to around 100 baby girls each year, mostly within the Hispanic and Latin American communities. The national charts do not record diacritical marks like accents, but at least some of those baby girls spell their names with one. Model América González is among them.

Oriini Kaipara is a Māori journalist who made headlines by becoming the first person with a face tattoo (Moko Kauae) to host the prime-time news in New Zealand. Her name may derive from the New Zealand place name Orini.

Athens the city takes its name from Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and courage. If you prefer place names to mythological names and like gender neutral names better than those that are gender distinct, Athens may be a good alternative to Athena.

An extra feminized version of London, only recorded as a girl name in the US.

Caer Dathyl, whose name is of obscure origin, is a fortress mentioned in the medieval Mabinogi tales, and re-used by Lloyd Alexander in his Welsh-inspired Chronicles of Prydain.

A familiar Canadian city name that could easily translate to use as a baby name. Cal and Callie are potential nickname options.

This form of Amaia, with two Is, is a Top 100 name in Puerto Rico.

Derived from Caeredin, the Welsh name for the Scottish capital, Edinburgh. The origin of this name element is lost in the mists of time.

Pronounced my-ORK-a, the name of this lovely Balearic Island, located in the Mediterranean, is one of the prettiest and most feminine of place names. The Spanish spelling is MALLORCA.

This phonetic spelling variation of Israel was given to 17 baby boys in 2022, but the spellings Israel and even Izrael rank much higher.

A Pilgrimage site in Italy that also serves as a unisex given name.

The historic name for the south-west corner of Wales, deriving from the British tribe of the Demetae.

This name of an old Armenian city, might sound a little too masculine for use here. Variations include the more feminine Garine and Karine.

In the same unisex placename/surname style as Oakley and Hadlee, this name makes total sense but has never been on the American charts. Rushlee Buchanan is a New Zealand Olympic cyclist.