Updated November 2023
Across 17 pages
of 17
Catalan
"serrated mountain"
Montserrat is a Catalan name meaning ‘serrated mountain’. That may not be the most appealing meaning, but the exceptional beauty of the Montserrat mountain range near Barcelona, Spain might change…
English
"place of alders"
Once aristocratic British surname yet to be revived. Vince Vaughn recently gave his son the same double initials as his own when he named him Vernon Vaughn.
English place name, Old Norse
"Geirr's island"
An established place name, associated with a sunny island in the English Channel, the Garden State in the US, knitted pullovers, reality TV, and a Broadway musical. It peaked in the late 2000s and…
Literary invention
Finnick has risen to prominence as a first name via The Hunger Games , in which Finnick Odair was a winner of the games. A wearable literary creation, Finnick was given to 136 boys in the US in a…
English from Latin
"pebbly place"
Calloway is one of those irresistibly jaunty, animated three-syllable surnames, like Sullivan, Rafferty and Finnegan — but this one has the added attraction of jazzy ties to the immortal "Dean of…
Variation of Capri, Italian place name
Lovely Italian island name, Kardashian style.
English surname and American place name
"Anis' town; Annie's town"
A name with plenty of celebrity glamor and contemporary flair, Anniston has a variety of origins. On one hand, it's a place name, deriving from a city in Alabama of the same name. Founded in the late…
Latin
"fortress, walled town,"
Chester is a comfortable, little-used teddy-bear of a name that suddenly sounds both quirky and cuddly. Chester was a Top 100 name in the US from the 1880s to 1929, gradually fading till it finally…
English surname and place name
"bent grass enclosure"
Benton is an old English surname of a type usually given to local landowners. It is also recorded in early records as Beneton and Bentune. Benton newly returned to the Social Security list in 2011…
English place name from Dutch
"sea land"
Sunny and energetic, but with a hint of cool cowboy, Zealand has been sparingly used since the 2000s, Zealand but shot up the charts in 2021 after YouTube family The Labrants gave it to their son the…
Variation of London, English place name
An extra feminized version of London, only recorded as a girl name in the US.
A surname-style choice with jazzy ties to Cab Calloway and a more sporty association leant to it by a golfing company, Callaway has seen moderate gains in the US since the 2000s. In a recent year, 67…
English, variation of Ashton
"ash trees place"
This name feels modern and on-trend, thanks to that cool first similar — similar to trendy Asher — as well as associations with actor Ashton Kutcher. This particular spelling is nearly completely…
English, place name meaning "bright town"
"bright town"
Brighton has long been known as a holiday resort town on the south coast of England. A cheery unisex name, it was used for his daughter by Jon Favreau, but was a boy on the TV show The Nanny .
Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese
"river or place of the cherry blossoms"
Rio is one of Japan's most popular girls' names, constantly sitting in that country's Top 10. Of course, Rio may also stem from the Portuguese and Spanish word for river, and the Brazilian city Rio…
"place on a cliff"
A less-used cross between Clifford and Clinton.
English variation of Italia, Italian place name
Why has it taken so long for us to discover Italy? The name, that is. For decades, we have been using Italian place names (and those adjacent) like Rome, Roman, Milan, Milana, Capri, Florence, and…
Norwegian place name, Old Norse
"meadow at the foot of a hill"
Oslo, the capital city of Norway, makes for an intriguing new place name, especially with its bookended O's, as in Otto and leads to cool nickname Ozzie. One Berry has already used it and we predict…
A surname-style name with a flowing sound and an easy-going feel, Callaway derives from the French place name, Caillouet-Orgeville, which ultimately comes from the Norman word for "pebble". Also…
As Ashley becomes one of today's "mom names" thanks to its popularity amongst millennial-borns, Ashton is a fresh alternative. This particular spelling is nearly completely equally split between…