What’s Your Favorite Place Name?
Place names for people are a category that’s exploded over the past generation.
A couple of decades ago, names like Dakota and Chelsea were hot and trendy, while Paris and London were wildly exotic.
Today, place name possibilities have moved far beyond such standards as Asia and Georgia.
There are popular city names — Savannah, Brooklyn, Milan — as well as state and country names, from Indiana to India.
There are place names that reference mountain ranges, like Sierra, or bodies of water, such as Hudson. Place names can even refer to otherworldly locales, such as Heaven, Orion, or Zion.
Some place names owe their popularity to the epically beautiful places they reference: Kenya, for instance, and Venice. And then there are those names that are much more attractive than the places they represent: We’re thinking of Trenton, Camden, Detroit.
Several celebrities have helped make the place name fashion more, well, fashionable. Just last year, Reese Witherspoon had a son named Tennessee, while Jemima Kirke named her boy Memphis.
Our question this week: Would you use a place name for your child? Have you used one? In the first place, or only as a middle?
What’s your favorite, and why?
These amazing map baby shoes are by British artist Jennifer Collier.