State Capital Baby Names

Charleston is one of those baby names that may become more popular thanks to its nickname Charlie, now used about equally for boys and girls. If you want to call your daughter Charlie but believe she needs a more formal name, you might try Charleston instead of Charlotte. And Charleston is a lovely city in South Carolina.

This is a great American name that deserves more attention from parents looking for a name that balances a soft sound with a more traditionally masculine cowboy image.

British habitational surname that calls to mind the Connecticut capital

An attractive North Carolina unisex place name, Raleigh's soft sound is particularly appropriate for a girl.

Juneau, the name of the city in Alaska, has rightfully taken a back seat as a name to the classic Juno. Most famous reference: When the pregnant teenager is introduced in the movie "Juno," the prospective adoptive father says, "Oh, like the city in Alaska." Juno takes a deep breath and then says simply, "No."

Two-syllable place-names are stylish, and this one is attached to a British city noted for its white chalk cliffs, but there are a couple of minuses: associated with the fish, Dover sole, and also rhymes with the doggy Rover.

This is a big name, both in heritage and sound. On the right child, this could be inspired, but others may shrink from all the connotations. While your preferred nickname for this option might be Col (or Kit if you're connecting it to Christopher Columbus), you may end up with the slightly more cumbersome "Bus" as the short-form.

A capital place-name possibility.

Nickname sometimes heard on its own, sort of an updated Sally and playmate of Hallie.

Relatively popular in Spain until the middle of the 20th century, this sweet and lively Spanish virtue name is also a Marian name, short for María de Fe. In Galician, it is sometimes also short for Fernanda, meaning "brave voyager".

A Puritanical virtue name and also a place name, belonging to the state capital of Rhode Island and several other towns and cities in the US.

Columbia is a rarely used name with many associations. From the eighteenth century it has been used as a female personification of the United States, often appearing as a flag-draped patriotic figure. And as such it's inspired a plethora of place and company names, from the District of Columbia to Columbia University to Columbia Records, and songs like "Columbia, Gem of the Ocean." A character called Columbia appears in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Saint went quickly from word to celebrity baby name to accepted baby boy name and now to baby girl name. And there's nothing historically or etymologically gendered about Saint, so why not?

The name of the capital city of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County, which is thought to come from a Kansa word meaning "good place to grow potatoes".

Not yet on the place-name map, this name has Shakespearean ties via the Duke Of Albany character in King Lear.