Nature, Place and Word Names
By Sophie Kihm · Updated September 2026
Across 4 pages
of 4
Spanish
"crown"
Corona was once an improbable choice due to the beer brand. After the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, its firmly cemented its status as a nonviable baby name.
Variation of Columbo or Columbia, Latin
"dove"
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…
Portuguese
"ditch, channel"
A surname that could become a first, an alternate to the already-taken REGIS.
Anglicized variation of Irish Cearbhall
"hacking with a weapon"
This name was consistently in the boys' Top 200 until WW2. It's a name with so many dimensions to it: the hyper-masculine meaning, the surname-as-firstname trendiness, and the softer sound and…
Place name
Has much too strong of a Brooklyn accent.
Feminization of Anson, English
"son of Agnes"
Sounds too much like the name of a hotel.
place name
Both Soho and Noho--no-no.
French and English
"beautiful rose"
A felicitous combo of two sweet names; also a Queens, New York neighborhood.
French
"over the hill"
A harsh definition to inflict on a baby boy.
American place-name
Tribeca was the term created for New York City's TRIangle BElow CAnal Street. Stangely enough--that aside--it almost does sound like a plausible girls' name , nicknamed Becca.
Provencal; Icelandic
"hawk; thunder god"
Similar to the floral name Aster, this spelling derives separately from Old Provençal astur "hawk") and from the Icelandic name elements as ("god") and þor ("thunder"). As a surname, it has several…
Cornish
"chick"
Kew is an offbeat name of a saint from Cornwall with boyish appeal.
The name of a Queens, New York neighborhood sounds like a lost-in-limbo girls' name such as LAVERNE.
A posh area of London, as well as being a section of Brooklyn, Kensington would make an overly formal, butlerish boy's name. There are several preferable paths to the nickname Ken, including KENYON,…
Native American place name
"rich in springs"
Among the least gimmicky, most appealing and colorful of all the names found in the atlas, Jamaica almost sings out the rhythms of the West Indies. Part of the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean,…
German surname
"landlord, farmer"
A pretty private park in Manhattan, doesn't quite make it as a baby name.
