Nature, Place and Word Names
By Pamela Redmond · Updated September 2026
Across 7 pages
of 7
Place name, English form of Séliš, Salishan
"Salish people"
The Salishan are ingenious people from the Pacific North West, made up of four major groups who speak one of 23 Salishan languages. The name "Salish" is an anglicization of Séliš, the local name of…
Spanish, Portuguese
"salty water; rocky, pebbly"
Sweet, spirited, and unexpected as a given name, reality TV star Lala Kent brought Sosa into the spotlight when she chose it for her daughter in 2024. A Spanish name deriving from the Portuguese…
Spanish
"holy trinity"
Rhythmic name with both religious and geographical ties, commonly heard in Latin countries.
Italian, feminine variation of Dominic
"belonging to the Lord"
Fashionably Continental and much fresher than Dominique, though it's been used since the Middle Ages. Dominica can be spelled any number of ways, from Dominika to Domenica, but we prefer this…
Place-name
Sonoma, the name of a beautiful northern California wine-growing region, might inspire some parents. Other California place names beyond Sonoma: Marin, Berkeley, Sierra.
Latin place-name, Spanish, Italian, Croatian
"palm"
Palma is an appealing Latin name that's both geographical and botanical, referring to the sunny and culturally rich capital of Majorca and to the foliage of a palm tree. As the word for "palm" in…
Latin
"Scotland"
Place names can be a nod to your cultural heritage or a commemoration of a favorite destination. Scotia comes from the Latin name for Scotland, which may be a perfect fit for a family of Scottish…
Place name, English from Portuguese and Sanskrit
"lionlike"
Lovely, international, tea-scented possibility undiscovered by baby names. Ceylon may ultimately be derived from the Sanskrit siṃhala , meaning "island of lions" or "abundance of lions."
Place name, Latinization of German Osterreich
"eastern realm"
Austria is an nteresting, appealing, unexplored geographic destination, much fresher than American cousin Austin. A related and attractive possibility is Austria's capital city, Vienna, the name of…
Place name
Jakarta, the name of the capital and largest city of Indonesia, is located on the island of Java. Both Jakarta and Java could make interesting and unusual choices for a girl.
Anglicized version of Italian Catai; place name
A perfect example of what a difference a single letter can make. Add an 'a' to the ho-hum Cathy and you have the old name for China, often used by such poets as Edna St. Vincent Millay and Ezra Pound.
French place name
If you're looking for a really untouristed place name, Aquitaine could be it. Aquitaine is a region of France that includes both Bordeaux and Biarritz and is famous for such food and drink as its…
"Indian"
This name of a California desert town, used by Deborah Falconer and Robert Downey, Jr. for their son, makes a much livelier and more individual – not to mention more masculine – improvisation on the…
Iberia, the name of the Spanish-Portuguese peninsula, makes an attractive, unusual first name.
Latin place-name for Scotland
"hard or rocky land"
Caledonia is a rhythmic and alluring place name used by singer Shawn Colvin for her daughter. It would make an interesting and apt choice for a girl with Scottish ancestry.
The vowel ending tilts this sharply toward the feminine, and at this point Havana still has some political implications as well.
The name of an island in the English Channel that might make an attractive first name, but would work better for a boy.
Anglicization of Indonesian Jawa; place name
A name with something for everyone: for romantics, it's a beautiful Indonesian island; for teckies, it's a computer programming language.
French place-name
Undiscovered name of picturesque northern French port.
Italian place-name
This lovely Umbrian hill town became a striking first name for the young daughter of Jade Jagger.
