Nature, Place and Word Names
Rare Place Names for Babies
Across 7 pages
of 7
Lourdes
Spanish, Portuguese, from French, meaning unknown
This name of the French town where a young peasant girl had a vision of the Virgin Mary in 1858 vaulted into the spotlight when Madonna chose it for her daughter, but few other families except for…
Majorca
Spanish place name
Pronounced my-ORK-a, the name of this lovely Balearic Island, located in the Mediterranean, is one of the prettiest and most feminine of place names. The Spanish spelling is MALLORCA.
Malta
Place-name
An archipelago near the center of the Mediterranean, the name derives from the Greek word for honey. Malta has been heard as a girl’s name in the past and was used as a character name by both Dickens…
Manila
Place name
The name of the capital city of the Philippines is just conceivable as a baby name, giving off the faint scent of vanilla.
Marbella
Spanish place name
"beautiful sea"
The name of the resort city on Spain's Costa del Sol is pronounced mar-BAY-a, setting it apart from the bella-name competition -- though many English speakers won't realize that. And it probably…
Miami
Place-name
Miami -- or Florida, for that matter -- hasn't achieved the place-name stardom of southern sisters like Savannah and Georgia. Quincy Jones used it as his daughter KENYA's middle name.
Morocco
African place-name
Morocco is an attractive and rhythmic name, evocative of such fabled cities as Casablanca, Tangier and Marrakesh, in a country whose unique landscape and rich culture attracted such twentieth century…
Nairobi
African place name
The capital of Kenya makes a melodic and worldly name.
Nevis
Place-name
Highly unusual name of a small, tranquil island in the Caribbean; chosen for her daughter by singer Nelly Furtado.
Nile
River name, color name, or variation of Niall, Irish
"champion"
Water names are a cool category these days, and this one of the famous Egyptian river is no exception. It streamlines the fussier Niles and also may be thought of as a color name, meaning dark blue…
Odessa
Russian form of Odesa, Ukrainian place-name
"voyage"
Odessa, (transcribed as Odesa in Ukrainian) is a Ukrainian port city and was given its name by Catherine the Great, who was inspired by Homer's Odyssey . It would make an original and intriguing…
Olympia
Greek
"from Mount Olympus"
With its relation to Mount Olympus, home of the Greek gods, and to the Olympic games, this name has an athletic, goddess-like aura, making it the perfect Olivia substitute. A well-known art reference…
Oslo
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…
Palermo
Place-name
Son of Sicily.
Palma
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…
Panama
Place-name
Sharing her name with a country, a city, an isthmus, a gulf, a canal, and a hat might be a bit much for a child to handle.
Persia
Country name
"land of the Parsa"
The name Persia derives from Avestan Parsa , the name of the Indo-European nomadic people who migrated into southern Iran in about 1000 BCE. Persis or Persea, the feminine form of Perseus, feel more…
Peru
Place name
An unexplored choice, evocative of the snowcapped Andes, with a pleasant, catchy sound.
Philippine
French, feminine variation of Philippe
"lover of horses"
Philippine might be taken as an ethnic identification rather than a name in the U.S. Philippa would be more easily understood, though if you don't mind eternally correcting people, Philippine can…
Portland
English
"land near the port"
There are two lovely Portlands, in Maine and Oregon, but not many babies with their name.