Rare Place Names for Babies
- Giverny
Origin:
FrenchMeaning:
"from Giverny"Description:
Arty and unexpected, Giverny is a French place name, associated with Claude Monet and Impressionist art more generally. Located in the north of France, Monet put Giverny on the map when he moved to the (then small) village in the 1890s, drawing a number of other artists there too. Many of Monet's most popular works were painted there, including his Water Lilies paintings.
- Ceylon
Origin:
Place name, English from Portuguese and SanskritMeaning:
"lionlike"Description:
Lovely, international, tea-scented possibility undiscovered by baby names.
- Havana
Origin:
Place-nameDescription:
The vowel ending tilts this sharply toward the feminine, and at this point Havana still has some political implications as well.
- Romany
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"Romani"Description:
Romany is a melodious name referring to the Roma or Romani community and their culture, which makes it a potentially controversial choice for a baby not of that heritage. Romany Malco is an actor who appeared on the television show "Weeds." Other similar ideas: Roman, Romano, or Romeo.
- Mithian
Origin:
Cornish place nameMeaning:
"unknown meaning"Description:
With other Cornish names like Elowen and Jago catching people's attention, the mythical sounding Mithian might prove an unexpected and magical feeling choice. Traditionally called Mydhyan, Mithian is a village in Cornwall that sits between St Agnes and Perranporth.
- Mithian
Origin:
Cornish place nameMeaning:
"unknown meaning"Description:
With other Cornish names like Elowen and Jago catching people's attention, the mythical sounding Mithian might prove an unexpected and magical feeling choice. Traditionally called Mydhyan, Mithian is a village in Cornwall that sits between St Agnes and Perranporth.
- Berlin
Origin:
GermanMeaning:
"borderline"Description:
Edgy German capital with definite possibilities as a baby name.
- Kyoto
Origin:
Place-nameDescription:
Japanese city name not yet on the map for babies, but why not?
- Dover
Origin:
British place-nameDescription:
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.
- Deimena
Origin:
Lithuanian, river nameDescription:
One of the more subtle place names, Deimena is the Lithuanian word for the river Deyma, located in the Kaliningrad Oblast. It has seen small but steady use in Lithuania since the 1960s, peaking in 2005 with 12 births.
- Danube
Origin:
River nameDescription:
Some parents are turning to rivers and other bodies of water in the search for undiscovered place-names, and this has the feel of a Viennese waltz.
- Corsica
Origin:
Place name, English from Latin, or Italian, Corsican surnameMeaning:
"from Corsica"Description:
Corsica, the picturesque Mediterrean island birthplace of Napoleon, makes an easy switch from atlas to baby name book, with its delicate, feminine ending. Just don't consider neighboring island Sardinia.
- Dublin
Origin:
Irish place-nameDescription:
With Galway and Ireland in play as names (not to mention Shannon and Kerry), there's no reason this one can't work, too.
- Ottawa
Origin:
Place name, AlgonquinMeaning:
"to trade"Description:
The capital city of Canada makes an unusual name for a baby, though it was recently used by nutrition and fitness Instagrammer, Kaleigh Kellner. The Canadian city ultimately gets it name from adawe which means "to trade" in the First Nations language of Algonquin.
- Samoa
Origin:
Place-nameDescription:
Evocative of the beautiful South Pacific islands; we've also heard Samoan used as a name.
- Ethiopia
Origin:
English from GreekMeaning:
"Burnt-face, red-brown"Description:
The place name Ethiopia was derived from the Greek word for an Ethiopian, Aithiops, from the components aithō, "I burn" and ōps "face." As a noun, it takes on the meaning of "Burnt-face," which the Greeks used to distinguish between those in Africa and those from the Middle East, who had lighter skin. In adjective form, Aithiops means "red-brown."
- Orleans
Origin:
English, French, place nameMeaning:
"gold"Description:
An interesting and as yet undiscovered place name, Orleans feels similar to the likes of Harlem, Memphis, and Oslo. The English form of the French Orléans, it ultimately derives from the Latin Aurelianum, meaning "gold".
- Italia
Origin:
Italian place-nameDescription:
Authentic, melodic place-name for the adventurous, chosen by rapper LL Cool J for his daughter and by TV personality Jessica Graf Nickson for her daughter in 2025. Given to around 80 baby girls in the US last year, Italia is of course is what the Italians call Italy.
- Miami
Origin:
Place-nameDescription:
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.
- Jakarta
Origin:
Place nameDescription:
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.
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