Nature, Place and Word Names · Unisex Baby Names
By Pamela Redmond · Updated September 2026
Across 37 pages
of 37
Place name
Mythical wonderland makes strong, evocative first name for either gender.
English place name
"Day's town"
Daytona Beach is a city in Florida named after founder Matthias Day in 1870. It is well-known as the home of NASCAR's Daytona International Speedway, the racetrack which hosts the Daytona 500. As a…
Place-name
A geographical name that does the samba...and was also borne by a Celtic saint: a winning combination. Well used in the Creole community.
English and Scottish surname
"dear friend's place"
A new crop of gender-neutral English place names have suddenly become trendy — those ending in -ton. Multi-syllabic but not dramatic, these names are rising quickly for girls and boys. Think…
Native American
"dugout canoe"
Missouri, the name of a tribe, a state and a river, derives from the Illinois word mihsoori meaning "dugout canoe". It became a somewhat popular American girls' name in the mid-19th century. Missouri…
American state name
"people of the west wind"
A rare geographical option which was given to six boys and fourteen girls in a recent year, Kansas is known for its prairies, sunflowers, and barbeque food. Also associated with The Wizard of Oz and…
Spanish
"holy trinity"
Rhythmic name with both religious and geographical ties, commonly heard in Latin countries.
When Matthew McConaughey and wife Camila Alves chose the old English surname and place name Livingston for their third child, they elevated it from half of a Stanley & Livingston joke to a modern…
While this African place-name is much more popular for boys, nearly 40 girls were named Zaire last year. Among African baby names , this is one of the best-known in the US.
Arabic place name
Zamzam has to be the ultimate impact name. Despite all those Zs, Zamzam, is not a trendy modern invention by some rock star; in fact Zamzam derives from the Well of Zamzam, which is the holiest place…
Place name from Penacook
"beautiful stream with a pebbly bottom"
The name of a city in New Hampshire which takes its name from the Nashua River, named by the Indigenous Algonquian tribe the Nashuway or Nashua. A striking alternative to Joshua.
English place-name
"from the oxen crossing"
High-collared and straightlaced, with the deadly "Ox" nickname.
Greek place name
Athens the city takes its name from Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and courage. If you prefer place names to mythological names and like gender neutral names better than those that are gender…
English
"sun dance"
Long synonymous with the American outlaw Harry Longabaugh, aka The Sundance Kid, who got his nickname from the town of Sundance, Wyoming, where he was incarcerated as a teenager. The place name…
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…
Portuguese place name
"yew tree"
Evora is a city in Portugal known for its magnificent Roman aged ruins. It is occasionally seen as a female name, evoking some of the mystique of this region.
Italian place name
Genova, also known in English as Genoa, is a major port in Liguria, Italy. Its attractive sound — combining elements of Genevieve and Nova — means it has occasionally appeared on the baby name…
Munsee Lenape, Native American
"place for gathering the [wood to make] bows"
Manhattan is the smallest yet one of the most populous New York City boroughs. The area was historically inhabited by Munsee Lenape and Wappinger tribes of Native Americans, and the name Manhattan is…
Hebrew
"sweetness, grace, beauty"
Interesting Old Testament name that embraces many traditional female attributes; also name of a place in the Jordan Valley. In the Bible, a daughter of King Ammon and wife of Solomon.
Korean
"capital"
This place-name is more unique and offbeat than London or Milan. The name Seoul just debuted on the US charts in 2022.
