Nature, Place and Word Names · Unisex Baby Names
By Pamela Redmond · Updated September 2026
Across 37 pages
of 37
English place-name
The name of an affluent suburb of Columbus, Ohio and a section of Greater London, Bexley is increasingly being coopted by parents looking for a novel name in the Kinsley/AInsley/Paisley family.…
English diminutive of Ann or Agnes, Hebrew or Greek
"grace or pure"
To some, Nancy is a sweet, sparkly, vintage choice with plenty of energy and style. For it strays too much into '"old-lady" territory to be cool again yet. It's out of fashion in France, New Zealand,…
Place-name
"home on a forested dune"
With Brooklyn, Trenton, and Camden on the rise, Harlem is one to watch out for. It has lingered down the lower end of the US Top 1000 since 2018 but has been trending upwards. It's already been…
Devon, spelled like the lovely seaside county in Britain that inspired the name, has crashed since its heyday around the Top 100 in the 1990s. Despite its use as a female name, for example for Devon…
Spanish place-name
"mountainous"
Overly trendy western place-name, as stated in the title of our book Beyond Jennifer & Jason, Madison & Montana.
English, place-name
"Trent's town"
There's only one Trenton, New Jersey, but it's a widely used name, more for its fashionable -on ending than the reference to the city. Since 2007, however, Trenton has been on a steady decline.…
French
"from the province of Lorraine"
Sweet Lorraine might just be old enough to be ripe for reconsideration. This French place name has moved in and out of fashion in the few hundred years it's been used as a girls' first name, somewhat…
Biblical place name, Hebrew
"The Promised Land; humble, low"
Pronounced KAY-nan, this Old Testament place name has a strong modern feel that blends in with on-trend choices like Carter, Colton, and Kayson, but also with Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Tobias.…
English
"spearman"
When Gary cracked the Top 10 in 1950, it was one of the first nonclassic boys’ names to do so, largely due to Gary (born Frank) Cooper, who was renamed after Gary, Indiana, his agent's hometown. Now,…
Wyoming place-name, French
"canopy of leafy boughs"
Laramie was derived from the French word la ramée , meaning "leafy canopy." It was historically a French surname, but today it is a viable first name option for girls or boys. The balance is…
Biblical place name; Hebrew
"the Lord is my teacher"
Where Abraham took his son Isaac to sacrifice him. Taylor Hanson chose this as the middle name for his son Viggo, his fourth child, but most will see it as a girls’ name . Make life simpler and spell…
English, variation of Deighton
"place with a dike"
If Dayton, like Trenton and Camden, is finding favor with parents, it's more because of its popular two-syllable surname feel and -on ending than the industrial city in Ohio.
Place name
Rockers Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz put a new baby name on the map when they chose this downscale New York borough name for their son. The Bronx, the place, was named for early Dutch settler Jonas…
Variation of Kamaria and Qamar, Arabic, Swahili
"moonlight"
A unisex name with an appealing and nature inspired meaning, Kamari is currently more popular for boys in the US, though it is climbing the charts for girls too, after in entered the Top 1000 in…
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…
Place name, English from Egyptian
"the house of the soul of Ptah"
Place names like Memphis, Harlem, Cairo, Vienna, Milan, and Astoria are right on trend at the moment, and Egypt could fit in, thanks to its similarity in sound to the likes of Edith and Eden. Alicia…
American nature name or place name
"oak land"
Oakland is a place name associated mainly with the city near San Francisco, pretty obviously meaning "oak land". Theoretically unisex but used mainly for boys, Oakland is one of a trending group of…
French variation of Peter
"rock, stone"
One of the most familiar — if not stereotypical — Gallic names. Pierre was a Top 5 name in France from the 19th century through 1940 and is now on a steady decline in its native land. In the US,…
Italian and Spanish variation of Paula
"small"
Paola is the Latinate version of Paula. Its intriguing sound could make it more appealing than the English standard.
Latin, Germanic, Spanish , Italian., "white, light; elf; dawn"
"white, light; elf; dawn"
Bright, lively, and multicultural, Alba has the vintage mellowness of Alma but spirited feel of Ebba, Phoebe, and Pippa too. Derived from multiple different sources, a recent year saw it appear as a…
