User-created list
By Deleted User · Updated February 2022
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Arabic
"deserts"
A beautiful and evocative place-name that deserves wider use, Sahara brings to mind deserts and heat. Derived from Arabic, it is the name of the world's largest hot desert, located across the North…
Place-name from Papago Indian
"little springs"
We usually think of place-names as a modern invention, but in fact Arizona ranked on the US Top 1000 from its inception in 1880 until 1911, when it vanished below the surface. It peaked at Number 510…
Place name
This still attractive place name was one of the first to gain popularity, though it now probably owes some of its favor to the similar Aisha. Asia ranked as high as Number 195 on the US baby names…
American place-name
"land of the Indians"
Indiana is one of those place-names (think Camden and Trenton) that sounds cooler than the place that inspired it. Its fashionable -ana ending certainly sounds eminently name-like, and…
Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin put Ireland on the map when they chose it as a first for their daughter, saying that geographic names were a family tradition. And it seems they were a bit ahead of the…
French place-name
The first famous Paris was a mythological prince of incredible beauty. The most recent was media darling Paris Hilton, inspirer of a generation of baby-girl namesakes. But since Pierce Brosnan and…
Place name, Kikuyu
"mountain of white"
Kenya, a name borrowed from the East African nation and theoretically unisex, is now used mostly for girls. While it's had its ups and downs since entering the US Top 1000 in 1968, it currently ranks…
English place name
"Geirr's island"
The New Jersey cities of Camden and Trenton are in, but the name of the state has not caught on to anywhere near the same extent, possibly due to its association with knitted pullovers and reality…
Place-name
"the house of the soul of Ptah"
We had Egypt listed as a girls-only place-name until singer Alicia Keys and rap producer husband Swizz Beatz used it for their son...and why not? Egypt certainly works as well for a boy as for a…
Feminine variation of Augustus, Latin
"great, magnificent"
Augusta is a dignified name reminiscent of wealthy great-aunts and stately homes, but with the fashion for both August and Gus for boys, and the renewed interest in clunky classics like Gwendolyn and…
Taíno place-name
Politics aside, the Cuban capital is one of the most rhythmic of place-names. The question is: can politics be put aside?
Welsh form of Molly or Thai
"jasmine flower"
Seems unfamiliar, till you realize everyone will just hear it as Molly. In Wales, Mali is a Top 100 name.
What with Mason scooting up the charts, this attractive place-name, with its thick Georgia accent, could make a more distinctive alternative. Macon has played major roles in two novels, Anne Tyler's…
Scottish place name
Not yet on the place-name map, this name has Shakespearean ties via the Duke Of Albany character in King Lear .
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…
Place name, various meanings
Most Africas today would be named for the continent, but the name actually existed in Scotland in medieval times, where there was a Celtic queen named Affrica. Africa has also been a Spanish name for…
Long before the current place-name craze, a pair of the more daring pop singers of the Age of Aquarius picked this name for their daughters. Jefferson Airplane's Grace Slick used the conventional…
A geographical name that does the samba...and was also borne by a Celtic saint: a winning combination. Well used in the Creole community.
Undiscovered name of picturesque northern French port.
"abundant fertile land; great place"
Soul singer Cuba Gooding and his actor son of the same name put this unexpected geographical name on the map for boys, but it has a longer history of use than you might expect. Deriving from the…
