User-created list
American Place Names
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Alaska
Native American
"great land"
State name Alaska stems from an Aleutian word for the land mass itself. The number of baby girls named Alaska has doubled in the past five years, and is sure to continue increasing as more place…
Albany
Scottish place name
A capital place-name possibility.
Arizona
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…
California
Place name, Spanish from Arabic
"land of Califia, land of the caliph"
Has not caught on as much as other Golden State place-names — Sierra, Marin, West, or even Francisco — probably because of its length. The state of California got its name from the 16th-century…
Colorado
Spanish place-name
"colored red"
More unusual than Dakota or Austin, Colorado conjures images of majestic mountains and windswept wilderness. Some will prefer the more preppy Aspen, but Colorado feels like the true explorer.
Fairbanks
English
"bank along the pathway"
Alaska's second most populous city makes a baby name with a preppy, even aristocratic, flavor.
Florida
Place name and Spanish from Latin
"flowery"
Lacks the cachet of some newer place-names.
Hawaii
Place-name
An actual Hawaiian first name would convey the aura of the islands more originally and effectively.
Indiana
American place-name
"land of the Indians"
This state name emerged in the eighties along with westerners Dakota and Montana, and it's still used occasionally by high-profile parents such as Summer Phoenix and Casey Affleck. Action man Indiana…
Jersey
English place name, Old Norse
"Geirr's island"
An established place name, associated with a sunny island in the English Channel, the Garden State in the US, knitted pullovers, reality TV, and a Broadway musical. It peaked in the late 2000s and…
Juneau
Place-name
Juneau could go either way as a name. The newfound fame of the movie heroine Juno knocks this unrelated though identical-sounding Alaskan name out of consideration for boys, for the moment. Though…
Louisiana
French place-name
Louisiana is a geographic spin on the Louise theme. Pretty, if a bit of a syllable overload. Short form Lou or Lulu lightens it.
Maine
Place-name
Strong and spare state name, maybe better in the middle -- or for a boy.
Missouri
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…
Montana
Spanish place-name
"mountainous"
Overly trendy western place-name, as stated in the title of our book Beyond Jennifer & Jason, Madison & Montana.
Nevada
Spanish place-name
"covered in snow"
Named for its snowcapped mountains, Nevada is a state name which, unlike Carolina, Montana, and Dakota, has been relatively undiscovered. Warning: today's unvisited place-name could become tomorrow's…
Philadelphia
Greek place-name
"brotherly love"
Place-name mentioned in the New Testament and not yet on the name map. Philadelphia Thursday was the character played by Shirley Temple in John Ford's 1948 "Fort Apache."
Tennessee
Native American, Cherokee, place-name
"bend in the river or meeting place"
When playwright Thomas Lanier Williams adopted the pen name of Tennessee, he created a new possibility among American place-names, although it's admittedly a bit bulky in size. Reese Witherspoon…
Texas
Place-name
After Dallas, Austin, and Houston, the new cowboy on the block, complete with old-school Western nickname, Tex. Quietly used as a name since at least the late 19th-century, Texas was given to around…
Utah
American place name, Ute
"people of the mountains"
This would make a startling but likable choice; poet Dylan Thomas used it for a character in his play "Under Milk Wood."