American Place Names

A place name with plenty of history, Memphis is associated with the place in Ancient Egypt where many of the pyramids were built, and with the bluesy US city that was named after it. With its lovely meaning and cool, musical vibe, it is currently in the US Top 500 names for boys.

Deriving from the Greek form of the Egyptian name Men-nefer, Memphis has been notably borne by rapper Memphis Bleek and by Dutch footballer, known mononymously as Memphis (who likely inspired its brief appearance in The Netherlands Top 1000 in 2015). In the US, it is a unisex name, however, it is used three times more often for boys, with 610 receiving the name in 2023.

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.

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.

Overly trendy western place-name, as stated in the title of our book Beyond Jennifer & Jason, Madison & Montana.

This image of this distinguished Anglo-Scottish surname, drawn from the French place name of the ancient castle of Saint Foi de Montgomery, is rapidly shifting from fusty and formal to cool. And dashing short form Monty (or Monte) nudges it to cute.

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.

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 trampled tourist attraction.

Orlando, the ornate Italianate twist on the dated Roland, with a literary heritage stretching back to Shakespeare and before, has appealing book-ended o's, and is open to combination with almost any last name, a la British actor, Orlando Bloom.

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."

Effortlessly cool with a hint of the mystical, Phoenix rolls a lot of trends into one: it's a place-name and a bird name, it ends in the stylish letter x, it's got in-built nicknames, and it's unisex too. Familiar but not over-popular, Phoenix ranks in the US and UK Top 1000s.

There are two lovely Portlands, in Maine and Oregon, but not many babies with their name.

Has a lively and swaggering sound, and also some unfortunate associations with Reno, city of gambling and failed marriages.

Richmond is a place-name — it's the capital of Virginia — that makes a fresh way to honor an ancestral Richard.

Rochester was Jack Benny's famous valet and sidekick, played by early African-American comic Eddie Anderson.

Salem is a biblical place-name in Canaan, believed to be the same as Jerusalem. Americans may be more familiar with Salem as the name of the Massachusetts town famous for its witch trials in the late 1600s. It's also a popular Arabic name widely-used for both genders.

A place name with a deep Southern accent, the once-obscure Savannah shot to fame, with others of its genre, on the heels of the best seller Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which was set in the mossy Georgia city of Savannah. Originally a substitute for the overused Samantha, Savannah is now becoming overused itself, long among the top girls' names starting with S.

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.

After Dallas, Austin, and Houston, the new cowboy on the block. Old-school Western nickname: Tex.

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. Trenten is another popular spelling.