So my husband and I have a mix of backgrounds and have lived in a few countries with some places that are very special to us. [name]How[/name] weird would these names be if we put them in the middle spot? Bearing in mind we are fairly settled now in the UK and it is not very common to use town names for people here!
Girls:
Haarlem
[name]Amsterdam[/name]
Boys:
[name]Camden[/name]
Madrid
We also have connections with [name]Atlanta[/name], [name]Georgia[/name], Toronto, New [name]York[/name], Manama, Bahrain, [name]London[/name], [name]Oxford[/name], [name]Primrose[/name] [name]Hill[/name], Highgate, [name]India[/name], Hong Kong (Kowloon) so any other suggestions from that lot would be great!
I think the best place names you listed are [name]Atlanta[/name], [name]Georgia[/name], Toronto, [name]Primrose[/name], [name]India[/name], and [name]Camden[/name] (in fact, I know a [name]Camden[/name]). I think anything goes in the middle pretty much, but remember the kid might not like these places as much as you do. I love anything British, for example, and if my middle name was [name]China[/name]…I wouldn’t be too grateful.
I mostly agree with [name]Jame[/name], esp. about the place not being necessarily so special to the child. Since [name]Camden[/name] falls into surname-dom as well, I think it in particular is highly usable. [name]Atlanta[/name], [name]Georgia[/name], [name]Primrose[/name], [name]India[/name], [name]London[/name], [name]Oxford[/name], and [name]Harlem[/name] (Haarlem?) work just fine, and I suspect that Manama isn’t so well-known that many people will recognize it. [name]Amsterdam[/name], Bahrain, Kowloon, etc. feel like they’re trying too hard though (Madrid was on the border of usability for me). Perhaps there is a monument or a special place or feature within them that has particular meaning to you that has more of a namey feel? Like, if you love [name]Boston[/name] (for instance), you could name someone after the Minute [name]Man[/name] statue, [name]John[/name] [name]Parker[/name]…
As cool of a place that [name]Camden[/name] is, I wouldn’t want to be named after it. It’s a bit of a crazy place.
For a boy i would suggest [name]Oxford[/name] or [name]Atlanta[/name] as middles, for a girl I’d suggest [name]India[/name], [name]Georgia[/name] or Madrid.
A lot of those place names would work well for middle names imo! [name]Atlanta[/name], [name]Georgia[/name], [name]London[/name], [name]Oxford[/name], [name]India[/name], and [name]Camden[/name] all sound like suitable place middle names to me. But my favorite is Madrid! But for a girl! I’ve never heard it as a middle name and it would be obvious that Madrid is special to you if you use it, and I think it’s pretty and brings images of romantic and beautiful Spain, though I’ve never been there, that’s what comes to mind, which is why I like it for a girl. But whatever you decide! Good luck!
I would take Haarlem off the list for sure, most people would probably assume it’s Harlem spelled tryndy instead of making the Netherlands connection, which I assume is what youre doing. If it isnt I wouldnt name my child after Harlem even spelled correctly.
Personally I think the best idea would be to pick something connected to that place and use that as a name, for instance, Margaret Mitchell was from Atlanta and wrote Gone With The Wind, which is very connected to Atlanta, if you like the name and movie I think it would be a great way to honor.
Also a street, area or place in a city would work. NYC for example: Lexington, Chelsea, Ellis would be good choices.
[name]Harlem[/name] (spelled that way) is a little interesting but as mn I suppose it works. I hope the double a’s was a mistake, because if it wasn’t it just scream ‘I’m trying to be yooneek’
[name]Amsterdam[/name] for me is an absolute no, but hey it’s your baby!
[name]Camden[/name] is actually pretty decent.
Madrid is another one that is kind of in the middle for me. I suppose it’s right along the lines of [name]Madden[/name], [name]Maddox[/name], [name]Moroccan[/name], etc so it probably won’t be questioned at all. [name]Just[/name] not my taste is all.
[name]Atlanta[/name] is quite interesting but of course [name]Georgia[/name] is a classic. The rest are way too ‘interesting’ for me, with the exceptions of [name]London[/name], [name]India[/name] and [name]Primrose[/name]. Anyways, that’s just my two cents! Good luck with picking a name!
I think a lot of these choices are usable–Toronto, [name]London[/name], [name]Primrose[/name], [name]Camden[/name], [name]India[/name], etc.–but I’m not sure about others. I think places like [name]Atlanta[/name] and Madrid could work, but they’re a bit too out-there for me personally. [name]Amsterdam[/name] just doesn’t feel very namey to me, and while I think Haarlem could work, I would much more expect it to be on a boy (especially due to its similarity to [name]Harlan[/name]). Although after thinking about Haarlem for a while, I couldn’t stop thinking about “harem”, like the place where king’s concubines would go in the Bible… I immediately thought about the story of [name]Esther[/name]. I don’t know if that would be bothersome to anyone else, but I couldn’t really get past it, and I think it would be especially negative on a little girl!
Good luck!
ETA: It seems like Haarlem could be problematic with spelling, as well, apparently! I’m guessing Americans are much more familiar with the area in New York than the place in the Netherlands. I absolutely love that Corrie ten Boom is so strongly associated to Haarlem, though–that would be all the more reason for me to use it, personally! She was such a strong, beautiful woman. I hadn’t really taken that into consideration with my reply earlier, but maybe Haarlem could make a cool MN for a girl because of that?
I also think it would be great to narrow down your interest in cities like New [name]York[/name]. Possibly by doing a street name that you particularly like, etc.
My immediate reaction is, “Oh god please no”
Why not use a Dutch name, a Spanish name, or something?
I mean, some of them from your list are fine, but others would be awful to have. Would you want your name to be [name]Amsterdam[/name]?
I would say no way to [name]Amsterdam[/name]…I think [name]Primrose[/name] nn [name]Plum[/name] would be adorable…otherwise [name]Georgia[/name].
For a boy…I like [name]Camden[/name] then [name]Oxford[/name].
I would not name a child [name]Atlanta[/name], especially if it’s after the city. The ER nurses at the hospital downtown have to wear bulletproof vests under their scrubs, if that tells you anything…
