What are your thoughts on place names? 
Any favourites?
I like place names a lot:) [name_u]Brooklyn[/name_u], [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f], [name_f]Florence[/name_f], [name_f]Helena[/name_f], [name_f]Ireland[/name_f], [name_m]Lincoln[/name_m], [name_u]Paris[/name_u], [name_f]Sicily[/name_f], [name_f]Thessaly[/name_f], [name_f]Victoria[/name_f], [name_f]Vienna[/name_f]âŚ
I really love [name_u]Salem[/name_u]. One of my favorite names. The witch trials association doesnât bother me in the least. In fact itâs probably why I love the name so much. Another I like is [name_u]Holland[/name_u] but only on a boy. Unfortunately is looks like itâs gonna go to the girls in the coming years.
I love Place names!
I particularly adore: [name_f]Venezia[/name_f], [name_f]Verona[/name_f], Versailles, [name_f]Vienna[/name_f], [name_u]Dallas[/name_u], [name_u]Cairo[/name_u], [name_f]Italia[/name_f].
I like a lot of them, but I absolutely dislike others. For example, I really like [name_f]Sicily[/name_f], but I really dislike [name_u]Brooklyn[/name_u]. I donât like âlynâ names in general, though. I think it depends! And obviously, someone in [name_u]London[/name_u] would like that name less than someone in the states would, I think.
Other big, tacky noâs for me:
[name_u]Paris[/name_u]
[name_u]Dakota[/name_u]
[name_u]Harlem[/name_u]
[name_u]Salem[/name_u]
[name_m]Berkeley[/name_m]
[name_u]Aspen[/name_u]
[name_u]Eden[/name_u]
[name_u]Milan[/name_u]
[name_f]Vienna[/name_f]
Other yesâs for me:
[name_f]Geneva[/name_f]
[name_m]Rome[/name_m]/[name_m]Roman[/name_m]
[name_f]Georgia[/name_f]
[name_u]Tennessee[/name_u] (for a girl)
[name_u]Memphis[/name_u] (for a boy)
[name_u]Raleigh[/name_u]
[name_f]Carolina[/name_f]
[name_u]Cairo[/name_u]
[name_f]Petra[/name_f]
Avonlea (fictional, but still gorgeous)
[name_u]Holland[/name_u]
[name_f]India[/name_f]
I thought of another! [name_m]Nazareth[/name_m] for a boy. I think itâs just incredibly stunning, but no one uses it!
Like PP, I find some quite obnoxious, while others are perfectly fine. More obscure, less obvious places with history as names work better. [name_m]Major[/name_m] metropolitan cities and countries like [name_u]London[/name_u], [name_u]Paris[/name_u], [name_f]Ireland[/name_f], and [name_f]India[/name_f] are a little try-hard to me.
I like [name_m]Berkeley[/name_m], [name_f]Thessaly[/name_f], [name_u]Dallas[/name_u], [name_f]Virginia[/name_f], [name_u]Holland[/name_u], [name_f]Alaska[/name_f], & [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f]. But better still I like other forms of place names, like [name_m]Roman[/name_m] and English.
[name_f]Savannah[/name_f]
[name_f]Sienna[/name_f]
[name_u]Sierra[/name_u]
[name_f]Georgia[/name_f]
[name_f]Sahara[/name_f]
[name_u]Brooklyn[/name_u]
My favorite is [name_u]Phoenix[/name_u] for either gender. DH and I are planning on using it as a kind of honor middle name because I was adopted from the city in [name_f]Arizona[/name_f] as a baby, so itâs sort of symbolic. I love the idea of using a place name if it means something to you/your family. I will admit that the idea of naming a child after a place youâve never been feels wrong to me.
I am very interested in this question, as itâs come up in my own names recently. Iâve fallen in love with the name [name_f]Alaska[/name_f], but it has no personal significance to me (besides that I love the [name_u]North[/name_u] Iâd love to go there some day ;)). But the state itself, I have no connection to, therefore it feels a little presumptuous to me, to use the name. I know others have and do, but I just canât quite bring myself to let go of all my reservations!
Most city names, river names etc I have no problem with, as they donât seem as big and well known as a state or country name. Of course there are the well known ones like [name_u]Paris[/name_u], [name_u]London[/name_u], [name_u]Brooklyn[/name_u] etc. but I feel like they are established enough as baby names that they donât necessarily need a personal connection.
I do love historical and Biblical place names alot too!
I generally dislike them, mainly because they tend to sound quite âsurnameyâ to me ([name_u]London[/name_u], [name_u]Brooklyn[/name_u], [name_m]Oxford[/name_m], [name_u]Holland[/name_u]âŚ) and Iâve never liked that style of first names.
But I like [name_f]Florence[/name_f], [name_f]Sofia[/name_f], [name_f]Helena[/name_f], [name_f]Thessaly[/name_f], Delphi, Annecy, [name_f]Belen[/name_f]⌠Iâm sure there are others, though I canât think of any right now. Some of these were probably human names before they were place names, Iâm not sure.
Boysâ ones are harder, but I love the fictional [name_m]Florin[/name_m] from The [name_f]Princess[/name_f] [name_f]Bride[/name_f] and [name_m]Nazareth[/name_m] is actually pretty cool! [name_m]Oslo[/name_m], Chester and [name_m]Rome[/name_m] are quite nice too, and Ness is one I like for either gender that would double as an honour name for me.
Lots of place names in the UK, especially in Cornwall, are named after saints and a lot of them have wonderful names: Alban, Ives, Endellion, Kitto, Just⌠Also, the Scottish islands where DHâs grandparents hail from would make for gorgeous human names: Islay, Iona, Eriskay, Skye, JuraâŚ
My initial answer was going to be No, I donât like place names, but after looking at other responses, Iâve realised I like quite a few place names, it does depend greatly on the style:
Personally I donât like the following as names:
[name_u]London[/name_u], [name_u]Paris[/name_u], [name_u]Brooklyn[/name_u], [name_u]America[/name_u], [name_f]Harlow[/name_f], [name_m]Essex[/name_m], [name_u]Bristol[/name_u], Avonlea (I live near the river [name_m]Avon[/name_m] and the county of [name_u]Bristol[/name_u] used to be called [name_m]Avon[/name_m]), [name_u]Holland[/name_u], [name_f]Ireland[/name_f], [name_f]England[/name_f], [name_f]Scotland[/name_f] (pretty much any place name ending in land).
I donât mind:
[name_f]India[/name_f], [name_u]Indiana[/name_u], [name_f]Victoria[/name_f], [name_f]Virginia[/name_f], [name_f]Savannah[/name_f], [name_f]Sienna[/name_f]
I Like:
[name_f]Charlotte[/name_f], [name_m]Alban[/name_m], [name_f]Florence[/name_f], [name_f]Sofia[/name_f], [name_u]Phoenix[/name_u], [name_f]Georgia[/name_f], [name_m]Lincoln[/name_m] and many more !
I donât have so many restrictions on using place names in the middle space if it has special meaning to you. As I tend to think the middle place is where you can be a little wild!
I love place names and surnames because they tend to feel very unisex compared to other names with a similar sound. For example, [name_u]Harlem[/name_u] instead of [name_m]Harlan[/name_m] or [name_u]Harley[/name_u], [name_u]Holland[/name_u] instead of [name_f]Holly[/name_f], [name_u]Juneau[/name_u] instead of [name_f]Juno[/name_f].
But I do agree with previous posters that the more obscure they are, the better. Words that are very commonly heard in reference to a place, like [name_u]America[/name_u] or [name_f]France[/name_f], will have a hard time blending in as the name of a person. This can depend on where you live too - I bet if I lived in [name_m]New[/name_m] [name_m]York[/name_m], [name_f]Alaska[/name_f], or the Netherlands, those other names I mentioned wouldnât seem so plausible to me.
I like some of them! [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] and [name_f]Virginia[/name_f] are two of my favorites (overall, not just of place names) and I also like [name_f]Savannah[/name_f] and [name_f]Georgia[/name_f]. I think [name_u]Dallas[/name_u] and [name_m]Austin[/name_m] are cute for someone else to use for a boy, but wouldnât use them personally.
Thanks so much ! I love [name_m]Pheonix[/name_m], [name_f]Arizona[/name_f], [name_f]Georgia[/name_f], [name_f]Sienna[/name_f], [name_u]Tennessee[/name_u],and Seattle.
I agree with some PPs, some major cities sound to âtrying to hardâ sub as [name_f]India[/name_f], [name_u]Brooklyn[/name_u] etcâŚ
My favourites are [name_f]Vienna[/name_f] and [name_f]Astoria[/name_f]
I love a lot of place names! My favourites are:
[name_u]London[/name_u] (g)
[name_u]Brooklyn[/name_u] (g)
[name_f]Alaska[/name_f]
[name_u]Aspen[/name_u]
[name_f]Vienna[/name_f]
[name_f]Siena[/name_f]
[name_f]Florence[/name_f] ([name_f]Italy[/name_f])
[name_f]Savannah[/name_f]
[name_u]Cheyenne[/name_u]
[name_f]Ireland[/name_f]
[name_f]Geneva[/name_f]
[name_f]Georgia[/name_f]
[name_u]Chelsea[/name_u]
[name_u]Madison[/name_u]
[name_u]Eden[/name_u]
[name_f]India[/name_f]
[name_u]Paris[/name_u]
[name_u]Jordan[/name_u] (either gender)
[name_u]Camden[/name_u] (b)
I love place names. My faves are [name_f]India[/name_f] and [name_f]Alaska[/name_f].
In general I am not a fan, but that rule has many exceptions for me.
I agree with @[name_f]Katinka[/name_f] that Most of the Scottish ones in particular are really beautiful. I love [name_f]Rona[/name_f], [name_f]Iona[/name_f], and [name_u]Aberdeen[/name_u].
In general, my alltime favorite place name is [name_f]Odessa[/name_f]. So beautiful!
I also tend to like the ancient place names quite a lot: [name_u]Constantine[/name_u] and Constantinople, Sebasta/[name_m]Sebastian[/name_m]/Sebastapol, [name_f]Alexandria[/name_f], [name_u]Memphis[/name_u], Attica/[name_m]Atticus[/name_m], Carthage, [name_f]Caledonia[/name_f], [name_f]Thessaly[/name_f]/Aeolia, Byzantine/Byzantium, [name_f]Isaure[/name_f]/Isauria, Leptis, Cyrene, Andalusia/Andalucia, [name_f]Petra[/name_f], Damascus, Hibernia, [name_f]Valentia[/name_f], Leodis, Izmir, [name_f]Samarra[/name_f], Sabzevar, Nisa, Andijon, Taraz, Almaty, Baktra, Herat, Quetta, Lhasa, Somapura, Loulan, [name_f]Nara[/name_f], Persepolis, Ayodhya.