Places as names, names on places

[wolf-shadow.livejournal.com]

How do some names get totally associated with a place and some not? And why is it sometimes OK to use a name of a place as a firstname, and sometimes not?

examples:

Places as names:

• London
• Paris
• Florence
• Parthenope
• Milan
• Venetia

Names for places:

• Adelaide
• Victoria
• Virginia

Cause of this? I love the name Adélaïde/Adélaïda, but himself rules it out because of the Australian place. It bugs me because it was named after an Princess Adelaide in itself... I like the sound of the name, and as a mediaevalist, it's one I have come across quite a bit.

Comments

[xanya.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I'm Australian too and I would find it a bit weird over to hear that name over here. I even sometimes think it's weird when people are called Victoria even though I know it was a name long before my wonderful state was created.

[nearlyalegume.livejournal.com]

Rachel Griffiths' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachael_Griffiths) daughter is named Adelaide, and she's Australian.

Mind you, the son is Banjo... gotta love naming the kidlet after a daggy string instrument...

[xanya.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but I figure she named her daughter that because it reminds her of Australia (since she no longer lives here). But I don't know.

Heh, and I'm pretty sure she named her son Banjo after Banjo Patterson, one of our greatest (apparently - I'm not really a fan) ever poets.