Place Names.

[hermione-vader.livejournal.com]

Last week, my younger sister and her best friend baby-sat for a 20-month-old girl named Venice.  My sister said the girl was named for Venice Beach, California, not Venice, Italy.  WDYT?

 This is actually quite a trend right now, so I'm also wondering: what are your opinions on place names in general?

Comments

[schexyschteve.livejournal.com]

Meh. But I guess it could be worse.

Depends on the name. I like Charlotte, Adelaide, Georgia, Virginia, Paris, London, and India, for example. I dislike Savannah.

[skittles22088.livejournal.com]

I grew up in Venice, FL. That's just weird.

I like place names that aren't obvious, like Sydney, Adelaide, and Charlotte.

[http://users.livejournal.com/-dahling-/]

I guess it depends. I usually like very traditional names, but some place names I kinda like.

Ryan Edwards (one of MTV's Teen Mom dads) has a new girlfriend named Dalis. It made me start thinking that Dallas would be kind of cute for a girl. I also like London. Not a fan of Brooklyn though. Venice is cute.

[mirhanda.livejournal.com]

Dallas is actually a traditional boys name. It was my grandfather's name and on this page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_%28name%29) is a list of famous people with the name.

[earn-my-wings.livejournal.com]

I think Venice is cute, although it really doesn't matter if the parents try to say it's after the city in California because no one thinks of that first, unless they're from there, haha.

In middle school, I knew a sibling set named Denver and Rio...thought that was kind of weird, and there was a rumor going around that they were named after the place they were conceived which would just be weird!

[sparklymoon.livejournal.com]

I don't like most of place-name trends... Brooklyn, Bronx, definitely not Paris, don't like Dallas, Savannah, India, Sidney in any form, Phoenix I consider more of a thing than a name (don't like as a name), Sierra, Denver (this is a trend?), Eden, Cheyenne, Kingston, Trenton (really? Is this because of Jersey Shore somehow?), London, Acadia, Egypt (Alicia Keys' son?)

I do love Charlotte, and I forgot it was even technically a place name (I'm a terrible Canadian). I think Geneva, Verona, Valencia, Austin (doesn't compute as a place name for me, even though I *know* it's TX) are nice enough.

Catalina and Alexandria are alright but not my style. Hudson I don't like, but I don't associate it with the NY River (I feel it's more a last name). Isn't Brittany close enough to Britain that we don't have to use it? Tokyo just doesn't sound right in English or French.

[gf-girlie.livejournal.com]

I have an Austin. He was not named after the town. I did joke with my husband that should we have another boy and name him Dallas or Houston.

[fangirlism]

Sierra is on mine and my boy's short list if we ever have a girl.

ETA: His pick, not mine. And he chose the name after the mountain range (the Sierra Nevadas).

[sictransitsuzy.livejournal.com]

Same here! If I have more than one girl, I plan to name the second Sierra. And I thought of "mountain range" as well as the name of one of my favourite Cursive songs. Didn't even know it was the name of a place?

[daydream11.livejournal.com]

Denver reminds me of Toni Morrison's novel Beloved. There was a reason for Denver's mother giving her the name, and it fit her incredibly well. I think it could work for the right couple and on the right kind of kid, but it could easily become to new Dakota and that'd be sad.

[harinakshi.livejournal.com]

Man so much hate on my name in these comments! LOL.

Venice just doesn't sound like a child's name to me, but it's not terrible. Though, after having visited Venice Beach I seriously don't know why anyone would name a child after that dump, it was much nicer about 8 years ago when I first visited.

[daydream11.livejournal.com]

If it makes you feel better, I don't even think of your name as a place. It's not the first thing that comes to mind! (More of an atmosphere than anywhere specific.)

[harinakshi.livejournal.com]

I know there are the plains in Africa and Savannah, Georgia, but I don't really think of my name as a "place"...maybe because it's spelled differently or cause it's MY name, not some place somewhere in Georgia!

[silvermidnight.livejournal.com]

I don't like well-known place names because I feel they already have a personality and kinda distract from the kid's personality. If it's not a well-known place, then I don't mind it. Like Topanga.

[avec-bonheur.livejournal.com]

Wait ... TOPANGA IS A PLACE?!

[mirhanda.livejournal.com]

When I hear "Topanga" I always think of the Manson family murders because of Gary Hinman.

[sictransitsuzy.livejournal.com]

Really? Boy Meets World immediately comes to mind..

[mirhanda.livejournal.com]

Well, I guess it's really Topanga Canyon, but when I hear "Topanga Canyon" I think of the Manson Family and poor Gary Hinman. So it's really the same thing, isn't it?

[quinnthevixen.livejournal.com]

As a rule, I mostly don't like them, BUT with one caveat: Odessa is a strong contender on my girls list. I know an Odessa casually and just love that name! Luckily I don't live near either of the Odessas so that might make it slightly less odd if I used it in the future.

Also, Berlin is a guilty pleasure, but mostly because I just fucking love that city.

[frost.livejournal.com]

Venice... I don't like it.
I don't like most of the obvious place names.

[allie-sheppard.livejournal.com]

There's a german model who named her son San Diego which I think is very very weird.

[laminy.livejournal.com]

There are quite a few place names that I like (some conventional and accepted, some less so), so in general, I like them, but obviously, there are some that just don't really work.

[mirhanda.livejournal.com]

Not a fan unless the place-name is a traditional person name in the first place, like Victoria or something.

[daydream11.livejournal.com]

I have a place name (Samaria) and for the most part, I don't mind them. I love my name, and anyway, if it weren't for my dad, I'd have been an India or a China. There are some I think are hopelessly tacky and/or ugly (Brooklyn, Boston, Maryland/Marilyn, Paris), but I've also come across some really pretty ones (I know of a Nevada, and she even looks the part). I like Lisbon and London for boys.