Have you ever thought about naming a child after a place you lived or loved?
When we were first naming our son, I would look at every street we passed by for name ideas. For the next installment of our baby name series, we’re talking specifically about baby names inspired by European cities and I couldn’t think of a more fun topic! There are some incredible names hidden within the cities, provinces and landmarks across Europe.
Read below to hear about the names Jessica P has chosen for her five children, and what she’s in search of for a baby name for next baby! Plus our favorite European city baby names!
Jessica P has five children and a sixth on the way! Her children’s names are Lincoln, London, Capri, Vienna and Sicily and she’s looking for a name that works well with her other childrens’. Here’s what she wrote to us:
“Our kids are all named after places in Europe since we lived there early in our marriage. We are running out of ideas with this being our sixth baby though! And a gender surprise.
We don’t like the name Paris. Some people have suggested that other names we’ve suggested might have negative connotations from prior wars?
We usually find a family name to use as the middle name once we’ve decided on the first name, but we’re open to suggestions. We would really love if the name meshed well with our other kids names. We love names that are different, but not hard to pronounce.”
Keep reading for our suggestions!
Baby (Girl) Names Inspired by European Cities
Instead of just sticking to names of European cities, we also added some names inspired by famous European landmarks and streets. We also thought a great way to mix things up would be to use a place as inspiration for a shorter name, like Edin inspired by Edinburgh or Kensie inspired by Kensington!
A lot of the names on both of these lists are gender neutral, but here’s a list of names we think would be great baby girl names inspired by European cities:
- Abbey – from the famous Abbey Road in London
- Almada – a city in Portugal
- Bristol – a city in Southwest England
- Edin – inspired by Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland
- Florence – the capital city of the Tuscany region of Italy
- Geneva – a city in Switzerland
- Kensie – inspired by the Kensington district in London
- Malta – a Southern European island country
- Palma – the capital of Mallorca
- Ravenna – the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in Northern Italy
- Roma – the Italian pronunciation of Rome, Italy
- Rue – “road” in French and in the name of many famous streets in France
- Seville – the capital city of the Andaluisa region in Spain
- Siena – in the countryside of Italy
- Sutton – a borough in London
- Wels – a city in Austria
Baby (Boy) Names Inspired by European Cities
Below you’ll find our favorite European city baby names for boys, though again so many of these are great gender neutral options, too!
- Ben – inspired by Big Ben in London
- Brunn – a common place-name in Germany
- Camden – a borough of London
- Dublin – the capital of Ireland
- Hugo – inspired by Avenue Victor-Hugo in Paris
- Lucca – a city in Tuscany, Italy
- Lyon – a city in France
- Orly – a commune in the suburbs of Paris, France
- Oslo – the capital city of Norway
- Porto – a city in Portugal
- Rhodes – an island in Greece
- Roman – inspired by the capital city of Rome, Italy
- Wells – a city in England
- York – a city in England
What are your favorite names inspired by European cities?
Now, we’d love to hear your favorite names inspired by European cities, landmarks, countries or streets. Do you have any favorites or suggestions?
Congratulations, Jessica! We hope you find a name you love!
If you’re expecting or adopting and would like to apply to be a part of the series, click here to fill out this form about your situation and name preferences!!
Alison says
I’m an American but I live in Athens, Greece and I think the name Athena (which is what Athens is called in Greek) is an incredible girl name!
Alison says
Also it is pronounced a-THI-na (not Athen-a) 🙂
Jule says
Great name! Also, Athen or Athens for a boy.
Savannah says
My daughter’s name is Athen after my love of Greco history! If we ever had a boy we were going to name him Rhodes!
Sandra Trinidad says
Siena for Girl
Rome for Boy
Michelle Hill says
Or Romeo for boy!
I love the name Siena
Chantelle says
Girls:
Ireland- I knew a little girl named Ireland in elementary, and it really suited her bubbly personality!
Sofia- capital of Bulgaria
Odessa- city in Ukraine
Clare- county in Ireland
Holland- after the country. Could work for a boy too!
Boys:
Roman- obviously based off of Rome
Brighton- a coastal city in England
Windsor- also in England
Caspian- for the Caspian Sea between Europe and Asia
Devon- from the British Devonshire
Kelly says
LOVE these!! Brighton and Windsor – so great!!
Kayla says
My husband is Dutch and we are thinking if we have another girl one day (we have a Luna) that Holland would be a great option, with Holly as a nickname 🙂
Megan Liljenquist says
My daughter is named Holland and we love her name, and still get people telling us what a good choice it was for her. We also call her Dutch as a nickname, which is pretty dang cute too I think!
Katie says
Do you ever find out if they used any of your name suggestions? Love this series!
Caitlin says
another great list of names 🙂
I know a young girl named Brighton (city in England) that I think is just darling!
Kelly says
I have never heard of Brighton as a name before and now I LOVE it!
Melissa says
I loved so many of these names!!! Berlin/Berlyn is also cute and could be gender neutral.
I live in Israel and while it’s not technically *European* it’s very Mediterranean and comparable to Greece.
Aviv (inspired by the city Tel Aviv) is a really cute name and popular here, it’s gender neutral (can also do Aviva for a girl) and it means “spring” (the season) in Hebrew 🙂
Kelly says
Love Aviva!! What a beautiful name (and meaning)!!
Alice Robinson says
Ah I was born and live in Bristol, UK! Got a shout out haha! I’ve never thought of it as a name but it’s kinda cool! Love the names Roma, Sienna, Wells & Roman!
Maggie says
This is not a Western European name, but I love Talinn (Capital of Estonia) as a potential boys name
Kelly says
Oooh what a great name!!
India says
What about Scottish Islands for inspiration. For boys – Arran, Harris or Lewis. For girls – Skye, Vaila, Iona, Isla (after Islay)
Kelly says
Wow!! These are so great!!!
Lauren L Johansson says
My middle name is Liverpool! Named after the city my parents met in. It was supposed to be my first name, but my grandma got wind of it and paid my parents $50 to make it my middle name. I LOVE it. I’m planning on naming a daughter Liverpool Catalina.
Elphy says
Adore the idea of names after cities and landmarks!! These have always been some of my favorites:
Olympia – from Mt. Olympus in Greece, home of the Greek mythological God’s
Patra – City in Greece
Milan – in Italy
Lyon – in France
Oslo – in Norway
Este says
Ooh Lyon, Oslo, and Milan. all good ones and I know kids of kids with those names. Some others are Geneva, Siena, Belem or Gaia (places in Portugal) for girls, Rome,
Anne says
I wanted to contribute with a city name from my country, Sweden. Turns out there’s no Swedish cities that would work as a name 😂 (at least I couldn’t think of any). But I can suggest Saga, which is the prettiest Swedish name I know and I was not allowed to use it for my daughter as my ex husband hated it. 😬
Heather Busch says
I think Skye (Scotland) is beautiful for a girl and goes well with the sibling names. Love this idea!
GAR says
Kensie & Lucca 😍😍
Mia G says
Valencia! The book I’m currently reading has a character named Valencia and it’s a city in Spain!
Amy says
Venice, Milan, Verona, Novara, Andria, Alessandria, Victòria, Aprilia, and Rho – cities in Italy
Amy says
Galway, Ennis, Kinsale, Killarney – Irish cities
Kerry says
Kerry! As in County Kerry in Ireland. Bonus: it’s gender neutral and works for boys or girls. Also I’m completely biased as it’s my name 😉 it’s unique (there are often Carries but that’s a whole different name), easy to say, and pairs well with tons of middle names or as part of a hyphenate first name. I’d also look at castles in Europe as name inspo.
Danielle says
Congratulations!! I think the name Milana for a girl is lovely! (after Milan, Italy)
Bibi says
Oh, a lovely twist. I am from Berlin, Germany and never thought of Citys or landscapes as names.
Options that popped in my head:
Spain: Bilbao, Sebastian (San Sebastian, Spain), Valencia, Lèon, Salamanca, Marabella (even thought it’s pronounced different), Lona (Barcelona)
Portugal: Lisbon, Maia, Lourosa, Mirandela, Moura, Santana
France: Marseille, Montpellier, Lille, Rennes, Etienne, Dijon, Orleans, Nancy (again even if it is pronounced different), Pau, Rochelle, Calais, Colmar, Belfort, Bastia, Roanne, Vienne, Orly
Netherlands: Tiel, Haag (as in Den Haag), Thorn, Haarlem
Denmark: Hagen (as in Copenhagen), Bramming
Switzerland: Basel, Lausanne, Bern, Lugano, Biel, Davos, Lucerne, Sion, Montreaux
Austria: Linz, Enns
Greece: Larissa, Arta, Kos, Florina, Edessa, Alexandreia
Italy: Palermo, Genoa, Verona, Venice, Bari, Trieste, Ravenna, Salerno, Marsala, Lucca, Savona, Vittoria
Malta: Valetta
Germany: Jena, Kiel, Bonn
Wales (as in the country)
Jina MacKay says
I like Salerno!
Wil says
My grandfather’s name was Roman. Always thought it was such a powerful name!
Jessica says
Thank you to everyone for their suggestions! People have submitted lots of names we hadn’t thought of!
Kelly-Jeanne Lee says
My daughter is named Geneva because it was my great-grandmother’s name. I love how uncommon it is but still fairly conventional, plus a family name to boot. Issue: people often call her Genevieve (pretty, but not her name). Bonus: lots of nickname options, although I like to say the whole thing. When she first started talking, she called herself “Fa” because she couldn’t say her whole name and that has kind of stuck.
Heidi says
Florence (Italy), Anton (St Anton, Austria), Lyon (France), Genoa (Italy), Milan (Italy), Skye (Scotland),
Alex says
Praha! The Czech name of Prague.
Laura McMurtrey says
Stirling or Devon if it’s a boy. Edin or Holland if it’s a girl.
Livvie says
Madeira
Ana says
We love Zadar in Croatia and the old town name is Zara, a lovely name for a girl.
Erin Violet Taylor says
sydney would be great!
Erin Violet Taylor says
although i guess it’s not european lol
Aleecia says
Thought I’d go this route as well after living several years in Europe and traveling a bit. Here were my top two choices.
For a girl Aviano (or Aviana) (beautiful small Town in Italy)
Dresden for a boy (city in Germany)
Alina Colt says
Hey! I was looking names up because my best friends’s parents are having a fifth child and they’ve names each of their kidsafter a european city. My sibling’s names are Roma (girl), Milan (boy), Dublin (boy) and Vienna (my best friend/girl). Their dog’s names are Oslo and Corfu. Two they’re seriously considering are Athens and Paris. Just leaving some suggestions in case they help anyone. I really like Milan and Vienna. I also like Roma but it’s not as original, I’ve heard it more than the others.
Alina Colt says
They ended up choosing Valencia as it turned out to be a girl but if any of you want any more ideas lmk because we have a whole list lmao hahah
Desiree Rossi says
Do you happen to still have the list? I am interested!!
Maddison says
My childrens names are Vienna Lincoln and Havana x
Swan says
Not sure when this was first posted, but this ‘unborn child’ might be 3 years old by now? Can we get an update on the name that was actually chosen? Love all the suggestions.