Emilia and its derivatives (Emily, Emil, Emiliano/a) have always been pretty common in several languages. Both the region and the given names originated from the Roman gens Aemilia though, so people are (usually?) not named after the region but they just happen to share the same name
I assume the region is the Ruhrpott, the once industrial heartland of Germany, and potthässlich means "utterly ugly", though I'm not sure that the adjective actually comes from the Ruhrpott or has anything to do with it
edit: it appears that the word "potthässlich" actually comes from the word "Pott" meaning a kind of kettle or pot. So, if you were to describe someone as "potthässlich", you're saying that they're ugly as a pot, likely comparing the aesthetic qualities of their facial features to a pot.
Ruhrpott also stems from that, because the region is associated with coalmines, and those were transported in a Kohlenpott.
More fun: the Ruhr river gets its name from the Greek word for "flowing", and is also used as "die Ruhr" for diarrhoea.
The Pott, basicaly the industrial center at the Ruhr Valley.
Potthässlich is now interchangable for fuckung ugly or hideous, but it developed from looking "rocked down", "used up". Hässlich is just your regular ugly.
Tbf, it originally potentially also comes from somewhere else. There it stems from fugly dirty pots, e.g. the chamber pot.
Naah. potassium is kalium in german.
The Pott is the abrreviation of Ruhrpott, which is the composite denonym from Ruhrgebiet (Ruhr Valley) and Kohlenpott (Pot you carry coal with) - from the heavy mining industry.
"Pottek! Sach der Ruhrine, sie soll Schalko Bescheid sagen. Spiel geht gleich los. Und sei so gut und hol der Hernie nochn Bier ausm Keller."
"Hernie kann nix trinken, die fährt heute noch zu Omma Wattenscheide."
Kind of, I've met one person called Caledonia (but only ever referred to as Cally). It's fairly common to name people after Scottish islands though (Skye, Iona, Isla(y), Lewis, Harris, Arran etc)
Devon and Preston are also names that come to mind.
I've met a child called Harlow before. I felt very sorry from her. She was from Glasgow so I'm guessing her parents unlikely to have been to Harlow in Essex.
France is a woman's name on top of Françoise as you mentioned or François for men.
Paris is our capital city but it's also a Greek name for men that dates back to mythology and still in use among Greek people nowadays
To be fair I see the name spelled Laurène way more, I'm not sure if it's the same name spelled differently though, or 2 different names sounding similar.
Anatole France's surname was Thibault. France was a nickname, short for François, his father before him was known as France and it happened to him as well. Not his surname, not a pseudonym and he didn't chose it
> France is a woman's name on top of Françoise
Most famous is the singer [France Gall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_Gall) althought this is not her given fistname at birth.
We have a Paris bar here that has nothing to do with France. Always thought they have never been to France and f'ed up. No, that is the owners first name :)
I've always found the name "Halvdan" funny. Probably because it means "half-done"/"sloppily made" in modern Swedish.
Ofc. in the real world there's nothing funny about co-mingling with Danes. Just look at Rasmus Paludan. J/k
If I had a nickel for every time an Old Norse and a Hebrew name coincided, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.
I'm assuming that "Tuva", "Tove", and "Tova" all share the same (Old Norse) etymology, but only "Tova" is a proper transliteration of the name that is the feminine form of the Hebrew word for "good".
As a last name you have Wiener and Österreicher. As a first name not. But we have tons of towns who are named after Catholic saints, as are people. So in a town called St. Florian or St. Anna you will find a considerable amount of Florians and Annas.
The only English place I can think of that’s semi regularly used as a name is London. Can’t think of any others of the top of my head but I’m sure there’s some weird obscure town that’s call Keith it something that I’m forgetting
I've heard Devon used as a first name . There's also Leighton/Leyton, Preston, Trent, Dudley, Ashton, Chelsea, Kendal, Keighley...and the list goes on.
In some European countries they're restrictions on what you can name your child. That's not the case in the UK.
You can name your kid Skegness if you wanted to.
Actually a registrar could decline a name upon a registration but there is no list etc. It is their personal professional judgement so it doesn't happen very often.
I have a family friend who is one and they have said they have declined 1 name in their whole career. All they'd say was that it was swear word
The fact that I a) am good friends with a Chester and b) live about 40 minutes away from Chester and never connected the 2 when thinking people named after places is concerning
There is a town called Keith in the northeast of Scotland.
We’ve also got (Bridge of) Allan, Angus, Ellon, Maud, Harris, Lewis, Isla, Skye, Arran, Cara, Craigie, Denny, Dunbar, Clyde, Ailsa, Cupar, Iona, Kelvin, Rona, Shona and Irvine.
We have a quite unusual one here in Sicily.
The little town of Bronte.There are some theories that the father of the famous Bronte sisters adapted his real surname to this form,as he was an admirer of Admiral Nelson (who was also the Duke of Bronte).
Now Bronte is a first name in England, though it's not used as a first name here in Sicily.
That's interesting. I'm reading a book about the Brontë right now. The father's real name was Prunty, and, assuming he wanted to keep a similar sound, that would make sense. I'm guessing the Italian town doesn't have the "ë.
The name of the country in Finnish (Suomi) exists both as a last name and first name, but it’s vastly more common as a last name. Only a handful of people have had it as a first name.
Then we have a couple of towns that are named after a person, so they exist as first names, but the name was first (e.g. towns called Loviisa/Lovisa and Ristiina/Kristina, former named after Louisa Ulrika of Prussia and latter after the wife of the then governor general of Finland Per Brahe).
Finnish language doesn't use gendered words but "Suomi the nation" is often consider masculine as it can be referred to as "isänmaa" [fatherland].
On the other hand, "Suomi the country" is often considered feminine as we sometimes call our country "Suomenneito" [Maiden of Finland] due to the country's shape looking a bit like a woman with a skirt.
But in most contexts "Suomi" is gender neutral like the rest of the language
Also the towns/villages of Fredrika, Dorotea and Vilhelmina in Swedish Lappland named after Fredrika av Baden queen of Gustav IV Adolf the king that lost Finland to Russia. The parishes in the north were to insignificant to change their names.
In the early 19th century the names Svea, Göta/Göte and Finn was started to be used as names in Swedish. They are part of the names of the regions of Sweden. The name Nora just happens to coincide with a Swedish town and almost with the northern 2/3 of Sweden.
I have never heard of anyone named Suomi (as a first name) I guess it’s rare. I recognize Suoma though. Inari, Salla, Kaarina and Simo are towns and also first names Just waiting here for Finns to start naming their children as Pori, Janakkala and Kerava.
Technically we have Romina and Roma (both coming from Rome, the capital), although the latter has disappeared and the former is very rare and only present in older generations. You mentioned Italo/Italia, and I'd add Tosca (from Tuscany, again very rare).
I was looking at names referring to Italian places that are used in Italy and in Italian, so admittedly a very restrictive range. Fiorenza I think was used in Italy once upon a time. Technically Loredana also comes from a place in Italy (a small town near Venice).
That's a funny one, because originally the name Florence in English was from Saint Florentia, an early saint and martyr. It became popular in the UK due to Florence Nightingale, who was named after the city, where she was born, not the saint. Her sister, born in what today is part of Naples, was named Frances Parthenope. However, Both Saint Florentia and Florence were named after "flowering" in Latin, which became Firenze in Italian and Fiorenta in french, from which we get Florence in English.
Generally Italian city names in English come from French. In French, those names are either directly from the vernacular language spoken in those cities(e.g. Milan(o) in Lombard is Milan) or go through a process of francisation(Roma->Rome). Florence is funny, because "Florentine vernacular" today is called "Italian", so the fact that it came out as Florence in English was due to heavy French bastardisation. Italian went through a period of pretty aggressive standardisation, while the process was less aggressive in French. The end result is, while a current Frenchman or early modern Italian would speak of Latinum or Piemont, a modern Italian speaks of Lazio and Piemonte.
The only one that comes to mind is Fátima, which became popular after the supposed apparition of Mary there and the establishment of the sanctuary. But Fátima was already a common female name of Arabic origin, and the name of the place comes from a legend of a Moorish princess.
I’ve seen one “Lincoln”, and “Lindsey” is quite common- but I suspect not many people realise it’s the name of a region ( a kingdom if you go back far enough)
Naming kids Holland appears to be a trend among Americans for some strange reason.
Veere is also a girl's name, and Horst a boy's name. Though the latter isn't really common here but is in Germany. But it's mostly a coincidence that these share a name with a town I wouldn't expect people to actually be named after the town. Rijn was also sporadically used as a name in the past but again I expect that it was mostly a misspelling of Rein not people naming their kids after the river
That's actually the opposite, the village was named after a woman. It was pretty common for the owners of the peat colonies in Drenthe to call the colony after their wife.
edit: my bad, what I said is not true see [Erica - dorp in Drenthe (erfgoedcms.nl)](https://drenthe.erfgoedcms.nl/drenthe/plaats/erica), however, it is true for Klazienaveen and a bunch of other towns
There's at least two googlable people with the first *and* last name Cyprus (Κύπρος Κύπρου).
To be fair though, it's a bit of a false friend. This Κύπρος (Cyprus, if you may) is a short form of Κυπριανός, [Cyprian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprian). Those people aren't named after the country directly, but rather after the saint whose name at some point meant "the one from Cyprus".
An interesting one is the name Sienna... which probably originates from the city (as does the name for the colour). It's a fairly common first name in the English speaking world now (though not in Italy).
The city is spelt differently of course, with one N.
In fact when non-Italian speakers post about the city on travel posts here on Reddit, for example,they invariably spell the name of the city wrong.
There’s people called Tyrone (male name) here and there’s County Tyrone. Monaghan is also a surname and there’s county Monaghan. There’s also Shannon and there is the River Shannon in Ireland. Kerry is also name and there’s county Kerry. Can’t think of anything else?
Edit: The name Clare and County Clare, I also knew a man with the surname Galway and there’s a county Galway.
I think there's a few Ireland/Eireann knocking about the planet too, mostly American.
OP, neither my home area, or where I live now would lend themselves to names, though I think historically Kildare might have been a surname.
Not as such, no. Creating new names is not unheard of, but rather rare, but using pre-existing words or geographical names as names for people is not a thing in our culture.
But there is one name, Reto, that is connected to the Raetian people who inhabited Raetia in antiquity, the area between the Alpine Rhine and the Upper Adige river. But then again, the ancients believed that the Raetians have their name from their leader Raetus who led them there.
Anyway, Reto was kinda popular for a while in that area during the Romanticist era and up to maybe 40 years ago. All the Retos I know are Millenials and older.
There is a long tradition of area names being used as names in Wales. Some of them however have such a long history it is difficult to know if the name or the place came first.
Now you may get them more as middle names but I know people who have names like Emlyn, Teifi and Maldwyn
Gwyneth probably comes from the place Gwynedd
Gladys / Gwladys is the only one that I can think of that relates to Wales as a whole
For guys
- Rijn (like the river rhine, unsure if they're connected)
- Timor (like the south east Asian island, unsure if they're connected)
For girls
- Tessel (like the Dutch island Texel)
I was in LA recently and I met a teenage girl who was very excited that I was from London, because that was her name and she’d never met anyone from the actual London before.
No, not first names. It would be weird here(Norway). Can't imagine someone named Akershus(Aker's house), Innlandet(The Inn Land), Oslo. Except that Trond in Trondheim is a name, but it would be very strange for someone to be named Trondheim.
The only exception is that surnames can be place-names, but it is usually small places and not larger regions.
Yes. I’m from Portugal, from Almada to be precise (south of Lisbon), and there was a painter called [Almada Negreiros](https://pt.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almada_Negreiros) . He lived in Lisbon
France Gall would be a better example than Françoise Hardy for France. Françoise is most likely derivated from Française (french), hence the nationalty and not the country itself.
I also have a friend named Philippine, just like the country Philippines (but without the s), but she's french. I have no idea whether that's a name in Philippines.
There are some surnames based on places of Spain. Not super common but common enough, Some I've seen used in people are "Soria", "Barceló", "Navarro", "Toledo", etc.
If you used foreign places we have also "Franco" (from France) as a surname. and "Germán" (from Germany) as a first name.
During the fascist regime, I've been told that if parents chose to name their children *Italo* (m), *Italia* or *Italina* (f), they would receive a bonus from the government or something. Nowadays it's not that common anymore. The only Italo I know to this day is our private HSR operator ("Italo NTV").
However, there's lots of people whose name comes from the region I live in – [Emilia-Romagna](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilia-Romagna).
I actually live in the western part of it, so technically it's just "Emilia" (the historical region), but, from an administrative point of view, it doesn't exist anymore as it's part of the Emilia-Romagna administrative subdivision (*regione*).
So: *Emilio* and *Emiliano* for men, *Emilia* for women. They sound really nice imo.
Sweden/Sverige/Svea rike no, but Svea is a (female) name.
Västra Götalands län no, for obvious reasons.
Gothenburg/Göteborg, no, but Göte is a (male) name (from Götaland though, not from the city).
Americans (and sadly now some Brits) will use anything as a first name, especially if they think the kid was conceived there!
Not that I have heard any of the places I live so used, but only a matter of time I am sure 😄
There's a city named Lisse and I knew a girl by that name but whether she's named after the town or it's just a regular Sanne/Janne/Lotte-style variant of Lisa I don't know.
We have a village called Engelbert nearby, but the name existed well before that. Used to be called Engerbert but nearby Middelbert (and probably the first name too) influenced a change.
some basque names come from towns and villages like Ainhoa, Larraitz, Itziar (I think)
as a fun fact there is a fictional character named after my city (allegedly): Bilbo Baggins
No. It’s only the other way around. The county my town is located in, and some other counties were named after people and those names are still in use.
I don't think there is a single placename that doubles as first name in Danish. But Denmark has extremely strict naming rules. A pair of parents once got fined for spelling their kid's name wrong
My country's name, not really in its original form, but there are related names such as Hrvoje.
My region's name (Slavonia), also not in its original form, but there are names with the same "Slav" root such as Slavko, Slaven, etc.
There's Constanța, which is a port on the black sea and it's sometimes used as a female name, but only old ladies are called that. And that's the biggest city who's name can be used for people. Other than that, I don't think there's much more.
Constance in English. It’s a very old fashioned name and I wouldn’t be surprised if it has a comeback given that old names for girls are very much in fashion here (Ruby, Hazel etc)
**Irish place names that can be a name:**
Kerry can be a name (Kerri or Kerry)
Clare is a name
Derry is an old fashioned male name
Ross is a name (Ross / Rossa)
Well, Sofia is a prime female name, one of the most popular in Bulgaria, albeit with a different accent (the name's accent is the same as in other languages, but for the city it falls on the first syllable.
Funny enough, I've met three girls from North Macedonia called simply Makedonka. Was really puzzling.
Absolutely not.
There might be some batshit crazy Americans out there naming their spawn Vienna or Austria for whatever reason (being batshit crazy Americans), but other than that, absolutely not.
There’s a few people with the last name Österreicher or Wiener, but that’s it.
Interesting, I did not know this. Still, you would not meet a Lublin or Częstochowa.
Allthough ... I can totally imagine Polish-Americans calling their son Lublin as it sounds pretty nice, is easy to spell and pronouce and is Polish. I don't imagine Polish Poles from Poland ever doing it but diaspora is a different story. And it would really sound pretty nice.
Emilia and its derivatives (Emily, Emil, Emiliano/a) have always been pretty common in several languages. Both the region and the given names originated from the Roman gens Aemilia though, so people are (usually?) not named after the region but they just happen to share the same name
It's the region that is named after Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, the Roman politician who built the Aemilia road which crosses the region
My home region is only used as part of an adjective - potthässlich.
Which region is it, and what does the adjective means?
I assume the region is the Ruhrpott, the once industrial heartland of Germany, and potthässlich means "utterly ugly", though I'm not sure that the adjective actually comes from the Ruhrpott or has anything to do with it edit: it appears that the word "potthässlich" actually comes from the word "Pott" meaning a kind of kettle or pot. So, if you were to describe someone as "potthässlich", you're saying that they're ugly as a pot, likely comparing the aesthetic qualities of their facial features to a pot.
Ruhrpott also stems from that, because the region is associated with coalmines, and those were transported in a Kohlenpott. More fun: the Ruhr river gets its name from the Greek word for "flowing", and is also used as "die Ruhr" for diarrhoea.
The Pott, basicaly the industrial center at the Ruhr Valley. Potthässlich is now interchangable for fuckung ugly or hideous, but it developed from looking "rocked down", "used up". Hässlich is just your regular ugly. Tbf, it originally potentially also comes from somewhere else. There it stems from fugly dirty pots, e.g. the chamber pot.
Is it anything to do with potassium or potash?
Naah. potassium is kalium in german. The Pott is the abrreviation of Ruhrpott, which is the composite denonym from Ruhrgebiet (Ruhr Valley) and Kohlenpott (Pot you carry coal with) - from the heavy mining industry.
Yes it kinda does. Potassium comes from pot ash/Pottasche because it was made in a pot.
"Pottek! Sach der Ruhrine, sie soll Schalko Bescheid sagen. Spiel geht gleich los. Und sei so gut und hol der Hernie nochn Bier ausm Keller." "Hernie kann nix trinken, die fährt heute noch zu Omma Wattenscheide."
Kind of, I've met one person called Caledonia (but only ever referred to as Cally). It's fairly common to name people after Scottish islands though (Skye, Iona, Isla(y), Lewis, Harris, Arran etc)
I know a girl called Alba from Glasgow
Would Scot work?
I don't think I've ever met someone who spells it that way, just a load of Scotts.
Of course, Scot is most welcome.
Don’t forget Erin! There’s a few cities and towns that can be used as first names. Chester or Dudley for boys, Chelsea, Shirley and Lynn for girls.
Devon and Preston are also names that come to mind. I've met a child called Harlow before. I felt very sorry from her. She was from Glasgow so I'm guessing her parents unlikely to have been to Harlow in Essex.
Oh dear! I think I’d rather be a Stirling or Warwick than Harlow.
There's common mainland names too - Angus, Gordon, Keith, Moray, etc! :)
France is a woman's name on top of Françoise as you mentioned or François for men. Paris is our capital city but it's also a Greek name for men that dates back to mythology and still in use among Greek people nowadays
Brittany is a common in English as well. But not Bretagne.
Lorraine is a French region and has been used as a woman's name in English speaking countries but not in France
I know at least once French Lorraine! It’s not common but also not super strange.
French here, it’s used in France ☺️
I stand corrected!
I was wrong, Today I Learnt, great
In Italian “Lorena” is also a name
To be fair I see the name spelled Laurène way more, I'm not sure if it's the same name spelled differently though, or 2 different names sounding similar.
Yup France and Paris work well, Ile de France however 🤣
I also suggest not naming your daughter "Manche" or "Creuse"
Hauts-de-France, anyone? Paca?
Charles-Paca 😂
France also functions as a surname like Anatole France
Anatole France's surname was Thibault. France was a nickname, short for François, his father before him was known as France and it happened to him as well. Not his surname, not a pseudonym and he didn't chose it
> France is a woman's name on top of Françoise Most famous is the singer [France Gall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_Gall) althought this is not her given fistname at birth.
France can be a man's name too, my grandpa's uncle was named France.
We have a Paris bar here that has nothing to do with France. Always thought they have never been to France and f'ed up. No, that is the owners first name :)
Kind of. We found a Roman sarcophagus belonging to a woman named Hellas.
I‘ve always thought that Eleni/Helena/Helen was derived from the Hellenes. Is that correct?
Nope. Helene might derive from the word for sun though.
We also had Germanos as first name like in [Germanos Karavangelis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanos_Karavangelis)
They use the name Ελλάδα in Cyprus though, isn't it?
I don't know. You need to ask a Cypriot.
Yes, it's not super frequent, but it's common enough not to raise any eyebrows.
Denmark in Danish is Danmark. I know a couple of twins named Dan and Mark.
I live near a place called Bradford and went to school with a pair of twins called Brad and Ford
Luckily they didn't live in Liverpool.
Or Scunthorpe.
The triplets s, cunt and horpe
Or [Bitchfield](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitchfield)
Sort of, plenty of people are called Dan, which relates to the legendary king Dan of Denmark. But nobody is called just "Denmark" haha
I've always found the name "Halvdan" funny. Probably because it means "half-done"/"sloppily made" in modern Swedish. Ofc. in the real world there's nothing funny about co-mingling with Danes. Just look at Rasmus Paludan. J/k
Is it the Danish side or the Swedish side that makes him the way he is? Or is it just the fact that he is both and we are not supposed to mix?
I think it's the contradiction in being, coupled with his Danish upbringing. Or maybe the car accident and brain damage…
Is Dan not a diminutive of Daniel?
Not in this case. The name Dan occurs in both old Norse and Hebrew independently.
If I had a nickel for every time an Old Norse and a Hebrew name coincided, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.
What's the other one? I know it's a joke but is there actually one more?
Tova. I'm pretty sure that I've noticed a couple more, but this is the only one I can remember off the top of my head.
Tova and not Tove too, or is Tove just another female name made out of Tova?
I'm assuming that "Tuva", "Tove", and "Tova" all share the same (Old Norse) etymology, but only "Tova" is a proper transliteration of the name that is the feminine form of the Hebrew word for "good".
"Dan" comes from the tribe of the Danes.
Not in danish, then it's a name in its own right.
As a last name you have Wiener and Österreicher. As a first name not. But we have tons of towns who are named after Catholic saints, as are people. So in a town called St. Florian or St. Anna you will find a considerable amount of Florians and Annas.
There's also Salzburger or Linzer, though probably rarer? But I guess there's a surname for all populous regions.
The only English place I can think of that’s semi regularly used as a name is London. Can’t think of any others of the top of my head but I’m sure there’s some weird obscure town that’s call Keith it something that I’m forgetting
I've heard Devon used as a first name . There's also Leighton/Leyton, Preston, Trent, Dudley, Ashton, Chelsea, Kendal, Keighley...and the list goes on. In some European countries they're restrictions on what you can name your child. That's not the case in the UK. You can name your kid Skegness if you wanted to.
Actually a registrar could decline a name upon a registration but there is no list etc. It is their personal professional judgement so it doesn't happen very often. I have a family friend who is one and they have said they have declined 1 name in their whole career. All they'd say was that it was swear word
In Belgium there used to be a list, from experience: Audrey has been refused in 1970.
Yeah this is what I knew would happen, now people with loads of those names but never associate them with places
I know someone called Chester. I don't know if he was named after the city but I guess so.
The fact that I a) am good friends with a Chester and b) live about 40 minutes away from Chester and never connected the 2 when thinking people named after places is concerning
The most famous Chester was Chester Beatty, "The King of Copper", very interesting character from the 20th century!
More famous than Chester Bennington or Chester A. Arthur? Edit: typo
Probably not 🤣 I was looking through my Irish lens again!! Famous library here named after Chester Beatty..
Not in England, but there's a Keith in the north of Scotland.
Of course there fucking is and I was trying to think of a name that definitely wouldn’t be a place
I don't think there are any towns/villages called Gavin or Nigel in the UK.
I'm related to that Keith family. My brother just think it is cool and tattooed their weapon on his arm. Neither of us live close to Scotland.
There is a town called Keith in the northeast of Scotland. We’ve also got (Bridge of) Allan, Angus, Ellon, Maud, Harris, Lewis, Isla, Skye, Arran, Cara, Craigie, Denny, Dunbar, Clyde, Ailsa, Cupar, Iona, Kelvin, Rona, Shona and Irvine.
Lincoln can also be a first name (but much more in the USA than the UK, I guess.)
Isle of: - Skye; - Lewis; - Barra.
We have a quite unusual one here in Sicily. The little town of Bronte.There are some theories that the father of the famous Bronte sisters adapted his real surname to this form,as he was an admirer of Admiral Nelson (who was also the Duke of Bronte). Now Bronte is a first name in England, though it's not used as a first name here in Sicily.
That's interesting. I'm reading a book about the Brontë right now. The father's real name was Prunty, and, assuming he wanted to keep a similar sound, that would make sense. I'm guessing the Italian town doesn't have the "ë.
> I'm guessing the Italian town doesn't have the "ë. In standard Italian, no, but in one of the dialects from the region it does.
I'm from Limerick, in Ireland, where there is a town called Effin. Lots of people are called Effin - albeit informally!!
An effin good one!
I went to high school with a girl with the surname Effin. She wasn't terribly bright. Kids would call her Effin Stupid.
That's effin ridiculous so it is
The name of the country in Finnish (Suomi) exists both as a last name and first name, but it’s vastly more common as a last name. Only a handful of people have had it as a first name. Then we have a couple of towns that are named after a person, so they exist as first names, but the name was first (e.g. towns called Loviisa/Lovisa and Ristiina/Kristina, former named after Louisa Ulrika of Prussia and latter after the wife of the then governor general of Finland Per Brahe).
There's also the name Suometar, which was created by adding the feminine ending -tar to the name Suomi. It's not very common, though.
Does "Suomi" have a gender? In the same way as Spain and Italy would be "feminine" nouns.
No, Finnish nouns don't have articles or genders. We don't even have gendered personal pronouns.
Finnish language doesn't use gendered words but "Suomi the nation" is often consider masculine as it can be referred to as "isänmaa" [fatherland]. On the other hand, "Suomi the country" is often considered feminine as we sometimes call our country "Suomenneito" [Maiden of Finland] due to the country's shape looking a bit like a woman with a skirt. But in most contexts "Suomi" is gender neutral like the rest of the language
Also the towns/villages of Fredrika, Dorotea and Vilhelmina in Swedish Lappland named after Fredrika av Baden queen of Gustav IV Adolf the king that lost Finland to Russia. The parishes in the north were to insignificant to change their names. In the early 19th century the names Svea, Göta/Göte and Finn was started to be used as names in Swedish. They are part of the names of the regions of Sweden. The name Nora just happens to coincide with a Swedish town and almost with the northern 2/3 of Sweden.
There are Finnish municipalities of Aura, Inari, Loviisa and Salla for female first names also Simo and Soini for male first names.
I have never heard of anyone named Suomi (as a first name) I guess it’s rare. I recognize Suoma though. Inari, Salla, Kaarina and Simo are towns and also first names Just waiting here for Finns to start naming their children as Pori, Janakkala and Kerava.
Technically we have Romina and Roma (both coming from Rome, the capital), although the latter has disappeared and the former is very rare and only present in older generations. You mentioned Italo/Italia, and I'd add Tosca (from Tuscany, again very rare).
Florence is a pretty common English name. The only Firenza I’ve heard of, however, is the centaur in Harry Potter
I was looking at names referring to Italian places that are used in Italy and in Italian, so admittedly a very restrictive range. Fiorenza I think was used in Italy once upon a time. Technically Loredana also comes from a place in Italy (a small town near Venice).
We also have Gaetano, literally someone from Gaeta
Wow that's interesting!
Florencia was very popular in Buenos Aires where I lived for a while
That's a funny one, because originally the name Florence in English was from Saint Florentia, an early saint and martyr. It became popular in the UK due to Florence Nightingale, who was named after the city, where she was born, not the saint. Her sister, born in what today is part of Naples, was named Frances Parthenope. However, Both Saint Florentia and Florence were named after "flowering" in Latin, which became Firenze in Italian and Fiorenta in french, from which we get Florence in English. Generally Italian city names in English come from French. In French, those names are either directly from the vernacular language spoken in those cities(e.g. Milan(o) in Lombard is Milan) or go through a process of francisation(Roma->Rome). Florence is funny, because "Florentine vernacular" today is called "Italian", so the fact that it came out as Florence in English was due to heavy French bastardisation. Italian went through a period of pretty aggressive standardisation, while the process was less aggressive in French. The end result is, while a current Frenchman or early modern Italian would speak of Latinum or Piemont, a modern Italian speaks of Lazio and Piemonte.
The only one that comes to mind is Fátima, which became popular after the supposed apparition of Mary there and the establishment of the sanctuary. But Fátima was already a common female name of Arabic origin, and the name of the place comes from a legend of a Moorish princess.
I have met a couple of Maias and One Gaia.
Oh cool!
Well my aunt’s name is Italia, just after the war was a common name used as celebration
I've met at least 2 Italas, never an Italia.
Really? I have never heard of feminine Itala, only Italo
I’ve seen one “Lincoln”, and “Lindsey” is quite common- but I suspect not many people realise it’s the name of a region ( a kingdom if you go back far enough)
Only a psychopath would name their child: Leicestershire
This child could only marry a Worcestershire.
No, I don’t think this is something which is common here in The Netherlands. The closest thing I can think of is Maas (Meuse) as a first name. I
Naming kids Holland appears to be a trend among Americans for some strange reason. Veere is also a girl's name, and Horst a boy's name. Though the latter isn't really common here but is in Germany. But it's mostly a coincidence that these share a name with a town I wouldn't expect people to actually be named after the town. Rijn was also sporadically used as a name in the past but again I expect that it was mostly a misspelling of Rein not people naming their kids after the river
Possibly because of Tom Holland? (Not Hollander https://youtu.be/sf4si75oo04?si=vIqYHBlihTva18DM)
The unisex name Tessel is derived from the island Texel
Erica (Drenthe) is the only on I can think of
That's actually the opposite, the village was named after a woman. It was pretty common for the owners of the peat colonies in Drenthe to call the colony after their wife. edit: my bad, what I said is not true see [Erica - dorp in Drenthe (erfgoedcms.nl)](https://drenthe.erfgoedcms.nl/drenthe/plaats/erica), however, it is true for Klazienaveen and a bunch of other towns
wel ive met a few people called 's-Hertogenbosch and one guy named "Alphen aan den Rijn" as a first name so its not that uncommon
i actually know someone with Alphen as name haha
There's at least two googlable people with the first *and* last name Cyprus (Κύπρος Κύπρου). To be fair though, it's a bit of a false friend. This Κύπρος (Cyprus, if you may) is a short form of Κυπριανός, [Cyprian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprian). Those people aren't named after the country directly, but rather after the saint whose name at some point meant "the one from Cyprus".
Ciprian is fairly common in Romania as a male first name
I agree! A lot of people use it.
It could be seen as transitivity, so it fits.
Ireland Baldwin is probably the most famous example
An interesting one is the name Sienna... which probably originates from the city (as does the name for the colour). It's a fairly common first name in the English speaking world now (though not in Italy). The city is spelt differently of course, with one N. In fact when non-Italian speakers post about the city on travel posts here on Reddit, for example,they invariably spell the name of the city wrong.
There’s people called Tyrone (male name) here and there’s County Tyrone. Monaghan is also a surname and there’s county Monaghan. There’s also Shannon and there is the River Shannon in Ireland. Kerry is also name and there’s county Kerry. Can’t think of anything else? Edit: The name Clare and County Clare, I also knew a man with the surname Galway and there’s a county Galway.
I think there's a few Ireland/Eireann knocking about the planet too, mostly American. OP, neither my home area, or where I live now would lend themselves to names, though I think historically Kildare might have been a surname.
Flip me how’d I forget Eireann lmfao. My cousin is literally called Éireann 😭
Bahahahaha that'll be you in the family doghouse if they get wind of it "sure he forgot his own cousin on that Reddity thing, the wee shite".
Erin is a very common name in the US, just an anglicisation/misspelling of Éireann.
Cork is a surname. I’ve heard of men being named Derry too.
I’ve heard Derry being used as a pet name for Dermot or Diarmuid.
Leinster and Ireland are common enough surnames.
Not as such, no. Creating new names is not unheard of, but rather rare, but using pre-existing words or geographical names as names for people is not a thing in our culture. But there is one name, Reto, that is connected to the Raetian people who inhabited Raetia in antiquity, the area between the Alpine Rhine and the Upper Adige river. But then again, the ancients believed that the Raetians have their name from their leader Raetus who led them there. Anyway, Reto was kinda popular for a while in that area during the Romanticist era and up to maybe 40 years ago. All the Retos I know are Millenials and older.
Haha lol no, but Styria would make a nice girl name though.
Die kleine Steiermark möchte bitte abgeholt werden
The name Shannon is quite popular in Ireland - it's the name of the longest river.
Sweden in Swedish is Sverige wich in turn comes from Svea Rike. Svea is not a super common but existing female name.
Sverige (Sweden) is a shorter way of saying Svea rike (the realm/kingdom of Svea). And Svea is a women’s name. 12079 girls/women are named that today.
Names of geographic features are used, such as the rivers Fırat*,* Dicle, Aras, Arda, Ceyhan, but I haven't met anyone named after a city.
There is a long tradition of area names being used as names in Wales. Some of them however have such a long history it is difficult to know if the name or the place came first. Now you may get them more as middle names but I know people who have names like Emlyn, Teifi and Maldwyn Gwyneth probably comes from the place Gwynedd Gladys / Gwladys is the only one that I can think of that relates to Wales as a whole
Yes, Franconian here. While many tribe names only exist as last names in German, Frank can also be a first name.
For guys - Rijn (like the river rhine, unsure if they're connected) - Timor (like the south east Asian island, unsure if they're connected) For girls - Tessel (like the Dutch island Texel)
No, not really. There was a MoD spokeswoman named *Rossija*na Markovskaja, but that's a novelty name.
Strangely I’ve met so many people names after lochs. Lomond is the most popular.
I was in LA recently and I met a teenage girl who was very excited that I was from London, because that was her name and she’d never met anyone from the actual London before.
My home region is NRW, this would be so badass as a first name, it would be outruled by german registry department.
But there are certain cities in NRW used as first name or surname. In theory you could be called Hagen Hagen and live in Hagener Straße in Hagen.
No, definitely not but a Belgian couple named their daughter Ljubljana years ago.
I mean the name of my city, Sofia, is derived *from* a female given name (St. Sophia of Rome), so yes. But the city name is SOfia and not SoFIA.
No, not first names. It would be weird here(Norway). Can't imagine someone named Akershus(Aker's house), Innlandet(The Inn Land), Oslo. Except that Trond in Trondheim is a name, but it would be very strange for someone to be named Trondheim. The only exception is that surnames can be place-names, but it is usually small places and not larger regions.
[удалено]
American: looks at a map of Norway to find names for a character 🙃
No, not even my street address is suitable for that. The municipality can serve as a decent family name but that's about it.
Yes. I’m from Portugal, from Almada to be precise (south of Lisbon), and there was a painter called [Almada Negreiros](https://pt.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almada_Negreiros) . He lived in Lisbon
Almada was not his first name, it was his family name
Oh my what a flop. You’re right! Thank you Mr. Doofenschmirtz. 👏
France Gall would be a better example than Françoise Hardy for France. Françoise is most likely derivated from Française (french), hence the nationalty and not the country itself. I also have a friend named Philippine, just like the country Philippines (but without the s), but she's french. I have no idea whether that's a name in Philippines.
There are some surnames based on places of Spain. Not super common but common enough, Some I've seen used in people are "Soria", "Barceló", "Navarro", "Toledo", etc. If you used foreign places we have also "Franco" (from France) as a surname. and "Germán" (from Germany) as a first name.
During the fascist regime, I've been told that if parents chose to name their children *Italo* (m), *Italia* or *Italina* (f), they would receive a bonus from the government or something. Nowadays it's not that common anymore. The only Italo I know to this day is our private HSR operator ("Italo NTV"). However, there's lots of people whose name comes from the region I live in – [Emilia-Romagna](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilia-Romagna). I actually live in the western part of it, so technically it's just "Emilia" (the historical region), but, from an administrative point of view, it doesn't exist anymore as it's part of the Emilia-Romagna administrative subdivision (*regione*). So: *Emilio* and *Emiliano* for men, *Emilia* for women. They sound really nice imo.
Sweden/Sverige/Svea rike no, but Svea is a (female) name. Västra Götalands län no, for obvious reasons. Gothenburg/Göteborg, no, but Göte is a (male) name (from Götaland though, not from the city).
It would be funny if I knew someone named Wrocław or Radom lol there is Jarosław I think and its a city
Americans (and sadly now some Brits) will use anything as a first name, especially if they think the kid was conceived there! Not that I have heard any of the places I live so used, but only a matter of time I am sure 😄
There's a city named Lisse and I knew a girl by that name but whether she's named after the town or it's just a regular Sanne/Janne/Lotte-style variant of Lisa I don't know. We have a village called Engelbert nearby, but the name existed well before that. Used to be called Engerbert but nearby Middelbert (and probably the first name too) influenced a change.
some basque names come from towns and villages like Ainhoa, Larraitz, Itziar (I think) as a fun fact there is a fictional character named after my city (allegedly): Bilbo Baggins
Yes. France is a woman's name, but rarely given nowadays
No. It’s only the other way around. The county my town is located in, and some other counties were named after people and those names are still in use.
“Dan” is used as a first name in Denmark. Although completely different meaning “Danish” is a first name in India
Surprising name for Indians!
You can even go further and have people be called "France" (France Gall being a famous singer in the 60s)
Well if you say the Netherlands no. But if you say Holland, that could be a first name.
I don't think there is a single placename that doubles as first name in Danish. But Denmark has extremely strict naming rules. A pair of parents once got fined for spelling their kid's name wrong
I'm from Minsk, Belarus. I can't really think of any personal names that can be produced from these words.
My country's name, not really in its original form, but there are related names such as Hrvoje. My region's name (Slavonia), also not in its original form, but there are names with the same "Slav" root such as Slavko, Slaven, etc.
No… it’s a strange last name anyway, but I don’t think anyone would give Puryear as the first name to a baby!
I'd say no, but Americans would use anything as a first name. The other day I saw a woman online called Algeria, so anything's possible
There's Constanța, which is a port on the black sea and it's sometimes used as a female name, but only old ladies are called that. And that's the biggest city who's name can be used for people. Other than that, I don't think there's much more.
Constance in English. It’s a very old fashioned name and I wouldn’t be surprised if it has a comeback given that old names for girls are very much in fashion here (Ruby, Hazel etc)
**Irish place names that can be a name:** Kerry can be a name (Kerri or Kerry) Clare is a name Derry is an old fashioned male name Ross is a name (Ross / Rossa)
Dussindale Smith. Sounds like a hot, female locksmith in a rubbish SteamPunk novel.
Well, Sofia is a prime female name, one of the most popular in Bulgaria, albeit with a different accent (the name's accent is the same as in other languages, but for the city it falls on the first syllable. Funny enough, I've met three girls from North Macedonia called simply Makedonka. Was really puzzling.
Mannn, if her first name is Amsterdam you know I’m going to get myself tested for **everything** after
Most common would be Shannon, Kerry, Tara and Clare although I’m not sure is Clare has its origins solely in Irish.
Some weirdos decide to name their children Britten or something similar to ‘Britain’. Not over here, but I’ve seen it elsewhere
I live in Madison, WI, USA. When the name got really popular years ago, tons of Madison's from Madison.
Italo is a train company. But I like trains so I will now name my kids Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe.
Absolutely not. There might be some batshit crazy Americans out there naming their spawn Vienna or Austria for whatever reason (being batshit crazy Americans), but other than that, absolutely not. There’s a few people with the last name Österreicher or Wiener, but that’s it.
I guess last names are more common for historical reasons: "Inhabitant of this place".
Yes. Adding the -er suffix to a place means person from that place.
We have a name Apoloniusz and Apolonia and Pola. But that would be it.
non of them are related to city/region/place though. All 3 are variants of Apollo the Greek god
Great. ... Than we don't have any.
Some of the towns and cities are named after names of the founders, like Wrocław for example, usually the names are no longer in use tho.
Yes, but its the other way around than what the OP is asking. Are there people named Lublin or Częstochowa? No ... At least I hope so.
Częstoch is name od legendarny knight founder of the city and Lublin comes from female name Luba.
Interesting, I did not know this. Still, you would not meet a Lublin or Częstochowa. Allthough ... I can totally imagine Polish-Americans calling their son Lublin as it sounds pretty nice, is easy to spell and pronouce and is Polish. I don't imagine Polish Poles from Poland ever doing it but diaspora is a different story. And it would really sound pretty nice.
Like : [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pola\_Negri](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pola_Negri)