Baby Names Inspired By Places Around The World

Baby Names Inspired By Places Around The World
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AOL
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AOL

An increasing number of UK parents are taking inspiration from place names when it comes to choosing baby names. Using the most recent available data from the Office for National Statistics, we've investigated what place names have been cropping up on birth certificates across the country, and the results are displayed in our fab infographic above.

It turns out there's a whole world beyond geographical name staples like Paris and Brooklyn. How about Nubia, for instance, which was given to three baby girls in 2012? Or perhaps Cairo (49 boys), or Havana (21 girls) can float your exotic boat.

The statistics show that Italy remains a firm favourite when it comes to baby name inspiration - Florence, Siena, Venice, Verona, Milan and Italia all made the list for girls, while 26 boys were given the name Rome.

American place names also seem to be creeping into the naming trends of British parents, with the states of Montana, Indiana, Texas and Dakota all represented, along with US cities like Orlando, Memphis, Dallas, Boston and Atlanta.

Although these names currently represent only a handful of babies, the influence of US culture through movies and TV shows no signs of diminishing, so we can surely expect a few more little Floridas and Dakotas in the future.

And what of names a little closer to home?

Sadly, there seem to be very few Scunthorpes or Truros running around. Aside from the perennially popular unisex name Devon, UK themed baby names seem to be confined to the capital - 20 girls and 13 girls were named London, while 16 lucky lads were landed with the name Camden.

Top place names for girls:

Florence - 1531

India - 395

Sydney - 152

Paris - 108

Brooklyn - 77

Top place names for boys

Rio - 286

Preston - 268

Brooklyn - 152

Devon - 117

Milan - 79