I do wish they'd named Nunavut "Bob"

[sigma7]

This popped into my head while watching election returns from Indiana, specifically Gary, which struck me as an awesome name for a city -- from the US Census Bureau web site:

Is there a trend to name children after cities? Just a few years ago, the name "London" was not in the top 1000 baby names, but in 2007 the rank was 284 (for girls). Similarly, the name "Paris" has become popular. These 2 examples are European cities that have become popular baby names in the United States. But what about U. S. cities?

From the list of United States cities with populations of 100,000 or more (as provided by the U. S. Census Bureau), we have drawn those names that are in the top 1000 names for births in 2007. Can you guess 5 of them?

I think even non-Americans should get at least five: hell, four of them have populations over 1,000,000. There are 20 total, and at least 12 with sizable sub-100,000 populations. Disclaimer: Brooklyn is a borough, not a city, for the purposes of this exercise. But not an awful name, methinks.

Comments

[ravenskye8.livejournal.com]

So then let's go with the following:

Phoenix
Madison
Charlotte
Dallas
Orlando

[jenny0.livejournal.com]

Austin, Charlotte, Helena, Madison, and, um....Seattle? Providence? Des Moines?

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Austin yes, Helena, Montana is around 25K, which surprises me. And none of the latter three (I pity the fool who names their kid "Des Moines," though "Seattle" could work -- "Providence" would just get her nicknamed "Pro," and that'll make adolescence suck).

[jenny0.livejournal.com]

I was trying to think of a really ridiculous city-name-as-baby-name - that was all I got on the spur of the moment.

[paradisacorbasi.livejournal.com]

Really ridiculous?

Kuala Lumpur
Intercourse
Blue Balls
Hell
Pago Pago
Bora Bora
Massapequa

...but not suitable for the exercise. I was just being silly.

[jenny0.livejournal.com]

We had a list of awful/hilarious place names going in our office a while ago...I think Coxsackie and Chattahoochee are some of my favourites.

[ravenskye8.livejournal.com]

It's people names, not place names, but it's the same concept:

http://ravenskye8.livejournal.com/14402.html

[jenny0.livejournal.com]

Oh god...I haven't looked at it yet, but I know no bad baby name list is complete without Aryana.

[smashingstars.livejournal.com]

Murfreesboro

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Five for five, including two of the three larger than one million.

When I guessed, I went four for five, somehow missing on Gary, Indiana -- though my research shows Gary ~ 350th in male names and a busload of people over 100K. *shrug*

[ravenskye8.livejournal.com]

Yay!

What's funny is that I know a person with each of those names...

You should link to the original article once everyone's done guessing - I'd love to read it... :)