The baby name London brings to mind one of the world’s most storied cities.
Thanks to Lee for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
NEWCOMER
Unlike Savannah or even Camden, the baby name London is a relative newcomer.
It debuted in the girls’ US Top 1000 in 1994, disappeared, and then returned in 1999, and started to climb. For boys, London first charted in the year 2000, and also grew in popularity.
KING LUD
Of course, the city is anything but new.
Romans settled the area way back in the first century, and it was town ages before they marched in.
The name’s meaning is obscure, but one possibility is “King Lud’s fortress.” Geoffrey of Monmouth penned a work that freely mixes history, legend, and fiction. He claims King Lud ruled the region in the days before the Roman rulers arrived, though he called it Trinovantum.
Welsh myth gives us Llud Law Eraint – Llud of the Silver Hand. It’s possible Geoffrey borrowed Llud for London, especially since Ludgate and Ludgate HIll – site of St. Paul’s Cathedral today – dates back centuries upon centuries.
Except Ludgate almost certainly comes from a phrase meaning flood gate, or maybe postern.
What we do know is that, by AD 50, the Romans called their settlement Londinium, and we’ve been debating the name’s meaning nearly as long.
One of my favorites: it refers to a temple of Diana previously located in the city center: Llan Dian. But that’s another wild theory without much evidence.
PLACE NAME WAVE
What we do know is that American parents have embraced place names for their children. Some locales, like Charlotte, Sydney, and Georgia, started out as given names – or surnames – first.
But others, like Savannah, were clearly borrowed from the map.
In the early 2000s, Paris Whitney Hilton became a household name. She’d appeared in gossip columns as early as 1993. But in 2003, she and fellow celebutante Nicole Richie co-starred in a reality series, The Simple Life. Paris and Nicole took regular Joe jobs … and failed at them, disastrously. It became a sensation.
So what does Paris have to do with London?
The traditionally masculine name rose in use in the 1980s – just as Savannah soared. It was an early place name favorite, and Hilton’s fame briefly pushed in into the US Top 200.
Except.
While Hilton and Richie weren’t villains, they didn’t exactly inspire you to name your daughters for them.
But if you’re thinking about the possibility of Paris as a child’s name, and ruling it out because of the reality star, then it’s only a short trip across the English Channel to London.
By 2005, Disney Channel original series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody gave the name London to their resident hotel heiress.
ON-TREND SOUND
But it isn’t just that “London and Paris” are linked together in our minds, or that place names in general were gaining in use.
It helps that the early 2000s were the age of two-syllable, ends-with-n names, especially for boys. Landon peaked in the early part of the new millennium. Logan, Jackson, Mason, and all of the -aiden names were gaining, too.
For the girls, Brooklyn was rocketing up the charts. And names like Peyton and Madison were every bit as stylish.
STORIED CITY
And then there’s the reality that people love London. It’s been a destination for centuries. From Shakespeare to The Smiths, from Sherlock Holmes to Queen Elizabeth I, we all know something about the city.
The 2012 London Olympics probably inspired some families – the name peaked for girls a year later.
BY THE NUMBERS
As of 2018, just over 1,600 girls and 700 boys received the name. It’s falling rapidly for our daughters, but holding slightly steadier for our sons.
And that seems about right. While usage suggests that most Londons are girls, it’s an inherently unisex name.
Overall, the baby name London benefits from a certain easy cool. It’s tailored and modern, but drenched in history at the same time.
Would you consider the baby name London? Do you like it better for a boy or a girl?
First published on July 16, 2012, this post was revised and updated on August 3, 2020.
I really don’t like it, especially for a girl. Feels clunky too, like Brooklyn, to my ear. I met a 3 yo London recently so that softened me a bit. 🙂
As obsessed as I am with visiting the city on an almost weekend-basis at the moment, I doubt I’d ever actually used London as a name. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an awesome place and I’m 3ish months away from actually moving to just outside the greater London area – but that’s just it; I love the city so much that London is a place to me, not a name.
As for other people using it I’m not so bothered, and it would be nice to imagine that those who use it have actually visited London.
London is one of the names I have fallen in love with simply because a person I now named, Lunden. I’d be more inclined to use the traditional spelling, though. It just has a sweet, fresh air to me…just like my friend 🙂
London isn’t a name I would use, even though my anecestors had deep ties to the city. I generally eschew place names that weren’t originally given names (Victoria, Adelaide, Georgia, Charlotte, Alberta, etc.), though.
I’d be more likely to use Jubilee or Olympia/Olympus than London to commemorate the events.
Jubilee is lovely. I like Olympia / Olympus too. 🙂
The lady who cuts my hair just had a little London Elizabeth. I caught myself thinking about how it was an “unusual” name that I didn’t bat an eyelash at! Certainly not my style, but it fits this woman and her new baby.