Illinois City Ranked #2 In US On List Of City-Inspired Baby Names

My first name, Riley, is very common today but wasn't common at all back when my parents decided to stick me with it name me that. The name doesn't come from a city, but from my mother's maiden name. Not that there aren't some towns, including right here in Illinois, that are named Riley:

• Riley, Kansas: A small city in Riley County, Kansas.

• Riley, Indiana: An unincorporated community.

• Riley, Oregon: An unincorporated community in Harney County.

• Riley, Illinois: A small village or community.

• Riley, North Carolina: A small community.

• Riley, Wisconsin: An unincorporated community.

Who could forget those famous places? Yeah, pretty much everyone.

Naming Kids After Cities Has Been Around For A While...

Naming a child Alexandria goes back to before the Middle Ages, so does Paris and Roma or Rome, so people have always drawn naming inspiration from scattered spots on the map and we still do to this day. Think about how many people you know that carry the name of a city or town:

• Brooklyn
• Austin
• Dallas
• Denver
• Savannah
• Madison
• Cheyenne
• Orlando
• Jackson

The list goes on and on.

A Chicago Suburb Comes In #2 On A New List Of America's Most Popular Baby Names That Were Inspired By Cities Or Towns

Lingoda, an online language school, crunched the numbers on 2024 baby-naming data from the Social Security Administration (SSA) and discovered that last year there were 59,000 new babies in the US named after American cities. Of those 59,000 kids, 7,000 of them were given the same name as this certain Chicago area town.

Can you guess which town we're talking about here? Let me give you one clue. The name of the town is also what you're looking at here (the green stuff, not the geography):

If you shouted "Borealis," congratulations. That's what I would have shouted, too. And, we'd both be wrong. It's this place:

Only One American City Inspired More Baby Names Than Aurora, Illinois

The number-one position goes to Charlotte (North Carolina). Here's the full top ten list (courtesy of Lingoda.com):

1. Charlotte (North Carolina)
2. Aurora (Illinois)
3. Jackson (Mississippi)
4. Elizabeth (New Jersey)
5. Lincoln (Nebraska)
6. Madison (Wisconsin)
7. Everett (Washington)
8. Austin (Texas)
9. Savannah (Georgia)
10. Tyler (Texas)

Here's more, but on a global scale: