Person, place, or both?

October 21, 2024 6:11 PM

One of the hosts of Morning Edition on WGBH in Boston is named Paris Alston. It got me thinking: are there many other people whose first and last names are both names of cities?
posted by Winnie the Proust to Writing & Language (25 answers total)

You probably will want to have a population qualifier on there or something. There are a staggering number of cities in the world and many of them are names.

My brother and both of my parents all have 2 names that are also names of cities. They don't sound like city names; rather, those cities sound like people.

I missed out unfortunately since as far as I know no one anywhere has seen fit to call their town Jennifer.
posted by phunniemee at 6:39 PM on October 21

Dallas Austin
posted by JoeZydeco at 6:57 PM on October 21

Feel free to suggest place names that aren't cities. The main qualification is that most people should think "place" rather than "person" when they hear the name in isolation.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 7:02 PM on October 21

Reno Dakota
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 7:31 PM on October 21

Judy Chicago
posted by Thorzdad at 7:56 PM on October 21

Per your update how about Paris Hilton?
posted by wats at 8:13 PM on October 21

America Ferrera
Paris Jackson
Dakota Fanning
Fargo Arizona
Loulou de la Falaise
Julie London
Kathy Ireland
Brittany Murphy
Cécile de France
posted by Bigbootay. Tay! Tay! Blam! Aargh... at 9:51 PM on October 21

Bonus esoteric round (with modified spelling):

Melissa Auf Der Maur (On the wall)
Ingmar Bergman (Mountain man)
Stephen Dorff (Village)

Plus:

Lake Bell
Frank Ocean
River Phoenix
posted by Bigbootay. Tay! Tay! Blam! Aargh... at 10:03 PM on October 21

The main qualification is that most people should think "place" rather than "person" when they hear the name in isolation.

Outside of DMV/Maryland, Chevy Chase is probably more known as a person than a place. But this was the top example that came to mind when I read your question.
posted by knotty knots at 10:12 PM on October 21

Riffing off your starting point, Paris Hilton. Hilton is a village in Cambridgeshire.

I had a quick scan of UK place names, and I am surprised to find they're not commonly first names (though plenty of surnames come up). In the opposite direction, I really hope there's a person somewhere in the world called Mavis Enderby.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 11:38 PM on October 21

I guess it is only halfway there, but I cannot stop thinking of Moon Unit Zappa.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 11:55 PM on October 21

Julie London
Kathy Ireland

I couldn't find any towns named Julie or Kathy in a quick search. Maybe I'm missing something?
posted by oneirodynia at 11:58 PM on October 21

London Breed
San Francisco’s Mayor
Breed is a town in WI
posted by artdrectr at 12:14 AM on October 22

I'm sorry, I assumed first, last or both names were places, but if you need both then yes Julie and Kathy are disqualified.

Except for Katy Texas and Catharine NY, and Julie's Harbour Canada.

But I'll read more carefully next time. Apologies.
posted by Bigbootay. Tay! Tay! Blam! Aargh... at 12:30 AM on October 22

Florence Henderson
Indio Downey
Cheyenne Jackson
Savannah Guthrie
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:34 AM on October 22

George Washington has the distinction of having two place names: George, South Africa has a population of 150k and the town of Washington in the NE of England (which is where the name comes from) but also has a town named after him in a state named after him (also making him an address). Plus a city of course.
posted by biffa at 1:48 AM on October 22

John Denver; Elton John (John is a place in Virginia I believe)
posted by Melismata at 4:39 AM on October 22

"The main qualification is that most people should think "place" rather than "person" when they hear the name in isolation." By that metric, IMHO, your example of "Paris Alston" is disqualified. I'd posit that most people are unaware of Alston, the market town. Also, is Alston a city, or a town?

In fact, in reading this thread, I discover that my name fits your criteria, but I've never regarded it as such. Many names, take Bill Wallace for example, will fit your criteria, but I'd say most people won't notice that.
posted by at at 4:51 AM on October 22

Phillip Marion "Spike" Africa styled himself as President of the Pacific Ocean. There are at least three "Spike Islands" in the British Isles.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:27 AM on October 22

One of the characters in Dinosaur Comics refers to a metafictional character named Angola Maldives.
posted by dbx at 5:41 AM on October 22

These should qualify for both names:
Cheyenne Jackson (city in Wyoming, city in Mississippi)
Kerry Washington (place/county in Ireland, take your pick of Washington locations)
London Hudson (city in England, river/city/region of New York)

Chicago West and North West, if you want to extend your 'place' qualification to 'cardinal directions'
posted by rachaelfaith at 6:20 AM on October 22

Winona Ryder is a MN city and a ND city (USA)
posted by AzraelBrown at 8:36 AM on October 22

I assumed first, last or both names were places

No worries- I was kind of excited that there was a town somewhere in the world called "Julie"!
posted by oneirodynia at 9:00 AM on October 22

I once knew a woman with an uncle named Boston Poland.
posted by JanetLand at 1:55 PM on October 22

I just looked at the wikipedia page for Madison(name) and there's quite a lot, depending on your valence of 'famous'.
e.g. Madison Davenport, but i'd not heard of her before.
Washington Irving also comes to mind.

For even more, i'd give the other early presidents, or Franklin and various founding fathers a try.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 2:15 PM on October 22