These are the most popular destinations to name your baby after

Some travellers are born, others are made and some have it thrust upon them by parents obsessed with exploring the world.

A study has revealed the most common place names given to children by parents.

Luggage storage service Bounce recently discovered a trend of parents naming their kids after important locations. Initially, parents may have chosen a place that was important, such as "a favorite holiday destination, honeymoon spot, or even the city where they were conceived."

Now, it's common to choose anywhere that sounds cool.

What places are American parents choosing?

From 2000 to 2020, the destination most children in the US were named after was Israel, according to data collected by Bounce.

A total of 36,273 babies, both girls and boys, received this name.

In second place was India, with 9,207 babies (all girls) named after the country.

This was followed closely by Kenya, which was the name of 9,127 babies, mainly girls.

The survey also explored city names. In the US, the most popular boy's name inspired by a city was Preston. Between 2000 and 2022, almost 70,000 babies had this name, which originally comes from the city of Preston in Lancashire, England.

There is also a Preston in Idaho and Connecticut.

The most popular city name for girls was Sydney with more than 105,000 babies named after Australia's capital.

What places are British parents choosing?

Surprisingly, results differed slightly for parents surveyed in the UK, with more of a European skew.

The top girls name from 2000 to 2022 was Florence, a city in Italy, while boys were most commonly called Chester, a city in northwest England.

What places are Kiwi parents choosing?

In Aotearoa, the most popular girls name for the last two years has also been Florence, followed closely by Sienna.

For boys, Hudson took top place, according to data from The Department of Internal Affairs.