What's in a name?

I work for a company that utilizes large maps of Texas for their everyday functions.  I was "studying" aka pretending to know what I was looking at, one of the maps the other day and noticed a common theme.  Texas is divided into 254 counties and a lot of those counties are great baby names!  Now, Clayton and I aren't in the market for a baby just yet, but I couldn't help but think of all the great names right there on the map. 

*Anderson
Andrews
*Angelina
Aransas
*Archer
*Armstrong
Atascosa
*Austin - Cute little boy name
*Bailey
Bandera
Bastrop
Baylor
Bee
Bell
Bexar
Blanco
Borden
Bosque
Bowie
Brazoria
Brazos
Brewster
*Briscoe
*Brooks - LOVE this!!  But sadly, this name was vetoed...maybe I'll have a nephew named Brooks, I can dream, right?!
Brown
Burleson
Burnet
Caldwell
Calhoun
Callahan
*Cameron - my Godson is named Cameron, well one of my three Godsons :) Adorable name
Camp
*Carson
Cass
Castro
Chambers
Cherokee
Childress
*Clay - Clayton cannot stand being called this!!!!  Understandably.
Cochran
Coke
Coleman
*Collin
Collingsworth
Colorado
Comal
Comanche
Concho
Cooke
Coryell
Cottle
Crane
*Crockett - I have actually met a little boy with this name, ha!
*Crosby - Name of one of the Parenthood characters
Culberson
Dallam
*Dallas
*Dawson - Dawson's Creek?  Haha, no, I could never take anyone seriously named Dawson.
Deaf Smith
Delta
Denton
*DeWitt - Know some with the name DeWitt...very Texas.
Dickens
Dimmit
Donley
Duval
Eastland
Ector
Edwards
Ellis
El Paso
Erath
Falls
Fannin
Fayette
Fisher
Floyd
Foard
Fort Bend
*Franklin
Freestone
Frio
Gaines
Galveston
Garza
Gillespie
Glasscock
Goliad
Gonzales
*Gray
*Grayson - *SWOON* Yet another that has been vetoed.
*Gregg
Grimes
Guadalupe
Hale
Hall
Hamilton
Hansford
Hardeman


source



Hardin

Harris

*Harrison

Hartley

Haskell

Hays

Hemphill

Henderson

Hidalgo

Hill

Hockley

Hood

Hopkins
Houston
Howard
Hudspeth
Hunt
Hutchinson
Irion
*Jack
*Jackson - I like this, but so does apparently everyone else
*Jasper
Jeff Davis
Jefferson
Jim Hogg
Jim Wells
Johnson
Jones
Karnes Kaufman
*Kendall
*Kenedy - Love last names that can be used as first names
*Kent
Kerr
Kimble
King
Kinney
Kleberg
Knox
Lamar
Lamb
Lampasas
La Salle
Lavaca
*Lee
*Leon
Liberty
Limestone
Lipscomb
Live Oak
Llano
Loving
Lubbock
*Lynn
*Madison - Our puupy's name, just spelled differently!
*Marion
*Martin
*Mason
Matagorda
Maverick
McCulloch
McLennan
McMullen
Medina
Menard
Midland
Milam
Mills
*Mitchell
Montague
Montgomery
Moore
Morris
Motley
Nacogdoches
Navarro
Newton
*Nolan
Nueces
Ochiltree
Oldham
Orange
Palo Pinto
Panola
*Parker
Parmer
Pecos
Polk
Potter
Presidio
Rains
*Randall
Reagan Real
Red River
Reeves
Refugio
Roberts
Robertson
Rockwall
Runnels
Rusk
Sabine
San Augustine
San Jacinto
San Patricio
San Saba
Schleicher
Scurry
Shackelford
*Shelby
Sherman
Smith
Somervell
Starr
Stephens
Sterling
Stonewall
Sutton
Swisher
Tarrant
*Taylor - Used to love this as a girls name, but I think I like it more as a boys name now
Terrell
*Terry
Throckmorton
*Titus
Tom Green
*Travis
Trinity
*Tyler
Upshur
Upton
Uvalde
Val Verde
Van Zandt
*Victoria
*Walker
Waller
Ward
Washington
Webb
Wharton
Wheeler
Wichita
Wilbarger
Willacy
Williamson
*Wilson
Winkler
Wise
*Wood - Knew someone named Woods
Yoakum
Young
Zapata
Zavala

* = Possible names, not necessarily my choice :)

Site where I found the listing of all Texas counties....http://www.texascounties4u.org/

So there we have it, name inspiration can be found almost anywhere!  And there is one on this list that we both ADORE, but we've decided we aren't going to share names until we actually have a little bundle of joy in our arms...a few years from now.