Holland

Holland comes from the Dutch houtland, wood-land, the old name for a region of the Netherlands that eventually stood in for the whole country. As a name it has all the associations of that place: windmills, canals, tulip fields in stripes of color, Rembrandt's dim gold light. Holland Taylor has given it a theatrical grandeur; Tom Holland has given it a younger, springier one. At 602 and thoroughly unisex, it reads polished and international, the kind of place-name that feels designed rather than stumbled into. Two syllables, a soft landing on the d, Holland has a tailored coat and good boots.