What's in a Name?

This isn't one of those theological posts about the names of God and their meaning, no matter how instructive that might be. No, I just did an assembly in my local school and was once again gently surprised by the names of some of the children. Not just the "ethnic" ones, of which I have very little knowledge, but of the apparently white British - the names in this case being American States. A lad named Dakota (and I have to confess that my immediate mental response, before I knew the gender of the child, was that the middle name would have to be Sue - you either get it straight away or you don't: the Dakota Sioux were one of the native tribes) with a sister called Arizona.

It made me wonder about what English or British placenames might be abroad. An American family naming their children Surrey, or Essex perhaps? Then again we shouldn't forget the cricketer Devon Malclom. Even so, I just hope nobody out there has been lumbered with the much- maligned Salop!