Baby names associated with gun brands (e.g., Benelli, Beretta, Browning, Colt, Ruger, Wesson, Winchester) are seeing higher usage in the U.S. these days.
Just recently, I came across yet another gun-inspired baby name: Citori, which was given to 5 baby girls in 2013. (So far, it’s a one-hit wonder in the SSA data.)
Sounding almost too exotic to be linked to a weapon, Citori is the name of a shotgun made by the Browning Arms Company of Utah.
How did it come to have such a cute name?
It’s “a made-up name, doodled by a company executive on a notepad in a marketing meeting” decades ago. “The name is supposed to sound vaguely Japanese, befitting a gun that has been made since 1973 at the Miroku plant in Japan.”
What do you think of Citori as a baby name? (Do you like it more or less than the similar-sounding Satori?)
P.S. Vocabulary words associated with guns (e.g., Pistol, Trigger, Shooter, Gunner, Caliber) are also being used more often as baby names nowadays.
Sources:
- Bourjaily, Phil. “Success Citori.” Field & Stream Jul. 2008: 24.
- Browning Citori – Wikipedia
- SSA
Image: Adapted from NMAH-ET2012-13923 (public domain) via National Museum of American History
[Latest update: Apr. 2026]