this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2023
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Name It

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Welcome to Name It! We're all about finding the perfect name for pets, inanimate objects, or people. Join us as we celebrate diverse names and their stories, exploring the fascinating world of naming together! 🌟

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[–] paysrenttobirds@sh.itjust.works 62 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They were still Europeans when they did the naming

[–] yata@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Not necessarily. The majority of current US was colonised long after it became an independent state.

[–] callouscomic@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'd argue the majority of English-based naming though are in the original 13 colonies and were named prior to 1776. Having lived on both coasts, it sure seems that is the case.

A lot of the other places are likely due to later immigrants building their own communities west of those colonies, and then there are a lot of coincidences as well.

And then there's a ton of cities named after Bible references.

[–] nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I’ve lived in the Midwest, and after moving to New England, this it very much the case. Most of the 4-5 states that make up New England are full of towns with the same names from old England used over and over.

But in the plus side we don’t sound like idiots when we visit and know how to pronounce Gloucester and Worcester.

French Canadians in New England did the opposite though, and seem to aggressively mispronounce their French locations (Calais, Barre, Montpelier).

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[–] GrassrootBoundaries 49 points 1 year ago (3 children)

New Zealand did it with a whole ass country

[–] crystalmerchant@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] IanAtCambio@lemm.ee 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] SolarNialamide@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And a tiny village in the east of the Netherlands nowhere near the sea, funnily enough

[–] XTL@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

How can anything in Netherlands not be near the sea?

[–] wieson@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

But it's always

🎢 Under the sea Under the sea 🎢

[–] makyo@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I think living in a tiny country must really mess with your sense of scale

[–] dreadedsemi@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (4 children)

US did it with a whole country named after a continent. What's your country? those states who decided to unite. Which ones? The ones of America. Ah those ones.

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's not 'United States of North America', it's just United States of America. America is actually two continents.

Not like that makes it any better LOL, just saying..

[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

We're also not the only union of states in the Americas either. Mexico and Brazil both have states, too.

[–] IanAtCambio@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)
[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

At least as united as the US states... which is not a high bar most days of the week.

They are officially the United Mexican States.

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[–] comador@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Australia to a lesser extent too.

[–] RickyRigatoni@lemmy.ml 20 points 1 year ago (5 children)

York isn't a city in England. It's a city in Pennsylvania.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's originally a city in North Yorkshire, so the English aren't all that original with their city names either.

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[–] janus2@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

York is a mistake in Pennsylvania

(jk. I love my hometown. Sorta.)

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[–] Pandantic@midwest.social 19 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Sometimes they don’t even put new in front of it. Illinois has a Milan, but they pronounce it My-lan. Smh

[–] AngrilyEatingMuffins@kbin.social 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Bagdad, Arizona

No I did not misspell that.

[–] Auk@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago

There's a Bagdad in Tasmania too, went past it when I was down there a while back (as well as Jericho and the Nile River).

[–] callouscomic@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Supposedly that city is named after a dad who ran a mining operation loading stuff out in bags. Ridiculous.

There's also a Bagdad in Florida.

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[–] Chr0nos1@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

New York has a Chili, but they pronounce it like Chai lie.

[–] Assman@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There are 29 cities in the US named Lebanon

[–] callouscomic@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Like so many cities in the US, the name is used a lot because of biblical references to it. American Christians are not a very creative bunch.

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[–] Klear@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The city of York used to be called Amsterdam before, right?

[–] Snowpix@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think so. Why they changed it? I can't say, seems they just liked it better that way.

[–] HerbalGamer@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

~better~ ~that~ ~way~

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Even old New York was once New Amsterdam

Why they changed it I can't say

People just liked it better that way

[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

So, take me back to Constantinople.

[–] domin8r@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

The Dutch "lost" New York to the English. They surrendered when a large force of Englishmen demanded the surrender of the city. It had been awarded to the Duke of York. Hence the name.

[–] ThePantser@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Joke can be equally made with Native American names, especially Michigan which is named from Algonquin word "Mishigamaw," meaning β€œbig lake” or β€œgreat water,” deriving its name from the lake of the same name.

[–] Gork@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Native American words for landmarks are so cool, much better than the colonial equivalents.

Mt. McKinley - Denali

Mt. Adams - Klikitat

Mt. Jefferson - Seekseekqua

Mt. Rainier - Tacoma

Mt. Shasta - Ako-yet

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Seekseekqua

Nemesis of Hidehidequa

[–] PinkyCoyote@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 year ago

This too should be a proper post on this community!

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[–] Klystron@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago

A lot of the Seattle area has retained its original indigenous names... Seattle itself was the name of the local chief, Tukwila, Sammamish, Issaquah, Tacoma, Puyallup, Snoqualmie.

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[–] grysbok@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 1 year ago

I live in New England, USA. I was talking with a Brit about the British show The Archers. The Brit asked me whether I could tell which places were made up for the show and which were real. I told him that if I new a place in New England named something, it was probably a real place in the UK.

[–] GildorInglorion@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Pennsylvania has a York and a Lancaster. And their very own War of the Roses.PA War of the Roses

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[–] thelemonalex@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

We have a Miami in Spain!

[–] nicetriangle@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The third one in this series is my favorite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13RhSc-DaOI

[–] CADmonkey@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

York isn't just a city in England, it's also a city in Pennsylvania.

Also, the existence of New Caledonia and New Britain tells me it's not just Americans doing this.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I believe there's also a New London, pop 15 plus someone's dog, which shows a distinct lack of imagination.

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[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I mean, they weren't always Americans at the time, but it's still funny :)

Besides, it was the new world (in that it was new to Europeans)

[–] Airazz@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There are like twelve Londons in the US. Looks like we exported only the best and the most creative.

[–] nicetriangle@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There's a London in Ontario too

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[–] PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

We even do it to ourselves

Indigenous PNWers call white folks bostoners because of how many of them originally came from Mass and named their new settlements after towns in Mass

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