They were still Europeans when they did the naming
this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2023
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Not necessarily. The majority of current US was colonised long after it became an independent state.
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.
Iβve 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 donβt 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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New Zealand did it with a whole ass country
Wait what is Zealand
Dutch province
And a tiny village in the east of the Netherlands nowhere near the sea, funnily enough
How can anything in Netherlands not be near the sea?
But it's always
πΆ Under the sea Under the sea πΆ
I think living in a tiny country must really mess with your sense of scale
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.
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..
We're also not the only union of states in the Americas either. Mexico and Brazil both have states, too.
But are they united?
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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Australia to a lesser extent too.
York isn't a city in England. It's a city in Pennsylvania.
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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Sometimes they donβt even put new in front of it. Illinois has a Milan, but they pronounce it My-lan. Smh
Bagdad, Arizona
No I did not misspell that.
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).
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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New York has a Chili, but they pronounce it like Chai lie.
There are 29 cities in the US named Lebanon
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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The city of York used to be called Amsterdam before, right?
I think so. Why they changed it? I can't say, seems they just liked it better that way.
~better~ ~that~ ~way~
Even old New York was once New Amsterdam
Why they changed it I can't say
People just liked it better that way
So, take me back to Constantinople.
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.
Joke can be equally made with Native American names, especially Michigan which is named from Algonquin word "Mishigamaw," meaning βbig lakeβ or βgreat water,β deriving its name from the lake of the same name.
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
Seekseekqua
Nemesis of Hidehidequa
This too should be a proper post on this community!
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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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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.
Pennsylvania has a York and a Lancaster. And their very own War of the Roses.PA War of the Roses
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We have a Miami in Spain!
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.
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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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)
There are like twelve Londons in the US. Looks like we exported only the best and the most creative.
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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