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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[–] [email protected] 52 points 2 years ago (1 children)

They were still Europeans when they did the naming

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years 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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years 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).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

True. Not a ton of "New"s out west, but there is certainly a lot of repetition.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 2 years ago (1 children)

New Zealand did it with a whole ass country

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

How can anything in Netherlands not be near the sea?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

But it's always

🎢 Under the sea Under the sea 🎢

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

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

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 years ago (3 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years 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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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

York is a mistake in Pennsylvania

(jk. I love my hometown. Sorta.)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Hey now. York isn't THAT bad, even though a Google search for "York PA" has a video called "York Pennsylvania Sucks" as one of the top results...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

delighted cackling

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I used to have a motorcycle that was manufactured there.

EDIT: I checked out of curiosity and I still have a motorcycle that was manufactured there.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

how does one become uncertain if they still own an entire motorcycle

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

You see, I had a 750 Street Rod that was made in York, PA. I traded it in a month ago on a Nightster that was also made there.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 years 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

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

Bagdad, Arizona

No I did not misspell that.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years 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).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years 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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I've heard that but I highly doubt it. seems like a post 9/11 freedom fries kinda deal. When I was a kid I remember hearing that they named it that way because the founder had been to Baghdad and thought it the most beautiful desert city in the world, so he wanted to invoke that spirit. Doubt the spelling was nearly as standardized back then.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

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

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

There are 29 cities in the US named Lebanon

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years 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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

I never really thought of it this way.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years 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

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago

So, take me back to Constantinople.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years 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.

[–] Snowpix 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

~better~ ~that~ ~way~

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years 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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

We have a Miami in Spain!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years 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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

Can't believe those Americans, capturing New Netherland from the Dutch and renaming it in honor of the Duke of York. Just like an American to do that

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

The third one in this series is my favorite

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

There's a London in Ontario too

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Bunch of Paris too.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years 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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Where is β€œJack City” located in Europe?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

Sir New Jack is a wrestler not a city. (Unless youre talking about the movie)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years 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)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

As a former resident of Norfolk, sometimes we just took the name and fuck the new.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I remember flying to NYC from Europe and being very confused at seeing the very same names on the in-flight map as when we departed. Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris.. they had all of them!

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