It was Europeans who named those places.
Yeah, people from that city or place moved there and named their new home after their old home. There’s a very Dutch area of Michigan with many immigrants from the Netherlands still there. Want to know a couple town names? Holland and Zeeland.
Meanwhile, Alexander the Great: You’ll be me lol
But you forgot, we also have to mispronounce it then get mad if you don’t mispronounce it the right way.
-someone that was born in New berlin, not “new berLIN”, But “new BURlin”.
For a better example: Versailles, Kentucky. Guess how that one is pronounced.
I will go with ver-sales
Winner!
Oh God,I had an ex from Georgia that would hit me with these. Let’s go with “verse-ay-lees”.
Verse-ales
Shit like that is embarrassing imo
How about naming the town after a city in Austria, but still the Roman way? Not just once, not just twice, but
(EDIT: I’m having déja vu after the last time had I brought up the several dozen Springfields)
That’s just how Wien is spelled in English. We also pronounce it how it’s spelled in English. No different from calling Österreich Austria
Strong levi-o-sa energy.
100% it’s all in the emphasis. It’s subtle, but just different enough that you can tell if someone is from the area based on their pronunciation.
Yea apperantly Worcester is pronounced “wis-tah”
Sure but calling them Americans is likely, mostly, sorta true but also ignores an important fact… They were Europeans (or near descendants of) calling the places that. Often a place was named that place because it reminded them of home / to honor their parents home.
Some other notable examples: New Zealand
São Carlos, Brazil
Munich, Saskatchewan
Liverpool, New South Wales
Nueva York, Colombia
So is nueva York named after York or new York?
Even old New York was once New Amsterdam.
Why’d they change it?
I can’t say…
True, but I think we may be the only country other than India to name a major city after another major city in the same country. Portland Oregon was named after Portland Maine
Super interesting. Didn’t know that. Thanks.
Don’t forget the number of places named Springfield. A quick search pulls up an article that puts the number at at least 30 different places in the US.
More evidence that Egypt is European.
In Québec they were a bit more diverse and also named lots of places after saints.
And yet we don’t have a Shitterton
Thats the S in USA
Upstate NY I went to Rome, Alexandria, Mexico, Florence, Norway, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Denmark, Coppenhagen, etc
EDIT: don’t forget Swastika, NY
Don’t forget Ithaca
There is a small village in Ohio named Buena Vista.
The locals pronounce it in a way that rhymes with Loona Fista
Lima Ohio. Pronounced lime-uh
Well yeah, like a lima bean
Ohio also has a town named Versailles. Imagine the worst way to pronounce the name of the historical palace in France. That’s right, they pronounce it (VUR - SAY- els).
We also have a few original names, like bucksnort, horsethief basin and truth or consequences
Just add new to the name
Paris, Texas is a personal favorite.
and the original European names are also pretty functional:
I believe Amsterdam is just “River Dam”
And York is just “Yew”, presumably named after trees that grew there. (Eburacon -> Eboracum -> Eoforwic -> Jórvík -> York)
But New York in the United States isn’t even directly named after the English city of York, but rather a person (James Stuart) who was the Duke of York when England took control of the territory from the Dutch.
I was down at the New Amsterdam
Staring at this yellow-haired girl
Mr. Jones strikes up a conversation
With a black-haired flamenco dancer
You know, she dances while his father plays guitar
There are also a lot of places that kept the original native names. Not as numerous as the “New [European place]” ones, but enough that you notice.
As much as Europeans don’t like it, Americans are your children.
