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A collection of some classic Lemmy memes for your enjoyment
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.
When you get to the south west it becomes a place in Mexico which is a place in Spain or straight up just named after a Spanish conquistador.
A new place of europe.
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.
Hey hey, we did call it "New". Well, sometimes anyway. I definitely lived in town just called York.
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
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.
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...
We also have a few original names, like bucksnort, horsethief basin and truth or consequences
Here in South Carolina we have Pumpkintown, Sugar Tit, and Possum Kingdom
In Québec they were a bit more diverse and also named lots of places after saints.
Just add new to the name
And yet we don't have a Shitterton
Hebron, Lebanon, and Bozrah CT have entered the chat.
Jamaica, VT has entered the chat
I see your Jamaica, VT and raise you Jamaica Beach, TX.
"Truth and Consequences, NM"
"Dinosaur, CO"
"City of Industry, CA"
"Why Not?, NC"
"Ink, AR" because when it was time to name the town a questionnaire was circulated to solicit suggestions, and the top of the form said "write in ink". Except not really goddammit.
Springfield, yes
In the west coast we typically just used the name of the native tribe we killed in order to take the land.
There's a lot of places in America that are named after native American tribes. I guess it's the least our predecessors could do considering how badly they fucked over and slaughtered the natives.
"Yeah, we're naming this river after you guys in honor of your stewardship of the environment. No, it's not going to catch on fire or anything like that. How could a river catch on fire?"
Hey, give them some credit, they have some diversity - there's place in europe, new place in europe, mispronounced place in europe, british ruler, catholic saint in spanish, american president, explorer related to america, and of course native american place/tribe, and random native american word
The Spanish names barely count because those were originally Mexican and had been named before USA was born.
Meanwhile, Alexander the Great: You'll be me lol