# the origins of city names



## Third of a kind (Jun 20, 2004)

The other day I was thinking to myself, where did the names for so many of the cities we live in come from? and what do they mean...for instance I know Los Angeles is always called the city of angels? but where did the name come from and who named it? where did the names for cities like Hong Kong, London, Nairobi, and Winnipeg come from? and who named them? I thought it would be good if we could make a thread for this, i'm definitley interested in hearing these origins.


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## Travis007 (Jul 19, 2004)

Hong Kong in Cantones means "Fragrant Harbour"

Toronto in the Huron native language means, "Meeting Place", which is true today because Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities in the world with people from all over the world.


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## *Sweetkisses* (Dec 26, 2004)

Philadelphia came from William Penn.Well actually its from the bible but Penn decided to name it that for whatever reason.Its greek and it means city of brotherly love.


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## wjfox (Nov 1, 2002)

London was founded as a Roman settlement in 50 AD, and was originally named *Londinium*.

From Wikipedia: "The name Londinium is thought to be pre-Roman in origin although there is no consensus on what it means. One suggestion is that it derived from a personal name meaning 'fierce'. However, recent research by Richard Coates has suggested that the name derives from pre-Celtic Old European — Plowonida — from 2 roots, "plew" and "nejd", meaning something like "the flowing river" or "the wide flowing river". Londinium therefore means "the settlement on the wide river". He suggests that the river was called the Thames up river where it was narrower, and Plowonida down river where it was too wide to ford."


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## centralized pandemonium (Aug 16, 2004)

Bombay is supposed to mean Good Bay in Portugese. But Mumbai comes from Mumbai Devi, one of the local gods.


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## ROCguy (Aug 15, 2005)

lol, not that anyone cares, but Rochester NY (the laregest of the many many Rochesters throughout the US and Europe) was named NOT after Rochester England like so many people believe, but rather Nathaniel Rochester, one of the three businessmen that founded the city in 1803. Also, the city of New York, which also gives the whole state it's name, changed to New York from New Amsterdam when the area was taken by England in 1664 from the Dutch (who had been there since the 1640's), and King Charles gave it to his good freind, James II (who later became king) but was at that time, the Duke of York.


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## _tictac_ (Jan 6, 2003)

*Copenhagen*

The contemporary Danish name for the city (København) is a corruption of the original designation for the city, "Købmandshavn", or "Merchants' Harbour" in Danish.
The English word for the city is derived from its German name, "Kopenhagen", but note that the 3rd syllable is pronounced "hay" in English, not "hah".

However, København (Køb-en-havn) is the same as Buy-a-harbour.


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## Third of a kind (Jun 20, 2004)

keep em coming!, man the point of this thread is not about how big or small the city is, whether we know it or not, its all about where the name came from or what it means!!


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## Accura4Matalan (Jan 7, 2004)

Preston origionally was called Priest Town, and thats where the name comes from. Tis cos we had so many churches.


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## kids (Dec 12, 2004)

Mamucium (manchester) actually means breast shaped hill


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## crazyjoeda (Sep 10, 2004)

Vancouver was named after the explorer Captain George Vancouver. He explored from San Fransisco to Southern Alaska and maped the Pacific coast of B.C. between 1792 and 1794.


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## samsonyuen (Sep 23, 2003)

Ones I know of: Montréal was Mont Réal, Mount Royal in French, for the mountain that overlooks the present city. Its original Native Canadian name was Hochelaga.


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## earthJoker (Dec 15, 2004)

Zürich was "founded" by Celts, the first apearance of it's name is found on a tombstone about a roman city.
Turicum is not from roman origin, so it isn't known what it means (yet?)


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## jmancuso (Jan 9, 2003)

houston - named after sam houston


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## hauntedheadnc (Aug 18, 2003)

Asheville was originally a handful of scattered small farms in an area called Eden Land in recognition of the incredible bounty of the land and forests, not to mention the abundant water of the area. The first small village to take shape in Eden Land was Morristown, in recognition of the governor of North Carolina at the time. 

When it later became public knowlege that Governor Morris was a swindler and all-around crook, Morristown incorporated in 1797 under the name Asheville, in recognition of Samuel Ashe, the governor who replaced Morris.

A lot can and has been made of the fact that Asheville has both the word "ash" and "evil" in its name, perhaps to explain the city's current status as a center for the practice of wicca and other earth religions, as well as magic/magick of various types. In celtic lore, the ash tree is a magical tree. Of course, ash can also be in reference to the ashes of a fire and therefore ruin. In Cherokee parlance, Asheville's name was "Kasdu’yi" which literally means "ashes place," as in the ashes of a fire.


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## staff (Oct 23, 2004)

I think Malmö comes from "Malmhaug" which in old-Danish means something like "Pile of rocks". 

The direct translation of Malmö is however Stone Island or Rock Island.


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## tayser (Sep 11, 2002)

Melbourne was the Prime Minister of the UK at the time of settlement.

Incidently the inner suburb of Williamstown was named after the King at the time and was supposed to be the main settlement - didn't happen, I guess that's where we started thumbing our noses at the monarchy!


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## c0kelitr0 (Jul 6, 2005)

Manila - from "nilad" or water lilies that grow abundantly on Pasig River. "May Nilad" is the place where the beautiful water lilies grow...


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## DarkFenX (Jan 8, 2005)

Boston was named after the town of Boston in England. In fact, bunch of cities in Massachusetts are named after towns in England.


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## scando (Jun 19, 2004)

Baltimore was named "Baltimoretown" in honor of George Calvert, the Baron of Baltimore, who asked for a land grant from the king James I of England. His son Cecil got the land and named his land for the Queen. The last name of the founder is rememberd in Calvert County as is the first name which was used by Cecil county. Other lords Baltimore were Henry Harford, Frederick and Charles; all had counties named after them.


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## centralized pandemonium (Aug 16, 2004)

Sudbury in Ontario was prolly named after Sudbury in England.


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## scando (Jun 19, 2004)

Towson, Maryland was named after one of the founding families. It was a fortunate choice since the other founding family was named Schmuck.


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## Jai (Jan 5, 2003)

ROCguy said:


> lol, not that anyone cares, but Rochester NY (the laregest of the many many Rochesters throughout the US and Europe) was named NOT after Rochester England like so many people believe, but rather Nathaniel Rochester, one of the three businessmen that founded the city in 1803. Also, the city of New York, which also gives the whole state it's name, changed to New York from New Amsterdam when the area was taken by England in 1664 from the Dutch (who had been there since the 1640's), and King Charles gave it to his good freind, James II (who later became king) but was at that time, the Duke of York.


And Rochester, MI was named after Rochester, NY


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## centralized pandemonium (Aug 16, 2004)

Ahemdabad, India was named after Ahmed Shah, one of the city's kings.


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## spyguy (Apr 16, 2005)

From Wiki:

During the mid 1700s, the Chicago area was inhabited primarily by Potawatomis, who took the place of the Miami and Sauk and Fox who had controlled the area previously. The name *Chicago* originates from "Checagou" (Chick-Ah-Goo-Ah) or "Checaguar," which in the Potawatomi language means "wild onions" or "skunk." The area was so named because of the smell of rotting marshland wild leeks (ramps) that once covered it.

The first non-native settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, a Haitian of African descent, who settled on the Chicago River in the 1770s and married a local Potawatomi woman. In 1795, following the War of the Wabash Confederacy, the area of Chicago was ceded by the Native Americans in the Treaty of Greenville to the United States for a military post. In 1803, Fort Dearborn was built and remained in use until 1837, except between 1812 and 1816 when it was destroyed in the Fort Dearborn Massacre during the War of 1812.


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## FM 2258 (Jan 24, 2004)

Austin, TX is named after Stephen F. Austin.

from: http://www.lnstar.com/mall/texasinfo/sfaustin.htm



> Stephen Fuller Austin, born in Austinville, Va., Nov. 3, 1793, died . Dec. 27, 1836,
> 
> Often referred to as the Father of Texas, for the hundreds of families he brought into this state due to the relatively poor economic conditions in the United
> States at the time, Stephen F. Austin was very successful in recruiting families to move to Texas. On the death (1821) of his father, Moses Austin, he took over a grant to bring U.S. settlers into Spanish Texas. Under the terms of a special act in 1824 and additional contracts in 1825, 1827, and 1828--all granted by the newly independent Mexican government--the colonizer was responsible for the settlement of more than 1,200 American families in Mexican Texas.
> ...


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## DonQui (Jan 10, 2005)

Paris was named after the Parisii tribe that inhabited the area.

Cologne (Koln) was the town of Colonnia founded by the Romans as it was on the boundary of the Empire.

I have heard that Amsterdam is supposed to be rooted from a dam over the Amstel River which runs through the city, although someone please check. 

Madrid gets its name from the Arabic name for the village on which the capital was built, Magerit.

Valencia from the Latin name Valentia

Cartagena from the Latin Carthago Nova, or, New Carthage

And I belileve that Barcelona was Barcino in Roman times.


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## ROCguy (Aug 15, 2005)

Jai said:


> And Rochester, MI was named after Rochester, NY


lol, according to Epodunk, so is Rochester, IL, and Rochester, MN.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Hong Kong - fragrant harbour


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## Estboy (Jan 18, 2004)

Tallinn (Taani linn) means Danish town


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## Josh (May 30, 2004)

Brussels comes from the old Dutch "Broek" = marsh and "Zele" = settlement, so Broekzele (Brussels) means settlement near the marsh.


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## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

*Sweetkisses* said:


> Philadelphia came from William Penn.Well actually its from the bible but Penn decided to name it that for whatever reason.Its greek and it means city of brotherly love.


The name Philadelphia is beautifully classical, (the US city being named after the Helenistic one.) 'Love between Brothers' is indeed a wonderful name.


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## bnmaddict (Jan 6, 2005)

The origin of Prague goes back to the 7th century and the Slavic princess Libuše, a woman of great beauty and wisdom who possessed prophetic powers. Libuše and her husband, prince Přemysl, ruled peacefully over the Czech lands from the hill of Vyšehrad. A legend says that one day Libuše had a vision. She stood on a cliff overlooking the Vltava, pointed to a forested hill across the river, and proclaimed: "I see a great city whose glory will touch the stars." ("Vidím město veliké, jehož sláva hvězd se dotýkati bude."). She instructed her people to go and build a castle where a man was building the threshold (in Czech práh) of a house. "And because even the great noblemen must bow low before a threshold, you shall give it the name Praha". Her words were obeyed and some two hundred years later, the city of Prague became the seat of the Premyslid dynasty.

^^ Nice story, but the end is a bit disappointing...


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## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

bnmaddict said:


> The origin of Prague goes back to the 7th century and the Slavic princess Libuše, a woman of great beauty and wisdom who possessed prophetic powers. Libuše and her husband, prince Přemysl, ruled peacefully over the Czech lands from the hill of Vyšehrad. A legend says that one day Libuše had a vision. She stood on a cliff overlooking the Vltava, pointed to a forested hill across the river, and proclaimed: "I see a great city whose glory will touch the stars." ("Vidím město veliké, jehož sláva hvězd se dotýkati bude."). She instructed her people to go and build a castle where a man was building the threshold (in Czech práh) of a house. "And because even the great noblemen must bow low before a threshold, you shall give it the name Praha". Her words were obeyed and some two hundred years later, the city of Prague became the seat of the Premyslid dynasty.
> 
> ^^ Nice story, but the end is a bit disappointing...


Very nice nonetheless.


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## Onur (Dec 2, 2004)

Antalya found by Pergamanion King 2nd Attalos(BC183). In the Memory of Attalos, This city's first name was Attalia. This name changed to Adalia in Seljuk times(11th Century) and finally Antalya..


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## JBOB (Aug 26, 2005)

"Posted by *Sweetkisses*
Philadelphia came from William Penn.Well actually its from the bible but Penn decided to name it that for whatever reason.Its greek and it means city of brotherly love. "

"Posted by tpe"
"The name Philadelphia is beautifully classical, (the US city being named after the Helenistic one.) 'Love between Brothers' is indeed a wonderful name."




Philadelphia is a planned city founded and developed by William Penn, a Quaker. The city's name means "city of brotherly love" in Greek. Penn hoped that the city, as the capital of his new colony founded on principles of freedom and religious tolerance, would be a model of this philosophy... 

Quakers are counted among the historic peace churches, and have congregations scattered across the world.

I would say from the book of revelations in the BIBLE.... Hebrew to Greek to English...

The HUB for the future U.S. and Overall Context.....


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## RafflesCity (Sep 11, 2002)

In the 13th century, a prince from Sumatra spotted a lion on the island and named it

Singa Pura (Lion City)


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## PotatoGuy (May 10, 2005)

Anaheim, California, USA

Ana from the Santa Ana river which runs through the city. The name loosely means "Home by the River" - from the German "Heim" meaning home and the Spanish "Ana" for the Santa Ana River.


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## Chennai_Forever (Apr 7, 2005)

Chennai (formerly called Madras), India.

Chennai grew out of a small village when in 1639 a fishing hamlet called Madraspatnam was selected by early English merchants of the British East India Company as a site for a settlement. It is believed that there were two hamlets called Madraspatnam (named after Madresan, the leader of this area) and Chennaipatnam (named after Chennappa Nayak, who controlled this area), which eventually merged due to expansion of the city. Some believe that the British favoured the name "Madraspatnam" while the locals called it "Chennaipatnam". The city was called Madras until 1996 when the govt. decided to rename it Chennai.


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## SGoico (Sep 5, 2005)

Barcelona

Legend attributes the Carthaginian foundation of 'Barkeno' to Hamilcar Barka, father of Hannibal. Later when the Romans invaded the peninsula became 'Barcino' and finally with the Visigoth, Barcelona


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