[ironchapman]

How did your city, or any city you know of, get its name?

Atlanta was known by three names:

-"Terminus": end of railroad
-"Marthasville": State gov's daughter
-"Atlanta": One of two possibilities:
------------Gov.'s daughter's middle name was Atalanta
------------In Latin, the feminine form of Atlantic (either the ocean or railroad name)

This post has been edited by ironchapman: 18 May 2005 - 05:24 PM

[nashvol85]

Nashville, formerly Fort Nashborough, was named after Francis Nash, a Revolutionary war hero. The "borough" was changed to "ville" because of hate towards the English. Ville is the French word for town or village, so after the French helped us, it seemed appropriate to use that term. I think it was one of the first "villes" in this country.

[ironchapman]

Interesting.

Do you, by any chance, know how Knoxville got it's name?

[nashvol85]

ironchapman, on May 15 2005, 12:29 AM, said:

Interesting.

Do you, by any chance, know how Knoxville got it's name?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

"The founding of Knoxville: 1791, named by William Blount after President Washington's War Secretary, Henry Knox"


http://www.knoxville...om/history.html

Heh....I didn't know either.

Btw, Nashville was founded in 1779.

[Spartan]

Spartanburg is named in honor of the Spartan Regiment, led by Gen Daniel Morgan, that defeated the British at the Battle of Cowpens during the Revolution.

Charleston (fka: Charles Towne) is named for King Charles II.

Columbia is the feminin style of Columbus, which is from Christopher Columbus.

[TheGerbil]

Pittsburgh (originally Pitts boro) is named for British Prime Minister William Pitt. It has gone back and forth between being a burg and a burgh. It is now the only burgh in the country, because when the government made them all drop the h's, Pittsburgh got it's h back after a few years, arguing that it needed to distinguish itself from the various Pittsburg's around the country.
It is also the most commonly misspelled city because of that h.

[teshadoh]

Charlotte - named after King George III's wife.

[Cotuit]

For its first century Providence was significant much more for the principles upon which it was established than for its political or economic influence. Roger Williams made Providence (which he named for God's guidance and care) a haven for persecuted religious dissenters. His town became the "lively experiment" in religious liberty and church-state separation. This was and is its major claim to fame.

ProvidenceRI.com

[colin]

"In 1692, Spanish missionaries, looking for souls to convert and subjects for the king, arrived in the valley to find the Indian village S-tukson ("black base"). In 1775, the Spanish built an outpost, the Presidio of San Augustin."

The Indians were Pimas. The actual village was located just west of present-day Downtown, but has been completely destroyed and excavated. Tucson is now referred to as the "Old Pueblo."

[Brickell]

Miami was a native Tequesta word meaning "big water" referring to Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades. I've also read that it meant "sweet water" meaning fresh water. The city got it's name from the river. Okeechobee is a Seminole word for "big water".

This post has been edited by Brickell: 18 May 2005 - 10:56 AM

[AvianKeahi]

Minneapolis got it's name from a schoolteacher in 1852, combining the Sioux word for "Laughing Waters," minnehaha, with the Greek suffix for city, or polis.
The result was "Minnehapolis" but the h was dropped right away turning the result into "City of Waters." The name was chosen by popular acclaim because the original name proposed by the County Commissioners, "Albion." was widely disliked.

Minneapolis merged with a smaller sister city just across the river named St. Anthony in 1872, retaining the larger city's name. Otherwise the Twin Cities would now be the Twin Saints of St. Anthony and St. Paul.

St. Paul was a French settlement dating from the 1840's. It was sometimes known as "Pig's Eye" because of a notorious one-eyed whiskey peddler named Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant. Father Galtier established St. Paul's church in 1841, from which the city got it's name.

This post has been edited by AvianKeahi: 18 May 2005 - 05:32 PM

[Aaron]

"Détroit" is French for "strait," referring to the city's position on the water between lakes St. Clair and Erie.

[ironchapman]

I heard about that in a French class.
It started out as Ville d'etroit.

[ironchapman]

Birmingham, AL was named for Birmingham, UK.

It was named this because Bham (AL) was located so near to the elemants necessary to make steel that it would likely become a manufacturing center, so it was named for the UK's leading manufacturing center.


I'm guessing Raleigh, NC was named for Sir Walter Raleigh, the founder of the Lost Colony.

[moonshield]

Quote

I'm guessing Raleigh, NC was named for Sir Walter Raleigh, the founder of the Lost Colony.

Indeed, and a quite appropriate name.

[thewack]

Settlers were arguing between Portland and Boston to name the settlement on the Columbia and Willamette Rivers. Portland won, and viola Portland, Oregon.

This post has been edited by thewack: 21 May 2005 - 04:53 PM

[ironchapman]

Heard that somewhere.

Just imagine if our nation had two large Bostons.

[otowner]

Orlando was originally a small trading outpost called Jernigan. During the Seminole Indian Wars, a soldier by the name of Orlando died in Jernigan, at which point they renamed the town Orlando in his honor.

[willacoochee]

Willacoochee was given it's name by an Indian Tribe. Willacoochee is thought to mean "Home of The Wildcat". The Cities mascot consequently is a wildcat!

[ironchapman]

Douglasville was named because it was the seat of Douglas county, which was named after Stephen Douglas (of the Lincoln-Douglas debates before the Civil War. He was pro-slavery).

It was originally called "Skint Chestnut" after a chestnut tree that stood on the site of the first county courthouse. This tree had been stripped of its bark by the local Indians and used as a local landmark for them.