How do cities get their names

However familiar a name might be, if you repeat it enough times it will start to sound a little ridiculous. This is how 20 of the biggest cities in the US were named. Forty years later, the colony was taken by the British, who named it New York in honor of the Duke of York. In , the Dutch retook the colony and called it New Orange, which lasted for just one year before being once again ceded to and renamed by the British.

Bonus name: Gotham became shorthand for New York City in when author Washington Irving used the name in a satirical essay. A new settlement was established next to the river in , though there is some debate about its original name.

Photo: S. The leeks were found near the mouth of the Chicago River, hence the name. French spelling transformed it to how we know Chicago today. Sam Houston was named the first president of the Republic of Texas and signed the papers to incorporate the city in The name stayed after Texas joined the US.

Formed in , a small colony was established four miles east of modern-day Phoenix called Swillings Mill after the former Confederate soldier, Jack Swilling, who helped found the colony. By , Phoenix was officially incorporated as a city. It was named by William Penn, who founded the city and the Province of Pennsylvania. The Spanish first came to what is now San Antonio in when it was a camp of the Payaya people.

The Spanish established the Mission San Antonio de Valero in , the same mission that would later be known as the Alamo. Dallas has one of the biggest city name mysteries in the US. The city was named by Presbyterian farmer and lawyer John Neely Bryan in , who founded the area as a trading post to serve both Native Americans and settlers. Bryan died in the Texas State Lunatic Asylum in In , Captain Juan Bautista de Anza was asked by the Spanish king to lead settlers from New Spain an area largely encompassing modern-day Mexico to northern California to establish missions.

Later, it was eventually shortened to just San Jose. The Native Americans and Spanish had different names, and the first English speakers to settle on the land in the s named it Waterloo. Founded in by Anglo-American settlers, the name was changed to Austin in after it was chosen as the capital of the new Republic of Texas. A chieftain of that unlikely name controlled the region in Anglo-Saxon times.

The hamlet of snot became Snottingham and later Nottingham. Originally known as Oxenaforda, the city that would later boast dreaming spires was founded around CE beside a ford used by oxen. It's as simple as that. Who was the Peter of Peterborough? None other than St Peter, dedicatee of an important monastery around which the settlement grew. The 'burgh' was appended in the 11th century after a defensive wall was built around the town.

It all came together as Petersborough soon after. A settlement at the mouth of the River Plym. The city only got its name around , before which it was called Sutton.

The 'Plym' bit probably derives from an Old English word for plum trees. The obvious explanation here is that Portsmouth was simply a port or haven at the mouth of a large river. A folkloric alternative, given in the Anglo-Saxon chronicles, suggests the city was founded by a fellow named Port.

The Lancashire town is recorded in Domesday Book as Prestune. Its thought to derive from the Old English for 'village or manor of the priest', perhaps a reference to a priory set up there by St Wilfrid. England's third smallest city, Ripon in North Yorkshire may get its name from the bank of a river — the same root that gives us the word 'riparian'. The city was built at the confluence of two rivers, the Laver and the Skell, which form the Ure.

It is first recorded as Inhrypum. The conurbation in Greater Manchester clearly recalls a ford in a river. The 'Sal-' is a reference to willow trees, which are sometimes called sallows from the Latin name salix. Salford: the ford beside the willows. As with Canterbury, the suffix suggests a fortified town, which alludes to the nearby abandoned except by tourists site of Old Sarum.

The Salis- prefix is more obscure and may be Celtic pre-Roman in origin, and of the same root as Sarum. Sheffield's etymology is more clear-cut than most cities. And cut is the right word — 'Shef' refers to the River Sheaf whose name means to divide or separate. The 'field' comes from 'feld', meaning a clearing in the woods. Hence, Sheffield was first settled in a clearing beside the River Sheaf.

Originally called Hampton, a common name meaning a settlement or home. The 'South' was added in the late 10th century to distinguish it from other Hamptons. In October , it was announced that Southend would be granted city status, as a memorial to Sir David Amess, a local Member of Parliament who was fatally stabbed while performing his constituency duties. Amess had campaigned for the civic upgrade to be part of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Southend has very humble beginnings for a city.

Its name denotes that it was merely the south end of the village of Prittlewell, when it was little more than fishing huts. The conurbation grew rapidly from the s.

The use of '-on-Sea' is often dropped, but is a helpful label to distinguish the town from other Southends including one in the London Borough of Lewisham. The closest city to London is, quite evidently, named after St Alban, the first British saint. Alban was martyred in the city — then called Verulamium — in the 3rd or 4th century. You can see his effigy, which gets paraded around the city annually, inside the cathedral. So common that the words 'on Trent' have been added to distinguish the city.

The Trent is, of course, a river. Like many rivers, its name is pre-Roman and possibly means a waterway prone to flooding. You've heard the phrase 'torn asunder'. Sunderland's name has similar origins. In the 7th century, the king of Northumberland granted land to a monastery on the south bank of the River Wear. Because the monks usually dwelt on the north bank, their new territory was described as 'sunder-land' — land that is detached or sundered from the monastery.

Truro's name is something of a mystery. The best guess, disputed by many, is a derivation from the Cornish tri-veru, meaning three rivers. Recorded in Domesday Books as Wachefeld, two possible origins of this West Yorkshire name have been posited. It clearly relates to some kind of field, but whether it is a field of wakes and festivals, or a field belonging to someone called Wacca is uncertain.

England's second-smallest city after the City of London also has the most straight-forward name derivation. The city contains three wells dedicated to St Andrew, which are also present on the city arms. As ever, the '-chester' denotes a city built on the site of a fortified Roman town.

The 'Win' part predates the Romans. It's a hand-me-down from the Celtic name for the area, which was probably Venta or Wenta, meaning a town or meeting place. Wolverhampton is a rarity among English cities in taking its name from a documented historical person.

Uniquely, this was a woman. Wulfrun, who lived in the late 10th century, was granted lands by Ethelred the Unready. Wulfrun's heaton meaning a principal farm or enclosure , became Wolveren Hampton, which gave us Wolverhampton. The final 'cester' or 'chester' in our list was also a former Roman stronghold. The first part comes from the local Angl0-Saxon tribe of the Weogoran, which may mean 'people of the winding river'.

This magnificent city has tumbled through several name changes over the centuries. The Romans founded it as Eboracum. It translates to:. And you thought LA's original name was long. Skip to main content Travel. Tel Aviv. Rio De Janeiro. Mexico City. Hong Kong. Los Angeles. Make Fun. Thrillist Serves.

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