# Another Julius Caesar question: any cities, towns, geographical features named for him?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-julius-caesar-question-any-cities-towns-geographical-features-named-for-him/745789>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 11, 2016, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-julius-caesar-question-any-cities-towns-geographical-features-named-for-him/745789 "2016-02-11T02:49:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2016, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-julius-caesar-question-any-cities-towns-geographical-features-named-for-him/745789/41 "2016-02-21T17:25:24Z")

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> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#):
>
> So there was some town naming guy, and not the inhabitants, who chose the town names?

Often this started as speculative real estate developments, so there weren’t any inhabitants. Geographer William Wyckoff wrote a good book about land deals and settlement in western New York State around 1790-1820 – it’s called _The Developer’s Frontier_.

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**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-julius-caesar-question-any-cities-towns-geographical-features-named-for-him/745789/42 "2016-02-22T13:57:35Z")

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> [@Nava](#):
>
> _¡Ay madre!_ You’re lucky I’m not ovetense! Calling Oviedo, capital of Asturias, the kingdom which eventually became León and from León Castille, “unimportant”!
> 
> Only because a city isn’t particularly important now doesn’t mean it’s never been. I mean, yes, Oviedo (Fl) probably got founded by an ovetense who happened to pass by, but still… don’t go to the original saying it’s “of no great import” if you want to be able to get service at the local restaurants.

Easy, tiger. I said “of no great import,” rather than “unimportant.” 😃 And the Oviedo I live in wasn’t named until 1870, when Oviedo’s days as a global city were quite a while behind it.

I am going to try and get the locals to start calling themselves Ovetenses instead of Oviedoans. I have long since given up on trying to get them to pronounce Oviedo correctly (they say “Oh-veedo” instead of Oveaydo).

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-julius-caesar-question-any-cities-towns-geographical-features-named-for-him/745789/43 "2016-02-22T19:23:48Z")

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> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#):
>
> So there was some town naming guy, and not the inhabitants, who chose the town names?

It’s not completely clear who named the towns. It might have been Simeon De Witt, the Surveyor General of the State of New York, but most historians believe the actual naming was done by Robert Harpur, his clerk.

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