Are there US towns with non-Western European names?

Factual Questions
1

Most towns and cities in the United States are either named after geographical features, named after other cities and towns in Europe, or named for the settlers who first established them.

Varying by region (Northeastern, Midwestern, Southern, etc) many towns bear European names: French in the deep South, German in the midwest, Spanish in the southwest, and English all over the place.

What I am curious about, is whether or not there are many cities and towns named after non-Western-European settlers. They did, after all, exist: Chinese and Japanese came as pioneers to the West, though few in number, and Eastern Europeans like Russians, Poles, Lithuanians, Greeks and Serbians settled as well.

I seem to recall a city named Pulaski (Texas?) That’s the only Polish-named city I’ve ever heard of. I wonder how many other places across the United States bear the names settlers not of Western European heritage?

2

Lots of towns with Native-American names. Piscataway comes to mind.

3

Canton Massachusetts is named after Canton China because of the China trade.

4

A lot of western cities and towns have (American) Indian names, especially in Washington and Alaska. Hawaiian cities and towns likewise have local native names.

As for, say, Asian names: How about Palestine (TX, WV, KS) and Lebanon (KS)? Yeah, those barely qualify as Asian, but they’re not European either.

Plenty of neighborhoods, like Chinatown or Little Saigon, but I can’t think of any proper towns or cities with east Asian names.

5

There are at least 10 U.S. towns named Delhi, 4 named Bombay, 3 named Madras, 4 Calcuttas, a Tokyo Bay and a Tokyo Hill, 4 Mandalays, Timbuktu, Oregon, 5 Bengals, 4 Golcondas, Teheran, Illinois, 10 Cairos, Baghdad Run, Pennsylvania…

There are also a lot of Biblical names. I grew up not far from one of the 10 Smyrnas.

(Note that at least some of these “towns” may not be much more than wide spots in the road.)

6

There is a Moscow, Idaho.

7

Ypsilanti, Michigan

I don’t know where they got “Kalamazoo, Michigan” from, either, but it’s another possibility

There are several “Moscows” scattered about. Lebannon, Indiana. Hebron, Indiana. Cairo, Illinois. New Delhis here and there…

If you include Native American names - well! They’re all over the place, and often not minor - Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle, Miami…

8

You’re in good company. It seems there isn’t a consensus on the etymology of “kalamazoo” but it seems it was probably Native American.

The examples of Native American place names are countless (I’ll add Cheyenne to those already listed). I suspect PaulFitzroy would have meant to exclude them in his question had he thought of it, although I don’t know him so it’s possible he was in need of some education on Native American place names and that all this has been quite helpful.

So, other than Western European and Native American, the two that immediately sprung to my mind were:

Eureka, CA (Greek)
Phoenix, AZ (Egyptian)

9

Another that hasn’t been mentioned yet is Memphis, Tennessee (Egyptian).

There’s also numerous towns named after people. I don’t know if they fall under the category of Western European names.

10

St. Petersburg, Florida

11

Canton Ohio. Canton comes from Canton China (now known as Guagnzhou). Canton as in Cantonese food. Ben Franklin was part of a big China cultural appreciation society. There are other examples but i can’t think of them off the top of my head…

12

Mostly European and English language place names? Well, I don’t know about that. Within 30 or 40 miles of my home we have:

Waukon
Wadena
Winneshiek (county)
Allamakee (county)
Quasqueton
Wapsipinicon (river)
Chickasaw (county)
Decorah

All words from the dialect spoken by the Winnebago and Sauk-Fox tribes, I think an Algonquin language, maybe Sioux…

Piqua, a Shawnee word, was near the town where I grew up. To say nothing of Chillicothe and Wapakoneta.

Just down the road we have Elkader, a variant of El Kadar, the guy who lead the Algerian uprisings against the French in the mid-19th century–so sort of African.

And of course, I live in Iowa – a Sauk-Fox word that means, take your choice, land beteween rivers, beautiful land, or I have no idea what this place is called (the Native-American equivilent of “I’da Know”).

13

Alhambra, CA derives from Arabic.

14

I’m not sure that all (or any) of these, count as non-Western European names. For example, Bombay ( the one in India) is a Western European name - the Indians call it Mumbai. And Moscow is called Moscva by the Muscovites.

15

Well, since you mentioned Serbia in your OP, I know of a Belgrade, Montana and a Belgrade, Minnesota.

There are so many Minnesota towns with American Indian names that they made a joke about it in the movie “Hot Shots”. (The words that the Indian chief says are all Minnesota towns, although some are mispronounced.)

16

Slight Hijack, but I’m guessing Spavined Gelding lives pretty close to me. (I’m in LaCrescent, MN and have been to Decorah, Waukon, etc).

Lots of Native American place names
Near me there is Hokah. Grew up in Kaukauna which means “gather place of the pike and pickeral (fish)”. How about Milwaukee.

Non WE Wisconsin town names:
Cuba City. Sevastapol. Pulaski I’m sure I will think of more later.

Brian

17

There is a Pulaski and a Thytira in Tennessee. We have lots of American Indian names, too, like Chattanooga.

I grew up in one of the Smyrnas that **MEBuckner ** referenced, the Tennessee one.

Peter Morris why do you want to disallow exonyms?

18

“Owyhee” is used in several place names in Oregon and Idaho and is a variation of “Hawaii” in honor of early settlers from there. Fun fact: the Owyhee River reservoir is the largest lake in Oregon, but very few Oregonians have ever been there.

19

There is a Zulu, Indiana and a Zulu, Alabama;
three states have a town named Africa;
five have a town named Tokio;
12 have an Araby or Arabia;
2 have a Burmah;
15 have a Montezuma;
6 have a Congo;

North Carolina has a Casablanca and a Samarcand;

and so on. There are 7 Tripolis, 18 Bereas, 11 Indias, and 20 Cairos. There are also 219 populated places containing the name Liberty and eleven containing the name Justice. I haven’t found any Australian aboriginal names in the US… that would be cool.

But the OP’s question of a town named for a non-western settler… I haven’t found one of those yet, except for some eastern european names like those cited by other posters. There is a Chinese Camp, California. Close, but not quite.

20

Then there’s Kosciusko, Mississippi, which was named after a Polish immigrant who was a Revolutionary War Hero. Why, exactly, his name was chosen for this town is a mystery, but every year a Polish Day festival is held there, despite the fact that a poll taken in Kosciusko found not a single person in the town who was actually of Polish descent.