# Cities/countries named after their leaders...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 15, 2020, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694 "2020-06-15T12:43:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/22 "2020-06-15T15:30:56Z")
Liechtenstein is named after the family that purchased it, not vice versa.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/23 "2020-06-15T15:46:04Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#):
>
> Maryland, Georgia, Charleston, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Virginia (kinda)…
Maryland was named after a Queen Consort, not the monarch. (Queen Henrietta Marie, wife of King Charles I).
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/24 "2020-06-15T15:48:17Z")
> [@Schnitte](#):
>
> Maybe New York City would also be eligible for the OP’s criteria. It was, following the British conquest of what had previously been New Amsterdam, named specifically after James, Duke of York (subsequently King James II of England). Of course the title of Duke of York was named after the English city of that name, and to the distinguish the two the American city got the “New” added. So it is a bit fuzzy to disentangle whether the Big Apple got named after the person or the city in England.
New York’s state capital was also named after James, under his additional title of Duke of Albany.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/25 "2020-06-15T15:58:01Z")
Houston was named after Sam Houston, President of the Republic of Texas.
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### Author:  [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/26 "2020-06-15T16:09:09Z")
Too many cities in India to name. India itself is a western name to denote the lands east of the Indus River.
The Official name for India in Hindi (one of the native languages) is Bharat, named after a king of lore / legend. [Bharata (Mahabharata) - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharata_(Mahabharata))
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/27 "2020-06-15T16:12:02Z")
Ciudad Juarez in Mexico is named after President Benito Juarez.
Balboa in Panama (once a town in the Canal Zone, now a district of Panama City) is named after Vasco Nunez de Balboa, who was de facto governor of the colony in its earliest years (although without official royal authority).
Sucre, the capital of Bolivia, is named after Antonio José de Sucre, one of Bolivar’s lieutenants, and its first President.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/28 "2020-06-15T16:30:48Z")
Georgetown, capital of Guyana, was named after King George III.
Port Louis, capital of Mauritius, is named after King Louis XV of France.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/29 "2020-06-15T16:38:58Z")
> [@blindboyard](#):
>
> Victoria in Australia.
Also Victoria, capital of the Seychelles, and Victoria, capital of British Columbia.
The capital of Saskatchewan, Regina, is also named for Victoria Regina, as is the state of Queensland in Australia, and indirectly Queenstown, New Zealand (by way of Queenstown, Ireland, now Cobh).
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/30 "2020-06-15T17:00:28Z")
> [@Schnitte](#):
>
> There were no cities named directly after Hitler, but the Third Reich designated a series of cities as [Führer cities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%BChrer_city). It was an epithet, not a renaming, and it earmarked the city for major public construction and urban planning projects.
A German city named after a leader is Wilhelmshaven, which was named in 1869 after King Wilhelm I of Prussia, who became Kaiser Willhelm I two years later after the foundation of the German empire.
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### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/31 "2020-06-15T17:05:17Z")
Abbottabad in Pakistan (erstwhile home of Osama Bin Laden) was named after Maj. James Abbott, the founder of the city and British administrator of the region.
Austin, Texas is named after Stephen F. Austin, the “Father of Texas”, and the first American to get a land grant in Texas from the Spanish government. I suppose he counts. Houston’s already been mentioned.
There’s also Madison, WI, Jackson, MS and Jefferson City, MO.
Cleveland, OH is named after Moses Cleaveland, the leader of the surveying company who laid out/founded the city.
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/32 "2020-06-15T17:15:10Z")
And after Wilhelmshaven, I thought of [Friedrichshafen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrichshafen), which was named after King Friedrich I of Württemberg.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/33 "2020-06-15T17:15:30Z")
Prince Rupert, British Columbia, is named after Prince Rupert of the Rhine, first governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, which was the defacto government of much of Canada (although not I think where Prince Rupert is).
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/34 "2020-06-15T17:16:00Z")
Foreign places names after US Presidents:
Monrovia, Liberia. He didn’t found the country but supported its mission.
Presidente Hayes Department, and its capital Villa Hayes. After losing one of the most brutal wars in history, Paraguay got a decent amount of its territory restored as negotiated by RBH.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/35 "2020-06-15T17:21:52Z")
I went to college in Rensselaer County, New York, which was named for the Dutch patroon in the area. And there are [other places in New York State named for the patroons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patroon), like Bronx, named for Jonas Bronck.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/36 "2020-06-15T17:59:54Z")
Jamestown, Virginia, is named after King James I, and Williamsburg after William III. Baltimore is named after Lord Baltimore, the first proprietor of the Maryland colony.
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### Author:  [@merrick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merrick)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/37 "2020-06-15T18:51:56Z")
And to complete the circle, the Washington family took their name from the manor of [Washington](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,_Tyne_and_Wear) in northern England, where George Washington’s ancestors were Lords of the Manor in the Middle Ages.
For a really convoluted one, Richmond, Virginia is named after Richmond, Surrey, which got its name from Richmond Palace, which was built there by King Henry VII and named after his former earldom of Richmond.
(The original Richmond is in Yorkshire, but I can’t find any evidence that Henry VII had any connection to it bar holding the title).
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/38 "2020-06-15T19:12:49Z")
> [@merrick](#):
>
> And to complete the circle, the Washington family took their name from the manor of [Washington](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,_Tyne_and_Wear) in northern England, where George Washington’s ancestors were Lords of the Manor in the Middle Ages.
And then if you go back even further, Washington itself, like many other -ing names, probably meant something like “Town where Wassa’s people live”.
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### Author:  [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/39 "2020-06-15T19:41:17Z")
Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, was named after Mswati, a 19th century ruler in that region.
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### Author:  [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/40 "2020-06-15T19:41:51Z")
Raleigh NC and there is Raleigh ,WV too , probably others.
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### Author:  [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/41 "2020-06-15T19:46:07Z")
Zaragoza, Spain is named after the Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus, said very quickly.
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