# 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:** 3
### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/42 "2020-06-15T20:12:17Z")
Charleston, South Carolina, is named after King Charles II.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/43 "2020-06-15T20:51:21Z")
Leningrad and Stalingrad, now defunct.
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/44 "2020-06-15T20:53:21Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#):
>
> Numerous cities have been named after national leaders (often controversial and quickly changed after the death/elimination of the leader) - are there still some around?
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> Leningrad and Stalingrad, now defunct.
If he wanted ones that weren’t around, he would have said “We want defunct, we gotta have defunct!”
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### Author:  [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/45 "2020-06-15T20:55:03Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> Leningrad and Stalingrad, now defunct.
The administrative district (oblast) surrounding the city of Saint Petersburg still retains the city’s pre-1991 name, Leningrad.
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### Author:  [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/46 "2020-06-15T21:02:00Z")
Albuquerque, New Mexico was named after Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 10th Duke of Alburquerque, who was viceroy of New Spain at the time.
Notice the difference in spelling. Folklore says that an American postmaster dropped the first “R” because he didn’t like the sound, and the rest of the country followed the lead of the Post Office. A more likely explanation is that he assumed that it was named after a Portuguese admiral named Alfonso de Albuquerque, Duke of Goa, who was much more famous than the Spanish duke, and more likely to be mentioned in an English-language reference book.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/47 "2020-06-15T21:02:33Z")
Quezon City in the Philippines is named after Manuel L. Quezon, the second president of the country.
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/48 "2020-06-15T21:31:23Z")
Denmark, [disputed etymology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_Denmark), maybe named after [King Dan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_(king)).
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### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/49 "2020-06-15T22:12:20Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#):
>
> Bolivar was a liberator of that region but never the political leader.
He was for a short while, when it was part of Gran Colombia.
As far as US presidents go, I believe every one from Washington to Taft have had cities or towns named after them. A lot of them are pretty obscure places you never heard of and may no longer exist. Not a president, but Norvelt, Pennsylvania was named after Eleanor Roosevelt.
> [@thelurkinghorror](#):
>
> 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.
Hayes didn’t do any actual negotiation for that. What happened was that the two countries (Paraguay and Argentina) agreed to let a foreign leader (Hayes) act as arbiter in their border dispute. Hayes sided with Paraguay, although it’s most likely he didn’t do much besides rubberstamp the recommendations of US diplomats in the area.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/50 "2020-06-15T22:20:13Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#):
>
> 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.
Israel has a small town call Kfar Truman (literally, “Trumanville”), named after President Harry S, for being the first world leader to recognize Israel’s independence.
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### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/51 "2020-06-15T22:25:35Z")
Too late to add to my preceeding post, but there’s a city in Liberia named Buchanan. It was not named after the US president, but rather one of his relatives, [Thomas Buchanan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Buchanan_(Governor_of_Liberia)), who was a governor of Liberia.
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### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/52 "2020-06-15T22:24:34Z")
Too late to add to my preceeding post, but there’s a city in Liberia named Buchanan. It was not named after the US president, but rather one of his relatives, [Thomas Buchanan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Buchanan_(Governor_of_Liberia)), who was a governor of Liberia.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/53 "2020-06-15T22:34:14Z")
> [@dtilque](#):
>
> He was for a short while, when it was part of Gran Colombia.
Bolivia was never part of Gran Colombia. Gran Colombia included what are now Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama. Bolivia was part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, which gained independence separately from Gran Colombia, and eventually became independent of Peru.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/54 "2020-06-15T22:47:55Z")
> [@Ludovic](#):
>
> 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”.
I believe if you check the etymology, you’ll find the family name originates in an Old English word meaning “a really big load of laundry.”
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/55 "2020-06-15T23:46:53Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#):
>
> 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.
Panama City has a district named Torrijos-Carter, in commemoration of the Panama Canal Treaties.
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### Author:  [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2020, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/56 "2020-06-16T00:02:15Z")
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada - named after Queen Victoria (i.e. “Regina” in contrast to “Rex” for king). Prince Albert is another city in Saskatchewan.
There are numerous "Victoria"s around the world.
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### Author:  [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2020, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/57 "2020-06-16T00:12:10Z")
> [@blindboyard](#):
>
> Victoria in Australia.
Also Queensland in Australia, named after the same woman.
Victoria, the state, was named after the then reigning monarch, while its capital Melbourne was named after the UK Prime Minister then in office, Lord Melbourne.
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### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2020, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/58 "2020-06-16T01:52:43Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> Bolivia was never part of Gran Colombia. Gran Colombia included what are now Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama. Bolivia was part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, which gained independence separately from Gran Colombia, and eventually became independent of Peru.
OK, you’re right, Bolivia was not part of Gran Colombia. I read Bolivar’s wikipage too quickly. However, he apparently was the leader in Bolivia for a short time and tried unsuccessfully to get it to merge with Gran Colombia.
There are also many cities and towns named for Bolivar, including a couple in the US.
> [@Mark\_Finn](#):
>
> There are numerous "Victoria"s around the world.
Yes, but note that not all of them are named for the Queen. For example, there are many Victorias in Spanish speaking countries, but ‘victoria’ means ‘victory’ in Spanish. So they’re usually named for some military victory. There’s also a few places in the US named Victoria, but as far as I can tell, none were named after the Queen, either. But regardless of the source of the name, Victoria is probably the place name found in more countries than any other.
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### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2020, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/59 "2020-06-16T02:32:05Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> New York’s state capital was also named after James, under his additional title of Duke of Albany.
Along those same lines, because the Elector of Hanover (a.k.a. the Elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg) became the King of Great Britain, there are a number of places in Canada, Australia, and the original 13 colonies of the US named Hanover, Brunswick, and Lunenburg. New Brunswick, both Canadian province and city in NJ, Hanover PA, and Lunenburg VA are examples.
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### Author:  [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2020, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/60 "2020-06-16T03:22:17Z")
> [@dtilque](#):
>
> OK, you’re right, Bolivia was not part of Gran Colombia. I read Bolivar’s wikipage too quickly. However, he apparently was the leader in Bolivia for a short time and tried unsuccessfully to get it to merge with Gran Colombia.
>
> There are also many cities and towns named for Bolivar, including a couple in the US. …
His sometime compatriot Jose de San Martin gets Liberator General San Martin Drive, a lovely bushland drive in outer suburban Sydney, Australia.
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### Author:  [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2020, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/61 "2020-06-16T03:25:14Z")
Does Queen Maud land, part of Antarctica claimed by Denmark, count? She was the wife of the ruling Danish monarch King Haakon VII.
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