# 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:** 13
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2020, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/82 "2020-06-17T14:54:51Z")
> [@Kimstu](#):
>
> The Orange Free State was named after the Dutch royal House of Orange
The relationship was tangential. The Boers weren’t Dutch citizens - hadn’t been for decades - when they moved in. The Free State was named after the Orange River. That \*was \*named after the House of Orange.
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### Author:  [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2020, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/83 "2020-06-17T16:49:44Z")
There is also the funny case of King of Prussia Pennsylvania. I suppose they wanted to name the town after the German ruler, but no one knew his name?
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### Author:  [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2020, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/84 "2020-06-17T17:08:32Z")
> [@zimaane](#):
>
> There is also the funny case of King of Prussia Pennsylvania. I suppose they wanted to name the town after the German ruler, but no one knew his name?
Or they wanted to commemorate the self-elevation of the Prussian ruler from elector (a lower rank of nobility) to king. That elevation took place in 1701, and it was only eighteen years later that the King of Prussia Inn was set up in Pennsylvania which would later give its name to the town.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2020, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/85 "2020-06-17T17:21:37Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#):
>
> OK, but then, Venezuela—formally, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela—should count as being named after its erstwhile leader, no?
Maybe, although it’s kind of oblique. It’s really a reference to Chavez’s [Bolivarian Revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivarian_Revolution), a political movement (which of course is named after Bolivar). There are actually six [Bolivarian Republics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivarian_countries), although only Venezuela calls itself one.
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### Author:  [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/86 "2020-06-17T18:03:14Z")
Rome was supposedly named after Romulus, but that could be apocryphal.
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### Author:  [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2020, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/87 "2020-06-25T13:52:27Z")
So what I gather from reading this thread is that most nations are not named after a political leader but political subdivisions such as states, territories, and cities very often are.
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### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2020, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/88 "2020-06-25T22:59:21Z")
One answer I haven’t seen here is one of my favorites, just because of the incongruity of the name.
> **[O'Higgins Region](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Higgins_Region)**
>
> Pages for logged out editors learn more
>
>
> The Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Region (Spanish: Región del Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins, pronounced \[liβeɾtaˈðoɾ xeneˈɾal βeɾˈnaɾðo oˈçiɣins\]), often shortened to O'Higgins Region (Spanish: Región de O'Higgins), is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It is subdivided into three provinces. It is named in honour of Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme, one of Chile's founding fathers.
> The Libertador General Bernardo O...
one of the major subdivisions of Chile.
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### Author:  [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2020, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/89 "2020-06-26T05:11:35Z")
Also Lunenburg, Nova Scotia (where both the original Bluenose and the replica Bluenose II were built).
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### Author:  [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2020, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/90 "2020-06-26T08:11:37Z")
Saudi Arabia takes it’s name from the current ruling dynasty Al-Saud
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### Author:  [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2020, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/91 "2020-06-26T10:37:25Z")
Likewise the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
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### Author:  [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2020, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/92 "2020-06-26T20:50:41Z")
The Philippines themselves are named after King Philipp II of Spain. Strange that nobody has mentioned it yet.
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### Author:  [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2020, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/93 "2020-06-26T22:21:37Z")
Sihanoukville, in Cambodia is named after a prince!
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### Author:  [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2020, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-countries-named-after-their-leaders/855694/94 "2020-06-27T03:04:22Z")
Bucharest, Romania (where I live) is named after Bucur, the nobleman who owned the land where the city was originally founded.
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