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.
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.
Maybe, although it’s kind of oblique. It’s really a reference to Chavez’s Bolivarian Revolution, a political movement (which of course is named after Bolivar). There are actually six Bolivarian Republics, although only Venezuela calls itself one.
Rome was supposedly named after Romulus, but that could be apocryphal.
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.
One answer I haven’t seen here is one of my favorites, just because of the incongruity of the name.
one of the major subdivisions of Chile.
Also Lunenburg, Nova Scotia (where both the original Bluenose and the replica Bluenose II were built).
Saudi Arabia takes it’s name from the current ruling dynasty Al-Saud
Likewise the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
The Philippines themselves are named after King Philipp II of Spain. Strange that nobody has mentioned it yet.
Sihanoukville, in Cambodia is named after a prince!
Bucharest, Romania (where I live) is named after Bucur, the nobleman who owned the land where the city was originally founded.