Have all of those except Mogadore. Good to get more that are not in Europe, so thank you. I wasn’t sure about Almaden, although I considered it. The mines (one in each place) kind of confused things.
Doesn’t sound likely, but if there were people from both areas, it’s possible.
Have Billerica. I have no problem with places named “New …”, but there’s also a plain old Braintree in Massachusetts that I already have.
On reconsideration, I’ve decided to accept Almaden.
You probably have these, but Upstate New York had a whole series of names with (then) British origins with a smattering of Greek or classical names that were thrown down around the Finger Lakes and often then carried west across Northern Ohio and then scattered across southern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota:
Utica
Syracuse
Avon
Bath
Bloomfield
Brighton
Chelsea
Dundee
Farmington?
Hudson (although that may have come from the explorer rather than the UK cities)
[ Lansing, MI, named for Lansing, NY was named for a New York settler ]
Manchester
Oxford
Plymouth
[ Rochester, MI, and Rochester, MN, named for Rochester, NY was named for a New York settler ]
Waterford
tomndebb, I either have those or have ruled them out for various reasons. Thank you anyway.
There’s one name I’m having trouble with. If anyone has any of the relevant state-specific books, I’d appreciate if you could look this one up: Colmar. It’s a city in the Alsace region and there’s places with that name in Illinois, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. But Wikipedia doesn’t have etymologies in any of their pages.
My above post yesterday – I’m stupid ! (or was indulging alcoholically). The town in Devon is spelt Okehampton, and that’s what I meant to put.
I think it more likely that the original Oakhampton was a reference to Oakham, which is the county town in Rutland, England. Devon and Rutland are not close at all; one’s in the southwest and one’s in the north central. While it’s not impossible that there were people from both areas settling that part of Mass., it’s not especially likely.
Anyway, I included it on the off chance someone would have a placename etymology book that included it. I’m not too surprised no one does.
New Almaden, CA was named after top mercury mine town in Spain. As said. Second location not far away is New Idria. A mercury mining ghost town named after second top mercury mining place in Europe, Idrija, now in Slovenia.
Fantastic, yo han, that’s the first entry for Slovenia.
Wikipedia entry for the Town of Essex, Massachusetts, population 3504, where the fried clam was invented:
Yes, Essex, Massachusetts is a city. But Essex, England is a county. It contains many cities that are in the list.
How about Cathay, ND (pop. 43)? Again, the original is not quite so much a city, but…
Jericho, NY?
The list is long enough just with cities.
Have them, but thank you. I’m working on getting the list into a form I can put on the net, so that people can look at it themselves and see what I already have. It’ll take a little while, because I didn’t make the list in a form that makes that easy to do (wasn’t thinking ahead).
I’m not aware of anywhere in the UK called Hudson.
There are Hebrons everywhere.
Heck, have all the Biblical place names in USA.
Patna, VA after Patna in NE India?
Cashmere, WA for Kashmir in India
New Rochelle, NY from La Rochelle in France
(New Orleans of course is from Orleans in France)
You must have Tewksbury? (MA or NJ)
Solway, MN? Malta, MT? Bantam, CT? Dungeness, WA? Malmo, MN? Preston, CT? Culloden, WV or GA? (probably for Culloden Moor) Antrim, NH? Marengo, IL?
I remembered that people used to love naming towns for famous battles, which themselves are generally identified by place names.
Do you have Waterloo, Iowa?
Have Sidon; there’s also a Tyre in NY to complement it. I’m aware of the Biblical lists (there’s two in Wikipedia and they should be joined, but I’m not going to be the one to do it).
Unaware of that one, and Wikipedia doesn’t give an etymology. I’ll add as “needs confirmation” entry.
Kashmir is a region and I’m not doing those; have New Rochelle; New Orleans is actually named for the Duke of Orleans, who was the regent for Louis XV. Not to worry, Orleans NY fills that slot.
Tewksbury – have
Solway – not a city; it’s a firth
Malta – not a city; it’s a country
Bantam – don’t have but it needs confirmation
Dungeness – not a city; it’s a headland
Malmo – have
Preston – have
Culloden – don’t have but needs confirmation
Antrim – not a city; it’s a county (also an anagram of Martin)
Marengo – have
Yes, I have several already, including some from the Mexican-American war. One of which, Matamoros, was not actually a battle. The Mexicans didn’t defend it so the Americans captured it without battle. Yet, there’s a place in Ohio named for it.
Thanks for all the suggestions.
I have a Waterloo, but not that one. There’s several Waterloos in the US, and all but that one were named for the battle. From what I’ve read, the guy naming Waterloo, Iowa (it had just been platted at the time) needed inspiration for a name, looked through a listing of existing post offices, encountered the name, and decided he liked it. Or at least that’s the best explanation they can come up with.
Callary, Placenames of Illinois, says Colmar was named by settlers from the European city.
I don’t have Kentucky or Pennsylvania books. Stewart, American Place-Names, doesn’t have an entry for any Colmar.
Sounds good to me. Thank you.
I’d buy some of these books, but my budget right now will not support it. I do have a placename etymology book on my state, but Oregon is not a state with lots of examples.