Places are frequently named after people. Usually it’s just the last name (when named for men, that is, which are the bulk of such names; when named for women, it’s usually the first name). But occasionally, they’re named with both the first and last names. I’m looking for examples of this last category.
I already have a number of them, especially in the US. Jim Thorpe PA, Jean Lafitte LA, Gene Autry OK, and Robert Lee TX (named for the Confederate general) are several examples. I know of half a dozen or so others that are much more obscure. I’m also looking for counties named in this way, such as Ann Arundel County MD and some named for Jefferson Davis in various states.
Outside the US, I don’t have much. Chemnitz, Germany was named Karl-Marx-Stadt during the Cold War, but they voted to revert in 1990. There’s several named for Simon Bolivar in various countries, including some county equivalents. And then there’s Ho Chi Minh City, but that’s it.
So anyone know of any others? Or even any that on the surface look like they may qualify until you actually find out their origin. Ann Arbor MI for example.
Vietnam does a lot of naming of places (surburbs especially) and streets after people… there’s a million places to with the full name listed there. So Vietnam, China, Laos are probably extremely fertile ground … but pointless to mention again
I was wondering whether to exclude certain parts of the world, but didn’t know enough about the naming patterns everywhere. I did look on Wikipedia to see if certain high-level Chinese leaders had places named after them, but it didn’t show anything. Which doesn’t mean anything, of course.
So lets avoid those three countries and any others with similar naming patterns. I’m mostly interested in countries with westernized naming patterns anyway.
Morgan Hill, California is NOT named after a hill named after a guy named Morgan.
The name is shorthand for “Morgan Hill’s Ranch,” the name given to the community built around the holdings of Hiram Morgan Hill and his wife Diana née Murphy.
My face is red. :o I raced to click for San Juan Capistrano so I could be first , did an ETA when I thought of Saigon’s new name; then checked to see if OP had already mentioned it. I then clicked for re-edit/delete but the Five-Minute window had expired. (Would it really be that hard to change to a SIX-minute window? :rolleyes: )
I think Venkatanarasimharajuvaripeta in Andhra Pradesh, India, qualifies. Google shows it as “Venkata narasimha raju’s city” although it runs fore-, middle- and sur-names together.
A mountaintop in New Zealand has one of the longer place names: Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu. Google translates this Māori as “The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his nose flute to his loved one;” so it would qualify if “the man with the big knees,” or one of Tamatea’s other distinctions, qualifies as a surname.
John Day, Oregon. John Day was a fur trapper in Astoria, Oregon. While traveling down the Columbia River he was captured by local Indians near the mouth of what is now the John Day River, stripped naked and released, along with his partner Ramsay Crooks. While Day has the city, the river, and an entire recreational region named for him, Crooks has been forgotten.
Many military bases are named for people, such as Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX.
, did an ETA when I thought of Saigon’s new name; then checked to see if OP had already mentioned it. I then clicked for re-edit/delete but the Five-Minute window had expired. (Would it really be that hard to change to a SIX-minute window? :rolleyes: )