# What was the first place to be named "New" Something? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 20, 2004, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-place-to-be-named-new-something/246225 "2004-05-20T18:43:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-place-to-be-named-new-something/246225/1 "2004-05-20T18:43:11Z")
Anybody know? I’m betting it wasn’t New New York. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-place-to-be-named-new-something/246225/2 "2004-05-20T18:51:16Z")
**Carthago Nova**? Fell to the Romans in 209 BC. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-place-to-be-named-new-something/246225/3 "2004-05-20T19:07:21Z")
Naples (it. Napoli, founded as Greek nea polis) is probably older. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-place-to-be-named-new-something/246225/4 "2004-05-20T19:15:33Z")
**Neapolis** , 6th century BC. Yep. Anything older? ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-place-to-be-named-new-something/246225/5 "2004-05-21T00:25:23Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Anybody know? > > I’m betting it wasn’t New New York. Even Old New York was once New Amsterdam. ---
**Author:** ![tadc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@tadc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tadc)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-place-to-be-named-new-something/246225/6 "2004-05-21T00:31:49Z")
Why they changed it, I can’t say. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-place-to-be-named-new-something/246225/7 "2004-05-21T00:35:58Z")
Maybe they liked it better that way? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-place-to-be-named-new-something/246225/8 "2004-05-21T00:52:55Z")
> [@tadc](#): > > Why they changed it, I can’t say. Presumably the name was changed when the English took control of Manhattan island from the Dutch. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-place-to-be-named-new-something/246225/9 "2004-05-21T00:59:55Z")
Whoosh? Actually “Carthage” itself is a romanization of Phoenician Kart-hadasht “New Town”. “Famous” Carthage, in todays Tunis, was founded 814 B.C. [http://www.crystalinks.com/carthage.html](http://www.crystalinks.com/carthage.html) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-place-to-be-named-new-something/246225/10 "2004-05-21T02:16:15Z")
> [@jimmmy](#): > > Actually “Carthage” itself is a romanization of Phoenician Kart-hadasht “New Town”. “Famous” Carthage, in todays Tunis, was founded 814 B.C. Using “New” in town names is an interesting practice, esp. in this case. Carthage founded a colony in Spain called “New Carthage” or “Cartagena”. The Spanish then later founded a city in Colombia called “New Cartagena” (but the “New” was later dropped). So it’s name once could be thought of as “New New New Town.” I suspect that Egyptians had a “New” city at least 3000 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-place-to-be-named-new-something/246225/11 "2004-05-21T04:25:14Z")
Cain raised his family in a town he named **New Eden**. 😃 [sup] **Top that!** [/sup] ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-place-to-be-named-new-something/246225/12 "2004-05-21T04:31:06Z")
OK, start over. I submit that all the “new town” equivilants should be tossed. To qualify, a place should be named after an already (or formerly) existing place name. Therefore, despite semantic quibbles, a New Newtown counts even though Newtown itself does not. Unless, of course, there was a place simply named “Town.” That, I believe, brings us back to New Carthage. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-place-to-be-named-new-something/246225/13 "2004-05-21T05:17:28Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > OK, start over. > > I submit that all the “new town” equivilants should be tossed. To qualify, a place should be named after an already (or formerly) existing place name. Therefore, despite semantic quibbles, a New Newtown counts even though Newtown itself does not. Unless, of course, there was a place simply named “Town.” > > That, I believe, brings us back to New Carthage. There’s a town bordering mine called Newtown. Not once, in the 20 some odd years that I’ve lived here, did the New Town etymology once dawn on me. Man, I’m thick. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-place-to-be-named-new-something/246225/14 "2004-05-21T13:20:52Z")
Probably the “New World.”