# What's the most populous geographic entity named after a person? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2013, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116 "2013-08-25T08:55:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116/21 "2013-08-25T16:39:30Z")
I wanted to exclude America because the naming was somewhat random anyway and because it kind of overshadows everything. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116/22 "2013-08-25T17:50:02Z")
Well, what about Asia? Does being named after a band count? ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116/23 "2013-08-25T17:50:11Z")
San Bernardino County, CA, LARGEST in the U.S., (20,000+ sq. miles) named after Saint Bernardino. Alaska, over 500,000 sq. miles, has some boroughs of large sq. mile areas named after people. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116/24 "2013-08-25T17:50:23Z")
What about Columbia? (Not Colombia) Also, how many different places are named Washington? ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116/25 "2013-08-25T17:50:26Z")
Saudi Arabia, named after Abdul-Aziz bin Saud. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116/26 "2013-08-25T17:57:17Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > I wanted to exclude America because the naming was somewhat random anyway and because it kind of overshadows everything. Vespucci got the nod over Columbus because he was the first or among the first to propose that the discoveries were actually a new continent, rather than part of Asia as Columbus insisted, so I wouldn’t consider it random. In any case, I agree that if the Americas/United States of America, China, and India are excluded, the winner is the Philippines. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116/27 "2013-08-25T18:02:43Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#): > > What about Columbia? (Not Colombia) Why not Colombia? It’s also named after Columbus (Cristobal Colon in Spanish). Colombia has 10 times the population of British Columbia and many times the population of the District of Columbia. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116/28 "2013-08-25T18:08:16Z")
Columbia has a grander meaning than that as well, more or less synonymous with ‘America’. But is Colombia bigger than Bolivia? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116/29 "2013-08-25T18:20:50Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#): > > But is Colombia bigger than Bolivia? Much bigger, with a population of 47 million vs Bolivia’s 10 million. ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116/30 "2013-08-25T18:28:29Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > The Turks completely lost their chance to claim that title by renaming Constantinople, but I guess that’s their business. Nice. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116/31 "2013-08-25T18:45:53Z")
> [@bldysabba](#): > > In a similar vein India has two official names - India, and, after an Indian emperor - Bharat. When was that India’s official name? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116/32 "2013-08-25T19:56:06Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > When was that India’s official name? Right now. Bharat Ganrajya is the official name of what we call the [Republic of India](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India) in English. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116/33 "2013-08-25T20:23:01Z")
Washington State, Washington, DC Bolivia (Simon Bolivar) Rhodesia (Cecil Rhodes), now Zimbabwe ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116/34 "2013-08-25T20:45:51Z")
For those who think America (North and South) counts towards this OP: The combined population of the Americas is 934,611,000. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116/35 "2013-08-25T23:16:33Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > I believe he also used the Latinized name “Americus” which wad a common affectation of the educated in those days. The continent being a land, was the feminized version ending in -a. Columbus was a Latinized name too (Italian, Colombo). So was Confucius (from K’ung Fu-tzu, or any of a variety of romanized variations given in Wikipedia). ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116/36 "2013-08-26T20:57:18Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > [most populous cities](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_urban_areas_by_population), there’s maybe some grey area on the whole “mythological” thing with Sao Paulo. Otherwise it would appear that Ho Chi Minh City is the current winner of cities named after people who definitely existed. The Turks completely lost their chance to claim that title by renaming Constantinople, but I guess that’s their business. Even the most skeptical theologians, guys who don’t believe Jesus existed, are certain that St. Paul was real- indeed, more than a few of them think Paul made up Christianity. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116/37 "2013-08-26T20:58:46Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > I think that would fall under the same exclusion as New York, in that Chin/Qin was a landed title, not a family name. > > Well, admittedly I’m not totally up on biblical historicity, but my impression is that there’s evidence he existed, but no particular evidence that he resembled the character in the gospels. I’d call him sort of semi-mythical. But YMMV. Paul NEVER appears in the Gospels. He became a Christian long after the death of Jesus. The letters he wrote are the epistles that appear in the Bible. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116/38 "2013-08-26T21:07:33Z")
At its height, Rome was a significant portion of the world. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116/39 "2013-08-26T21:24:04Z")
I think Colombia with 47 million may be the winner. I had a look at [Chinese provincial](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_etymologies_of_country_subdivision_names#China)and [Indian state](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_states_and_union_territories_by_the_etymology_of_their_name) name etymologies, in the off chance one of those qualified. None of the chinese provinces were named after people, and [Jammu](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jammu)in India only has 13 million. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116/40 "2013-08-26T21:36:57Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#): > > At its height, Rome was a significant portion of the world. Yes, but “Romulus” was a mythical figure named after the city, in the same way that “Britannia” is a consciously mythical personification of Britain. There never was a guy named Romulus who founded a city and it was named after him. There was a city named Roma and they figured the city had to be named after someone, so they invented Romulus and made up stories about him and what a badass he was. Like that time he totally killed his brother for hopping over the city wall and being a jerk about it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-populous-geographic-entity-named-after-a-person/667116.md?page=3)