Where do cities, states, countries get their names?

Answer 1

Place names like cities, states, and countries get their names from a variety of sources. Sometimes a place is named for a particular person, like the state of Washington is named for George Washington or Pennsylvania (which means Penn's Woods - after William Penn, one of the colony's founders). Colombia was named after Christopher Columbus.

Sometimes a place name comes from a geographic feature of the place - Mountain View CA is named such because it has.. a mountain view. Chicago is named from a Native American word meaning "wild onion" or "smelly onion", which apparent grew in the area where the town was first built.

Some place names are actually derived from the calendar. Early Spanish explorers often named locations after the feast day of the saint on which it was discovered. Thus Santa Ana was named because either the settlement was made or the area was explored on the feast day of Saint Ann. Christmas Island was named.. because it was explored on Christmas.

Many place names come from other languages, and sometimes aren't translated right or the name is a changed version of the original pronunciation. This can happen when one nationality names an area, but another nationality settles the area.

Additionally, many place names are named after other places. Settlers coming from one town or country might want to name their new town or region after something from back home - sometimes by using the same name, or sometimes just adding "New" in front of it, like New Orleans or New Jersey. Spanish explorers along the South American coast saw a native settlement built on water and it reminded them of Venice, Italy, and so they named it Little Venice - or Venezuela.

Some places get names from just abbreviating a designation - the town of Coalinga, California was named because it had a stash of coal mines nearby and so the railroads built a station there to help add coal for the trains, and it became known as Coaling Station A, which later got shortened to Coaling A, and as a town grew up around the station, it just became Coalinga.

Some places are even named after ideals, like the country of Liberia - named for the Latin "Place for Freedom" (liberty --> Liberia) as the country was founded as a place for free Africans who were former slaves in America.

Answer 2

Naming places is arbitrary and sometimes reflects a sense of humor rather than a physical description.

In California, for example, Los Banos is Spanish for "bathrooms," Manteca means "lard," and Fresno is "ash." Other cities are named for patron saints, San Diego (St. James), San Juan Bautista (St. John the Baptist), Santa Clara (Saint Clare). Some cities are abbreviated, like Los Angeles (technically it is La Ciudad de Los Angeles, meaning "the city of angels"). Then others are just a whim. A city was founded about halfway between Fresno and Sacramento ("the sacrament") by a man who was too modest to have the location named after him, so it became "Modesto."

Then, some grow out of the history of a location. At one time, travelers from Los Angeles to Fresno would stop about half way between the two cities to rest. In those days, before automobiles, the journey would take several days. It was common for folks to stay a day or two in Colonel Baker's field, where there was shelter and food. Today, a mid-sized metropolis occupies the same geographic location, and it is known as Bakersfield.

Answer 3

Each city, country or state has a different history behind their names.

Answer 4

Too many cities and origins to name.

Sometimes, the names just come from butchered translations. Take Buffalo, for example. There's no buffalo in Buffalo. Buffalo actually comes from "beau fleur", which is French for "beautiful river" (Buffalo is on the St Lawrence, which hadn't yet been named). "Buffalo" is just English speakers' attempts to spell a butchered pronunciation of the city's French name.

(I always liked that story, since a branch of my family is named Buzard, which is really a butchered version of Boussard, not Buzzard, the bird.)

Answer 5

I'm not sure but the town I live in was named after a town and castle in England. This area of "New England" (USA) was settled by the English about 400 years ago and many names are traced to them.

Answer 6

Oregon got its name when some indians were canoeing down the Columbia River, and 1 dropped his paddle he said, "OAR HE GONE"
Justy kidding i have no clue

Answer 7

from the people of the area.

Answer 8

Here's what I tell my kids when they start with the annoying questions:

Who ever made it up/invented it/discovered it gets to name it.

Answer 9

anything! people name the cities, states, contries after people, animals, flowers, you name it!

Answer 10

It's a good question but I don't know the answer