What is the origin of your hometown's name?

[skysoar]

My hometown Akron named after the Greek: Acropolis , meaning high place. Akron being in one of the highest places in the Western Reserve.

[kichigai]

Originally Posted by tayser

Melbourne named after William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne - the UK Prime Minister at the time (1837)

Nearly named 'Batmania' after founder John Batman

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

Well, I almost added "But you know that" to my post but, since there was smilie, I wasn't sure that you did indeed know it.

If you're referring to the mindset of anyone can be a Texan, no I didn't, but I find that interesting. Here, if you weren't born here you will never be from here, and the natives will resent you for saying otherwise.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by benp

Buffalo, New York -

The city received its name from the Buffalo River and Buffalo Creek which flow through the current downtown area into Lake Erie. The site had historically been native American villages, and it is said that when the first French explorer arrived in the area in 1679, Louis Hennepin exclaimed "Beau Fleuve" (beautiful river) which eventually became Anglicized into the word Buffalo. By the mid 1700s Buffalo was the common term used for the river, and the nearby villages.

The 1804 Joseph Ellicott's survey and street layout for the city referred to it as New Amsterdam, but the new name never stuck.

Although it had been noted that American buffalo were seen as far east as the shores of Lake Erie by early European explorers, there have been no known buffalo historically seen in the area currently Buffalo NY.

I had always been (mildly) puzzled at Buffalo's name given there obviously aren't/weren't buffalo in that area, but apparently, not intrigued enough to bother looking it up... now I'll never forget it!

Always nice to irreversibly learn something.

(I can say the same for early Roman military leader Cincinnatus, also something I know I won't ever un-learn now. Thanks to you two for making this thread even more interesting!)

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by lio45

(I can say the same for early Roman military leader Cincinnatus, also something I know I won't ever un-learn now. Thanks to you two for making this thread even more interesting!)

Me too. I always thought Cincinnati was some corruption of an indigenous word.

[Metro-One]

Was born in Maple Ridge.

When first settled by Europeans and other non natives there was a prominent ridge above the river with many Big Leaf Maple trees. Some of that still survives today.

That’s it, very direct and simple and non offensive.

[Buckeye Native 001]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

If you're referring to the mindset of anyone can be a Texan, no I didn't, but I find that interesting. Here, if you weren't born here you will never be from here, and the natives will resent you for saying otherwise.

See also: Ohio (with the exception of maybe Columbus?)

Meanwhile in Arizona, practically everyone here is from somewhere else and meeting a bona fide born and raised native Arizonan is about as rare as a solar eclipse.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Me too. I always thought Cincinnati was some corruption of an indigenous word.

It would have been my top guess to explain "Buffalo" as well.

[Dariusb]

My hometown, Texarkana's name comes from it's location Tex-Texas, ark-Arkansas and ana-Louisiana.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

If you're referring to the mindset of anyone can be a Texan, no I didn't, but I find that interesting. Here, if you weren't born here you will never be from here, and the natives will resent you for saying otherwise.

[ThePhun1]

Originally Posted by ThePhun1

Metro: Houston, for Texas general and president Sam Houston.

Home town: League City, for early settler and leader John League.

Current Residence: La Marque, apparently in error by French nuns looking for "the mark" on the map in which they were headed, Galveston.

Bonus (some other locales I've frequented)

Pomona, after the Greek mythological figure.

Carson, for the Carson Estate Company.

Rialto, for the area of Venice.

Originally Posted by Dariusb

My hometown, Texarkana's name comes from it's location Tex-Texas, ark-Arkansas and ana-Louisiana.

It was actually surveyed in the wrong spot. It was also supposed to be close to Louisiana, not just in name.

[Acajack]

I won't do my actual birthplace as it's a pretty small city and would reveal TMI about myself.

So I will do Canada's capital region, where I've lived for the better part of the past three decades.

While Canada's capital (Ottawa) and the biggest city by far is on the south shore of the Ottawa River, this region was actually first settled on Quebec (north) shore of the river.

The guy responsible was an American by the name of Philemon Wright. He was from the Boston area and had been loyal to the British during the American Revolution. The place he founded in 1800 has also been named Wright's Town but it was the name Hull (after a small city in Greater Boston) that stuck. Wright made Hull into a major lumber town, and at one time produced much of the wood that built the ships that comprised the British Navy of the 19th century, which ruled the seas of much of the world.

While the small group of early settlers were American Loyalists, the booming industries required more and more labourers, who ended up being French Canadian. As a result, Hull quickly became a mainly French-speaking city in the first half of the 1800s, reflected in the usual local pronunciation of the name: 'uhl.

Today, Hull has about 65,000 people and is no longer its own city, having been merged in 2002 with several other cities to create the new city of Gatineau (population 285,000).

The Gatineau name comes from a north-south river that empties into the Ottawa close to the city's heart.

The Gatineau name comes from Nicolas Ga(s)tineau and his sons, French/Canadian fur traders and aventurers active in the region in the latter half of the 1600s. But no permanent settlement was implanted here during that time.

Canada's capital city Ottawa had its beginnings on the south side of the Ottawa River in present-day Ontario a couple of decades after Hull did. Initially it was the starting point for a canal that the British wanted to build so ships could by-pass the segment of the St Lawrence River that was/is a shared border between Canada and the USA. The War of 1812 was still fresh in people's minds and navigating down the Ottawa from Montreal and then down the Rideau Canal from Ottawa to Kingston provided an all-Canadian route that was safe from pesky American cannons.

Ottawa at first was called Bytown after Colonel John By who headed up the Royal Engineers who were responsible for the Rideau Canal project.

Once the canal was complete Bytown became mostly a rambunctious lumber town similar to what Hull already was.

The city's name was changed to Ottawa in 1855, matching the name of the river. Ottawa is the English interpretation of the name of the Addawa or Attawe indigenous nation. Apparently it means "traders".

Two years later, in 1857, Queen Victoria made a Solomon-like decision and put an end to years of infighting between Quebec, Ontario, Montreal, Toronto, Kingston and Quebec City, and chose Ottawa as the definitive capital of Canada.

[Serenade]

My favorite is Tomball, TX (Houston burb). You probably guessed it's named after someone. You probably didn't guess his name is Tom Ball.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

If you're referring to the mindset of anyone can be a Texan, no I didn't, but I find that interesting. Here, if you weren't born here you will never be from here, and the natives will resent you for saying otherwise.

One of our (hideous) senators has a mother originally from Delaware, a father from Cuba and he himself was born in Canada.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by Acajack

While the small group of early settlers were American Loyalists

I'm wondering if everyone reading this understands that "American Loyalist" doesn't mean loyal to America, but rather Colonists loyal to the British monarch who escaped to Canada? I know who they were because I learned Canadian history in 8th grade when I lived in a Toronto suburb.

Originally Posted by Acajack

Queen Victoria made a Solomon-like decision and put an end to years of infighting between Quebec, Ontario, Montreal, Toronto, Kingston and Quebec City

And yet Canadians continue to fight amongst themselves to this day.

[mrnyc]

ok ok — named after a guy who cleaved the land of a city with actual cleaves in the land. and also a nearby town named after a city in france because first euro discovered by a french.

Originally Posted by emathias

SSN (as implausible as it seems): 123-456-7890
Pet's name: Cat (named for Cat Cora, he's a Siberian Husky)
My first school was named "Coño de Tu Mamá," believe it or not.
My mom's maiden name is Reina del Baile.

now that is just not true. your mother was unmarried.

[SteveD]

I always knew Atlanta was originally called "Terminus" based on a zero mile railroad milepost, and later the name "Atlanta" was adopted as a feminization of "Atlantic", from the Western and Atlantic Railroad. Following is a cut and paste of Atlanta's name origin from wiki:

In 1836, the Georgia General Assembly voted to build the Western and Atlantic Railroad in order to provide a link between the port of Savannah and the Midwest. The initial route was to run southward from Chattanooga to a terminus east of the Chattahoochee River, which would be linked to Savannah. After engineers surveyed various possible locations for the terminus, the "zero milepost" was driven into the ground in what is now Five Points. A year later, the area around the milepost had developed into a settlement, first known as Terminus, and later Thrasherville, after a local merchant who built homes and a general store in the area. By 1842, the town had six buildings and 30 residents and was renamed Marthasville to honor Governor Wilson Lumpkin's daughter Martha. Later, J. Edgar Thomson, Chief Engineer of the Georgia Railroad, suggested the town be renamed Atlanta. The residents approved, and the town was incorporated as Atlanta on December 29, 1847.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by SteveD

In 1836, the Georgia General Assembly voted to build ... and the town was incorporated as Atlanta on December 29, 1847.

Learned something new (to me). I had assumed Atlanta was older than that, given the colonial history of the state.

[giallo]

My hometown of Kelowna is the indigenous Syilx word for Grizzly Bear.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

Learned something new (to me). I had assumed Atlanta was older than that, given the colonial history of the state.

I knew it was new-ish, I knew the main colonial cities of GA were Savannah and, upriver, Augusta, and I also knew that Atlanta at the time of the Civil War wasn't even capital yet (the Old Capitol, on the NRHP, still exists in the little city of Milledgeville). However, I did learn something new - regarding the origins of the name of the Atlanta Thrashers NHL team.

Had no idea Atlanta had briefly been named Thrasherville...