Comments on: Cities that have changed their names

Question: Cities that have changed their names

interrobang — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 17:55:42 -0800

Have any U.S. cities (or cities elsewhere) ever changed their name out of embarrassment?

If so, what were the reasons?

By: mhum

mhum — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 18:01:23 -0800

Perhaps not out of embarrassment, the city of Berlin, Ontario in Canada changed its name to Kitchener shortly after the outbreak of WWI.

By: Kirth Gerson

Kirth Gerson — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 18:02:03 -0800

Well, Hot Springs, NM changed its name to Truth or Consequences. They may have been unclear on the whole embarrassment thing, though.

By: Gator

Gator — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 18:05:41 -0800

It doesn't say why, but there must be a reason Gay Head, MA changed its name ten years ago...

By: incessant

incessant — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 18:06:00 -0800

Also after the outbreak of World War I, Germantown CA changed its name to Artois. My grandmother, who grew up in the town, tells the story of a train full of soldiers stopping in the town on their way to shipping out. When they learned the name of the town, a couple of intrepid GIs bought some white paint at my grandmother's family's general store, asked my great-grandfather what was near the town, and when he told them there were a lot of artisian wells around, they named the town Artois. It stuck. Pretty cool, huh?

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 18:24:10 -0800

Hardly a city, but the town of Lobethal in South Australia (German for "Valley of Praise") changed it's name to Tweedvale, once again at the outbreak of World War I. It changed it's name back again later. Actually there are a whole pile of German South Australian towns that changed their name during the war:

Hahndorf became Ambleside
Blumberg became Birdwood (and still is)

Aah bugger it, I could go on, but here's a list of lots of places all over the world that have changed names - go down to the Places section.

By: RustyBrooks

RustyBrooks — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 18:39:17 -0800

A town near here (Dallas) voted to NOT change it's name from White Settlement to West Settlement. Not embarassed enough I guess.

By: filmgeek

filmgeek — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 19:02:51 -0800

Not a town, but a college:
Arcadia University was founded as a school in Beaver, Pennsylvania in 1853. By 1872 it had attained collegiate status, under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was named Beaver College. In 1925, the college moved completely across the state of Pennsylvania from Beaver to Glenside, Pennsylvania, where it was rapidly able to expand both its campus and student population.

In July 2001, Beaver College changed its name to Arcadia University. It was thought that a new name would emphasize the school's position as one of the top small institutions of higher-learning on the East Coast, and would cement its change in designation from "college" to "university." The decision was also made in part to shed its association with the former commonly derided name. As then-president Landman noted:

"[The name] too often elicits ridicule in the form of derogatory remarks pertaining to the rodent, the TV show 'Leave It to Beaver' and the vulgar reference to the female anatomy."

Wikipedia

By: jewzilla

jewzilla — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 19:19:50 -0800

IIRC, there was a This American Life about Jim Thorpe, PA wherein it was stated that residents were considering changing their town's name BACK because the name change to Jim Thorpe was a dismal failure (the tourists didn't come)

By: intermod

intermod — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 19:25:13 -0800

Was just reading about this a couple days ago. Surrattsville MD changed their name to Clinton MD after Mary Surratt was convicted and executed for her involvement* in the assassination of President Lincoln.

* may not have actually been involved, may have instead been accused as bait to draw her son out of hiding; he stayed hidden and she went to the gallows

By: jtron

jtron — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 19:39:14 -0800

During WWII, the Ontario provincial government wanted to change the name of the small town of Swastika, for obvious reasons.

The townspeople, however, refused, as they had the name before the Nazis co-opted the symbol (although apparently UK Hitler chum Unity Mitford was born there, in an odd coincidence).

By: rob511

rob511 — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 20:01:22 -0800

You could do a study on this subject in Russia ➛ Soviet Union ➛ CIS ➛ Russia alone. Two obvious examples:
- Tsaritsyn ("tsar's son") since its 16th-c. founding became Stalingrad ("Stalintown") in 1925, and finally Volgograd since 1961.
- St. Petersburg's name was Russified (and deconsecrated) to Petrograd in 1914, then became Leningrad to honor you-know-who in 1924. It reverted to its original name in 1991.

By: oaf

oaf — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 20:16:42 -0800

East Paterson, New Jersey, changed its name in 1972 and is now known as Elmwood Park.

By: maudlin

maudlin — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 20:26:29 -0800

But Dildo, Newfoundland has never changed its name. God, I love that province.

By: puke & cry

puke & cry — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 20:42:48 -0800

Actually, White Settlement just had a vote on a name change recently, not out of embarrassment really, more like racial sensitivity. I always wondered if I was the only person kind of put off by the name, but no.

They voted against changing the name, btw.

By: puke & cry

puke & cry — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 20:48:31 -0800

damn you rustybrooks.

By: camworld

camworld — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 20:48:32 -0800

I'd be pretty upset if I had to live in Bushtown, Tennesee or Cheney, Kansas.

By: RustyBrooks

RustyBrooks — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 21:25:13 -0800

puke & cry: I only beat you by a few hours ;)

By: dhartung

dhartung — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 21:32:15 -0800

List of city name changes in the United States
Most mentioned already, none notably embarrassing.

And for rob511: List of city name changes in Russia and Soviet Union.
Many are simply listings of current vs. historical names.

The US has numerous name changes for numerous reasons. My hometown here was first named "Blackhawk", but the Post Office said that there was already a Blackhawk in Wisconsin Territory (what is now Iowa, actually), so they went with the storekeeper/postmaster, Henry Janes, becoming Janesville. Just down the river, Beloit -- probably named after the town in Ohio, but uncertain -- was originally named Turtle Village, after the shape of some famed Indian mounds and the nearby Turtle Creek. North of us, Madison, WI was first dubbed Four Lakes, but was given the name of the president when platted as the state capital. This sort of story is really very, very common.

As for established cities that have changed their names, probably the largest example today is Cleveland, which was named Cleaveland -- until a newspaper started that couldn't fit the extra A on its masthead. There are numerous examples of commemorative name changes, such as Lincoln, Nebraska (né Lancaster).

New York, of course, was named New Amsterdam before the British took over.

By: camworld

camworld — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 21:59:44 -0800

I love that Regina, Saskatchwan used to be called Pile O' Bones.

By: puke & cry

puke & cry — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 22:05:24 -0800

I think this little fuss between us will bring focus to the dallas area, so i'm okay.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 22:17:08 -0800

Oh, I should mention some Chicago-area flaps.

The oldest involved a group of tony suburbs named N Barrington became alarmed when a nearby less-tony burb (I've forgotten which one) decided it wanted to be a Barrington, too, to help property values. The extant Barringtons banded together to sue the interloper, which backed down.

Nearby, the two tony towns of West Dundee and East Dundee are adjoined by the less-tony Carpentersville, which not only has a tradesman name, but a reputation as a Hispanic enclave. Carpentersville briefly considered changing its name to "Dundee", but was discouraged.

Another example was in the south suburbs; Park Forest South renamed itself University Park, when the state built a university there in the 1960s; allegedly, the heavily black population was concerned about being seen as the black "suburb" of whiter Park Forest.

By: blueberry

blueberry — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 23:29:26 -0800

Sing Sing changed their name to Ossining

"As the prison became notorious, the village tried to distance itself from the prison's [Sing Sing Correctional Facility] harsh reputation and changed its name to Ossining on March 25, 1901."
–Ossining (village), New York, Wikipedia.com

(and yet, Boring, Oregon lives on)

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 23:38:28 -0800

I've heard from time to time that they now want to change the name of the prison to "Ossining Correctional Facility" or something along those lines.

By: Alt F4

Alt F4 — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 23:45:01 -0800

There's a city near me named Varina. I'd love to see that one change.

Also, to slow growth, I've been suggesting to friends that we rename our neighborhood (to) Purgatory, Virginia. Nobody else is onboard, but I think it'd work well.

By: blueberry

blueberry — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 23:51:52 -0800

And Love Canal—not a city, but a neighborhood in Niagra Falls, New York—had it's name changed to Black Creek Village after the toxic waste thing had pretty much Gillooly'ed the old name.

By: Kirth Gerson

Kirth Gerson — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 03:29:18 -0800

Another prison-locale story: MCI (Massachusetts Correctional Institution) Cedar Junction used to be known as MCI Walpole, or, more commonly, just Walpole. The residents of Walpole who happened to live outside the walls tired of it, and got the legislature to change the name of the prison.

So now the prison has a nicer-sounding name than the town. Most of us still call it Walpole. Other towns that have one of these prisons, like Concord, don't seem to be bothered by having the prison named after the town.

By: raedyn

raedyn — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 05:24:25 -0800

The slogan for Tisdale, Saskatchewan is "Land of Rape and Honey", and despite the occasional flap over it, the town remains under this banner.

(rape in this case referring to rapeseed aka canola)

By: xetere

xetere — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 05:56:06 -0800

North Tarrytown New York changed its name to Sleepy Hollow. Don't know how embarrassing Tarrytown is. I assume it was to draw tourists.
The original Sleepy Hollow cemetery of Ichabod Crane is in Tarrytown, but at least Washington Irving is buried in North Tarrytown, er Sleepy Hollow.

By: widdershins

widdershins — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 05:57:00 -0800

I don't understand why Mianus, NY doesn't change its name.

By: JanetLand

JanetLand — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 06:10:10 -0800

I'm told that Augusta, Maine was originally named Harrington, but the folks in Hallowell, the next town down the river, made fun of the Harringtonians by calling the city "Herringtown." So they changed it.

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 06:33:28 -0800

places that should change their names but haven't yet.

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 06:36:55 -0800

Sexmoan in the Philippines changed itself to Sasmuan, sadly. I heard reporters during Vietnam would go out of their way to file from there.

By: moonbird

moonbird — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 08:21:18 -0800

Zwannandael, Delaware became Lewes, out of simplicity, I suppose.

By: sic

sic — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 08:33:40 -0800

There's a section of Bill Bryson's book, "Made in the USA", that talks about name changes due to embarrassment and other reasons..

By: pwb503

pwb503 — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 09:51:14 -0800

Eugene Oregon (nammed after the first white resident of the area Eugene Skinner) originally was called "Skinner's Mud Hole" before it changed to Eugene.

By: wsg

wsg — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 09:59:38 -0800

In 1861 the town of Breckenridge, Colorado, changed the spelling if its name from Breckinridge to Breckenridge, after John C. Breckinridge, after whom the town had been named, went to fight for the Confederacy.

By: evilcolonel

evilcolonel — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 10:29:56 -0800

ahem

By: marsha56

marsha56 — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 10:56:31 -0800

St. Paul, Minnesota was once called Pig's Eye

By: Daddio

Daddio — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 12:19:32 -0800

Placerville, California is a town founded during the gold rush. It used to be named Hangtown.

By: trip and a half

trip and a half — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 13:01:20 -0800

San Francisco changed its name from Yerba Buena "to prevent confusion and mistakes in public documents, and that the town may have the advantage of the name given on the public map."

By: Wild_Eep

Wild_Eep — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 09:57:13 -0800

Back when I was a teen, I always wondered why Gaylord, Michigan never changed its name.

"Reserve Your Gaylord Room Online!" indeed.

/not that there's anything wrong with that.