Origin of your city's name (crimes, live, horse)

[Dexterguy]

Detroit means "The Strait" in French, hence the City of Detroit being on a strait. Even though everyone calls it a river.

[lmcintyre1s]

Old Orleans.

[1coolcustomer]

Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto who supposedly discovered Tampa Bay back in the 1500's.....also a Hernando County and De Soto County named after him.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by jtur88

What is the origin of the name of your home town---what does it mean, or who was it names after?

I was born in Fond du Lac, the "Foot of the Lake", named by French explorers. I grew up in Waupun, Winnebago Indian word for "dawn".

Fond du Lac actually means "Bottom of the Lake".

I won't dare question your Winnebago translation, however.

[lammius]

Originally Posted by WildWestDude

Actually, Jersey is a small British island in the British Channel SE of England

Actually, Jersey City wasn't named for the island. New Jersey was, Jersey City was so named because it's in New Jersey.

[ABQConvict]

Albuquerque, named for the Duke of Alburquerque.

Many people think Albuquerque comes from Albus Quercus (actually as a third declension feminine noun, it would be Alba Quercus, meaning 'White Oak') but many Spanish etymologists consider the Arabic Al-Barqook, 'Apricot' to be the more likely origin.

[Chava61]

New York City was originally called New Amsterdam by the Dutch who founded it as a commercial trading post. In 1664 when the British took over they changed the name to New York. (I would assume it was after the Duke of York just like Duke of Jersey had something to do with the name of New Jersey!)

[HtownLove]

Ours is Boring. Houston was named after the first President of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston.

It was built near Harrisburg, named after Harrisburg Pennsylvania which was founded by the grandfather of the man who founded Harrisburg Texas.

[jtur88]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Fond du Lac actually means "Bottom of the Lake".

I won't dare question your Winnebago translation, however.

"Fond" in French, means "base, or foundation"---hence, foot of the lake, as in the foot of a pedestal or a lamp. "Bottom of the Lake" means something quite different in English, and "fond" would never be used in French to signify 'bottom' in reference to a lake, although it may often be used to reference the bottom of many other things.

In those times, it was already conventional to draw maps with North at the top, so the southern end of a lake was the "foot" of the feature. hence Fond du Lac.

[WestbankNOLA]

New Orleans (La Nouvelle-Orléans) is named after a regent of France, Philippe the duke of Orléans.