Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Why is Houston a boring name? It sounds powerful to me.
I like the name Houston, but it just sounds like a name. This is my personal opinion, but the only cities that don't sound boring to me are the ones with foreign/exotic names or unique names.
Los Angeles real name is El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula (The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of the river of Porziuncola.
When the Spanish went around naming cities after saints the named several of the with the moniker "Los Angeles"...one that comes to mind is Nuestra Senora de Puebla de Los Angeles in Mexico (called Puebla).
If that's so Los Angeles' ( L.A.'s) real name is Porciuncula
We can call ourselves, Porkies for short. But seriously, the Spanish seemed to like the long names and of-course saints seemed to be the major focus on everything: Santa Monica, San Gabriel, San Fernando, Santa Ana, Santa Clarita, San Dimas, and on and on. Do you know the official name for Ventura? It is San Buenaventura which they have gone back to using, at least officially. I like the town of Paso Robles in Central California; it is officially called "El Paso de Robles" meaning the Pass of the Oaks; sounds nice to me.
Placerville...so named because placer mining was conducted extensively in the area during the Gold Rush. Previously, the town was called Hangtown, because, well, a large number of people were hanged here (for crimes as small as horse thieving).
In fact, because of our history as "Hangtown," all of our street signs have nooses printed on them, as does our 'welcome to our city' sign. Nothing makes you feel more at home than hangman's knot!
Tampa (originally Tanpa) is a Calusa Indian name meaning "Sticks of Fire".
The Spanish explorers who discovered the area, and encountered the local Indians gave the local Indian village and the Bay the name after communicating with them. The name either refers to Lightning which (Tampa Bay is known for) or "a place to gather sticks".
Coincidentally, I've lived in two cities whose names mean the same thing in different languages: Montreal (Royal Mountain) and Monterey (King Mountain). I've also lived in two cities with the same name, Salem MO and Salem OR.
The most interesting name for any town I've lived in would be Baton Rouge, which is French for "Red Stick", because the original Indians stuck red sticks in the ground, to mark land boundaries.
My past home El Paso TX was named by the spanish. "El Paso del Norte" or the Pass of the North a natural gateway to areas north for the spanish. Founded in 1659 !!!!
No one knows for sure, but the most common speculation is that John Neely Bryan named his new settlement for the vice president at the time, George Mifflin Dallas. The problem with this theory is that no one knows why Bryan would choose to name his city after the vice president.
Other theories include (per wiki):
Named after George M. Dallas's brother Alexander James Dallas, a U.S. Navy commodore who was stationed in the Gulf of Mexico;
Named after George and Alexander's father, Alexander James Dallas, who was the United States Secretary of the Treasury around the end of the War of 1812;
Named in a town-naming contest in 1842;
Named after the friend of founder John Neely Bryan's son, who later stated that his father had said he had named the town "after my friend Dallas" (a person whose identity is not certain);
Named after Joseph Dallas, who settled near Dallas in 1843.
So, basically, Dallas is almost certainly named after someone, but no one knows who, exactly.
Portland, Oregon was named after the two of the town founders debated what to call their new settlement up the Willamette River from Oregon City(which at the time was the original major town in Oregon in the 1840s). One of them was from Boston, MA and the other was from Portland, ME. They flipped a coin, and Portland won out as the name of the future metropolis of Oregon...
Which is good, because as un-original as Portland is, having two major cities with the name Boston would be doubly confusing. Boston, Oregon just doesn't sound right.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We can call ourselves, Porkies for short. But seriously, the Spanish seemed to like the long names and of-course saints seemed to be the major focus on everything: Santa Monica, San Gabriel, San Fernando, Santa Ana, Santa Clarita, San Dimas, and on and on. Do you know the official name for Ventura? It is San Buenaventura which they have gone back to using, at least officially. I like the town of Paso Robles in Central California; it is officially called "El Paso de Robles" meaning the Pass of the Oaks; sounds nice to me.
