There is an urban legend that when the Swedish map makers came to Finland the locals would mess with them when asked what a pace was called and that is why so many place names have “vittu” or “perse” etc. in them.
Also they named Turku just Åbo.
Åbo.
Swedish “å” is an entire word meaning;
a river, a creek, a big stream“Bo”
bo n
**a dwelling** (of an animal), especially a bird's nest fågelbo bird’s nest att bygga bo to build a nest / to nest ("build nest" – idiomatic phrasing) (poetic, extended from sense 1) **a home** sätta bo settle downSo it’s a three letter word basically saying river-dwelling
I think rather than ask Finns what a place was named they just named them themselves. Perhaps because they were tired of the locals calling everything shit and piss. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Naming my main character “Alexander” and every time I visit a city I tell the DM to refer to it as “Alexandria” going forward.
To all the men obsessed with the Roman empire: you are to Republicans what the Greek culture is to Democrats. #generalization #butTrue
According to USPS, there are 32 towns in the US named Franklin. lol
Honestly surprised it’s that low
There are 88 towns named “Washington”.
USPS says Franklin tops the list at 32, but Washington is popular as well woth 24.
What’s your source?
Worldatlas.com but I don’t know how reputable they are.
Oh, i see that. Interesting.
Maybe differences in what’s being considered as a town? Who knows.USPS has a way of combining smaller towns and suburbs to the largest nearby city. In practice this is very useful. You know your friend is near Nashville, say, and the zip codes do the heavy lifting.
So I would posit that using USPS as a source in this case is not a great idea.
Lots of Bismark and Moscow about too.
Reminds of the old story that I heard (unsure if it’s true or not) about Torpenhow Hill in the UK.
Over centuries… various invaders and conquerors had come to that place and asked what it was called… First it was called Tor later on invaders added the word ‘Pen’ which was their word for Hill… later, more invaders came along and added the suffix ‘How’ which was their word for Hill… and finally… it was named in more modern English as Torpenhow Hill… which literally translates as Hill, Hill, Hill, Hill.
I don;t know if that’s 100% true or not… but it’s an amusing little story and given the oddities of the English language… I’d like to think it was.
Especially given there’s a species of bear out there that’s name is literally translated as Bear, Bear, Bear.
It’s kind of true. The last hill seems to be a modern invention, and Torpenhow Hill isn’t listed on any maps. There is a village there called Torpenhow, though, and that is Hillhillhill
Unfortunately, Tom Scott has already debunked this
Guys I think that place might be on some elevated terrain
From the Wikipedia page:
A. D. Mills in his Dictionary of English Place-Names interprets the name as “Ridge of the hill with a rocky peak”, giving its etymology as Old English torr, Celtic *penn, and Old English hoh, each of which mean ‘hill’. Thus, the name Torpenhow Hill could be interpreted as ‘hill-hill-hill Hill’.
I think it’s a hill?
Yer da sells Avon.
I grew up in a village whose name roughly translates to “Bob’s place by the stream.”
I lived for a bit in a place that meant “Big nose”.
Reminds me of
Torpenhow Hill is a hill in Cumbria, England. Its name consists of the Old English ‘Tor’, the Welsh ‘Pen’, and the Danish ‘How’ - all of which translate to modern English as ‘Hill’. Therefore, Torpenhow Hill would translate as hill-hill-hill hill
Here is a Tom Scott video about it:
https://youtu.be/NUyXiiIGDTo
https://invidious.f5.si/watch?v=NUyXiiIGDToI believe there’s also a Haversham Hill, which is also a hill hill hill hill
Not really true. (the Roman misunderstanding part)
Fantasy world names: scadrial, Pallimustus, Vulcan, Tatoine
Real planet names by locals: Dirt
It was called “Earth” because we needed to distinguish it from Sky and Water, which were totally different things.
But then the fire nation attacked
If only I had the self-confidence of the guy who went to Australia and said “this place is called New South Wales now.”
I sometimes wonder why that isnt just “New Wales”. Is there something so distinct about the south of Wales that makes it be seen as something distinct to name something after?
Yes, Wales is generally divided into North, Mid and South (and Corner, as in Cornwall).
South Wales generally corresponds with the former Kingdom of Deheubarth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deheubarth?wprov=sfla1
Deheubarth was punished for rebelling against Engkand in 1282 by being divided into the three counties of South Wales. Referring to it as South Wales rather than south Wales is a miniature act of rebellion in itself; the Welsh government styles it capitalised to emphasise that historical distinction; the Britsh government uses lower case to erase the distinction.
Deheubarth (Welsh pronunciation: [dɛˈhəɨbarθ]; lit. ‘Right-hand Part’, thus ‘the South’)
it just meand the southern parts that fits to the theme of this thread xD
Interesting, I wasn’t aware that Wales was historically disunited like that, but I suppose that other than the location, having a different language and one of the more interesting flags, I dont know a ton about it. I suppose I just assumed that it was a singular kingdom before being invaded by the English at some point.
Maybe topography, but almost certainly not weather, except for maybe 2 weeks in southern winter/northern summer where the temperature will directly align
Filthy north welsherners. They think they’re sumtin. Well they’re NOT!
Australia is also just called South. And apparently someone proposed the name Borealia (North) for Canada.
Canada it is!
I always wanted to be a fly on the wall when they named the colony (later state) of Virginia.
“We should name this place after Queen Elizabeth.”
“Excellent idea, Elizabethia it is!”
“No, no. Virginia. 'Cause she’s never… you know. Wink wink, nudge nudge.”She was called the Virgin Queen
Those are both from the same Mitchel and Webb sketch.
Hey, it’s you, ICQ flower person! It’s me, lolskull person!
I’m sorry, who’s wearing the hat?
You . . . are.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15367555/nick-fuentes-virgin-piers-morgan-gay-rumors.html
Apparently, some people like being called virgins
I knew I wasn’t going to have to link this.
“‘Wales’…? Really, sir?”
“Oh, yes. Don’t you think?”
“What, the vast terra incognito with fauna and flora hitherto undreamt of by sights puts you in mind nothing so much as… Rhyl…?”
“No, of course not. Not North Wales. That’s ridiculous, it’s nothing like North Wales.”
Pffft, he was plagued with self doubt compared to Cecil Rhodes who went to Africa and said “this place is called Rhodesia now.”
Well I mean randy feltface had a good bit on naming in Australia https://youtube.com/shorts/rvDzyPUBJUU
Not sure I’d buy a house in stabbyville
My d&d game tends to work better when I just name things like “The Nightmare Wood” and “The Old Hills”. The simplicity somehow lands harder.
Sounds like you are describing Palpatine’s dick.
Sometimes name it after a person, or some shit that went down there, especially if its not someplace important. Like its not the nightmare town, there’s nothing particular about it. So it’s susanstown, and attempts to discover local lore would find stories about the ancient founder that have been embellished over the years.
or invert it… Nightmare Town is named because the founder had a nightmare the first night after establishing camp there, and nothing else. Susan’s Hamlet, though had some real fucked up shit happen, is actively haunted and is the birthplace of the BBEG.
Derekshithispantsthereville
One wonders how many inhabited planets in the universe are referred to by the locals as “Dirt.”
Fun fact: copper got its roman name because the main exporter of that good in ye classic times was the island of Cyprus (Kyprus, cuprum)
Oh and the Newtown.
New Town (2)
