There are a lot of towns and streets in the US named after European cities. Are there places in Europe named after American cities or people?

42 comments

  2. That would be strange, since Europe colonized the U.S. and not the other way around.

    There are places in Liberia, Africa named after after American cities or people. Monrovia is named after U.S. president James Monroe. Buchanan is named after Thomas Buchanan, cousin of U.S. president James Buchanan and second governor of Liberia. Harper is named after Robert Goodloe Harper, a prominent U.S. politician and member of the American Colonization Society.

    As Wikipedia explains:

    >Liberia began in the early 19th century as a project of the American Colonization Society (ACS), which believed black people would face better chances for freedom and prosperity in Africa than in the United States. Between 1822 and the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, more than 15,000 freed and free-born black people who faced social and legal oppression in the U.S., along with 3,198 Afro-Caribbeans, relocated to Liberia. Gradually developing an “Americo-Liberian” identity, the settlers carried their culture and tradition with them…

    [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberia)

    So Liberia is perhaps the only example of American colonization outside of American states and territories — i.e., an American colony that is now a completely independent country.

  3. In Poland and Netherlands there are streets named after Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In Ukraine there is street named after John McCain and the settlement New York (it is known under this name since 1846).

  4. No towns obviously, there wasn’t a mass immigration of US americans here as in the rest of Europe, but there are streets dedicated to american cities and personalities.

    Some examples from my city: Washington Street, J.F. Kennedy Street, Martin Luther King Street.

    My city has got also many toponomies dedicated to the Rockefeller family (Rockefeller Square, Rockefeller Foundation Street and Rockefeller Street).

  5. There’s a village in Scotland called California, though nobody knows for sure why it’s named that.

  6. Not entire towns but buildings, streets, or squares. In Vienna, there are

    *Philadelphiabrücke* (Philiadelphia bridge): because the locomotive of the first train that went over it was bought from the city of Philadelphia. Here’s the [German Wikipedia article](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphiabr%C3%BCcke) in case you want to google translate it.

    *Kennedybrücke* (Kennedy bridge): Named after JFK. It was completed only one month after his death and is supposed to “honor his efforts for humanity and peace”. [German Wikipedia article](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedybr%C3%BCcke_(Wien))

    A street/neighborhood in the small town of Kittsee, Austria, is callled *Chikago* bacause many emigrants from there went to Chicago, Illinois in the 1920s. [Google Maps Link](https://www.google.com/maps/@48.0957653,17.0690341,16.71z)

    A street in the tiny town of Eitzing, Austria is called *Amerika*. [Google Maps Link](https://www.google.com/maps/place/4970+Eitzing/@48.2500131,13.4205103,17.04z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x4774155e8c301fd7:0x6bf4c69d7636dfab!8m2!3d48.2403426!4d13.4298894)

  8. Well, there are three villages in the Netherlands. One is called America, one is called Amerika and one is called Nieuw Amerika. But I’m not sure if they are named after the continent or the country, but I guess the continent.

  9. There’s a George Washington Street in Sofia in Bulgaria which I thought was a bit odd

  10. Bridges in Germany are often named after partner cities as that institution is meant to be a *bridge* between places and cultures.

    For example, the *Decatur-Brücke* —named after Decatur, IL— is a concrete bridge spanning the Maschen marshalling yard. To align German infrastructure policing with that of Illinois, it’s also broken yet it hasn’t been repaired since at least twenty years.

  11. * [Philadelphia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Storkow_Philadelphia_Strasse.jpg)
    * [Neu Boston](https://www.imago-images.de/bild/st/0085030987/s.jpg)
    * [Texas](https://www.hoefingen.net/fotos12/texas12a.jpg)
    * [Different Texas](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Texas_Eingang.jpg)
    * [Kalifornien](https://www.imago-images.de/bild/st/0090696529/w.jpg)
    * [Kanada](https://www.landlinse.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/kanada-muenchenbernsdorf-thueringen-01-768×509.jpg)
    * [Grönland](https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/c56dc74f-0001-0004-0000-000000242406_w996_r1.778_fpx66.55_fpy50.jpg)
    * [Amerika](https://de-academic.com/pictures/dewiki/79/Ortsschild-amerika.jpg)

  12. >Are there places in Europe named after American cities or people?

    Many municipalities in Greece have a street named after Franklin D Roosevelt. This is quite common across Europe, because of WWII.

    Athens has an “America Square” (Plateía Amerikḗs)…which I always thought was named after the *continent* America, but [according to Wikipedia](https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A0%CE%BB%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%B5%CE%AF%CE%B1_%CE%91%CE%BC%CE%B5%CF%81%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AE%CF%82), it was indeed named after the USA.

    There’s an Athens suburb called Néa Filadélfeia (“New Philadelphia”). Philadelphia, as we all know, is a Greek word often translated in English as “brotherly love”, or sibling love/friendship is more like it. While Néa Filadélfeia took its name long after American Philadelphia was founded, it was not named *after* it. It was actually named after an *ancient* Greek city of the same name, and so was American Philadelphia.

    Not a place-name, but [there’s a type of ice cream sundae](https://www.google.com/search?q=%CF%83%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B3%CE%BF+%CF%80%CE%B1%CE%B3%CF%89%CF%84%CE%BF&oq=%CF%83%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B3%CE%BF+%CF%80%CE%B1&aqs=chrome.0.0i22i30j69i57j0i13i30l2j0i22i30l6.2348j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) in Greece called “Chicago”.

  14. Cant Think of a city or street but A few hundred meters from where i live there down by the old habour theres Amerika Plads (America square) and Amerikakaj (Amerika quay). This is where the ships to USA sailed off. Many danish emigrants left from there including thousands of mormons who settled in Utah

  15. Not towns or cities but there are streets named after US presidents here and there , from the top of my head, in Sofia there are at least two : “Washington ” street and boulevard “President Lincoln ” .

  16. Fun fact there’s a neighbourhood in Athens called Nea Filadelfeia (New Philadelphia) not to be confused with Philadelphia in the US which got its name from Greek (brotherly love). Nea Filadelfeia is named after Anatolian Filadelfeia in today’s Turkey.

  17. Not a huge amount in my city,but we have a Lincoln Street.

    We also have an entire area which is known as ‘Dallas’.Though that is not the official name,everyone calls it that.

    Its famous for drug dealing and crime…make of that what you will!

  18. In Belgium, like in other European countries, you can find some places named after famous US presidents, eg avenue Franklin Roosevelt” or “rue Washington” in Brussels, “avenue Wilson” in Mons or the “Kennedytunnel” in Antwerp. There are also some streets named after WWII figures, like “avenue Patton” in Brussels, or “place Général McAuliffe” in Bastogne (a small town at the epicentre of the battle of the Bulge). I can also think of an “avenue Franklin” and “Rue Edison” in Brussels, named after the scientists, most probably you will find similar names in other Belgian cities.

    Oddly enough, there is also a street named “rue américaine” (American street) in Brussels but I don’t know the reason (it is a nice bourgeois street with typical XIXth century mansions, nothing “American” about it).

    If you take “America” in the broad sense, you will find places named after Canada in West-Flanders (eg “Manitobaplein” (Manitoba square) in Blankenberge or Knokke, or “Canadabrug” (Canada bridge)in Bruges). The reason is that this region was liberated by Canadian troops in 1944.

    Edit: there is also a large neighboorhood often called “quartier Manhattan” in Brussels North. It is not the official name but that is because it is a business district with high towers built in the 1970s, and the plan for building it was called “plan Manhattan ” because its architecture was inspired by the skyscrapers of Manhattan.

  19. Street names dedicated to American cities, in my city, none, but there is Kennedy Street.

  20. My hometown, 1700 B.C.

    –OK GUYS, here’s the plan, we will name this town after a future Empire far far away that won’t exist until a few millennia from now, how does it sound?

    -What if we name it after our deer goddess instead?

    –Yeah that would work too

  21. A part of my town is nick named Texas.

    After WW2 a lot of refugees where crammed in there and there was a lot of violence, hence the nickname.

  22. Paris has places (street? Place/squares?) named after Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Berlin has a whole Platz/square named after JFK (John F. Kennedy).

  25. only one i know of in Latvia is Washington Square, which was renamed to that in 1932 for George Washington’s 200th birthday (because the US embassy at the time was right next to it)

  26. In Karlsruhe, you can find roads like Rhode-Island-Allee or Michiganstraße. They are located in a part of the city that was built in the 1950s as housing for the troops of the nearby American barracks, they even had a American Elementary School (now a German Grundschule, which is about the same age group and called Marylandschule) and a High School ( now Heisenberg-Gymnasium, one of the possible schools that students after Grundschule). The area was left by the American army members in the 1990s and is now a regular part of the city, Karlsruhe-Nordstadt.

  27. There’s a RER (commuter rail) station in Paris named after Rosa Parks.

    And in Ireland we have a motorway service station named Barack Obama Plaza.

  28. Squares and cities? No. Streets and schools? Yes. Lots of Kennedy, Benjamin Franklin, Abramo Lincoln, Martin Luther King and so on here in Italy
    Ah and there is a place near Livorno called “La California”

  29. There is Roosevelt street, Washington street, American street, Wilson street and maybe some other in Prague I can’t recall right now

  30. In Budapest we have:

    – a park named after Elvis Presley
    – streets named after America, Mexico, Colombus.
    – a residential complex named after Havanna.

    I’m sure there are more, these are the ones that come to mind.

  31. Well there’s the United States of America Avenue in Lisbon. There’s also a United States of America street in a town near where I live.

  32. Bratislava (Back than Pressburg/Prešporok/Poszony) was renamed when Czechoslovakia was created and one of ideas was Wilsonovo mesto (Wilson town) after Woodrow Wilson….and we have village [Havaj](https://goo.gl/maps/mYz3wwDHuL8GHCZGA).

    About streets, in Bratislava we have American Square (important tram crossroad in Old Town), Einstein’s Street (our internal highway), Edison’s Street, Tesla’s Street, Getting’s Street and Woodrow’s Street…..

    EDIT: I almost forgot, one of the biggest hospitals in Slovakia is F.D. Roosevelt Faculty Hospital in Banská Bystrica

  33. Lot’s of streets and plazas are named after important American personalities, the most popular of whom is (I don’t know why) J.F. Kennedy with around 1300 streets and plazas named after him, the highest number for a foreigner name.
    His name is also associated with many schools, sport associations, libraries and other public and private buildings and buisnesses.

    Washington and Lincoln, the former sometimes with an Italianized name, are also popular US personalities named after streets, plazas, buildings, etc.

  34. We have a place that the locals around call the American Town, because alot of Americans (like 6-7) settled in one part of a countryside commune, you can still see an American pickup truck there from time to time too.

  35. In the town where my Uni is, there are quite a few places named in honor of Americans. There used to be US Army barracks there, so that’s probably why.

    Most significantly, there’s an area of the town referred to as Wiley after a US Captain. Also a Martin Luther King Allee, John F Kennedy Straße, as well as a lot of other streets named for (I’m assuming) Americans from the area (Marshall, Bradley, etc.).

  36. I did some research and found a few:

    * Bostoninkaari (Boston Curve) and Bostoninkuja (Boston Alley) in Tuusula
    * Dallasinpolku (Dallas Path) and Dallasinkuja (Dallas Alley) in Tyrnävä
    * Chicagonkatu (Chicago Street) in Raasepori
    * Lincolninaukio (Lincoln Square) in Vantaa
    * Amerikankatu (America Street) in multiple towns

    There are probably more.

  37. In the North East of England, there are several places that share names of cities in the US and Canada.

    New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Toronto, Quebec

    The villages of New York and Philadelphia were named during the American War of Independence, after British victories in and around those American cities.

    Similarly, Quebec was named after the successful British victory there over the French during the Seven Years War.

    Toronto was named by a coal baron who had land in the area. He received confirmation that there was coal beneath the land whilst visiting Toronto in Canada and therefore decided to name his mine ‘Toronto’. The village that then grew up around the mine also took on the name.

    Washington is a bit different. It’s name is from the Anglo Saxon ‘Hwaesingatun’, meaning Hwaesa’s place. The name ‘Washington’ or ‘Wessyngton’ was taken on by the Norman noble William de Hertburn, who became William Wessyngton in 1183. Gradually the name evolved into Washington. Branches of the Washington family moved to Northamptonshire and then later on to the colony of Virginia.

    These days, New York is a small, but urban village with a large business park next to it. It’s part of the larger Tyneside urban area surrounding Newcastle upon Tyne which is the (de facto) capital of North East England.

    Washington was a small village and Washington Old Hall (the ancestral home of the Washington family), but has become a town of around 60,000 which was built between the 1950s and 1970s and is a commuter town for the two nearby cities, Newcastle and Sunderland.

    Toronto and Quebec are former coal mining villages.

  39. The city of Västervik has a handful of streets named after US states. Ohiogatan, Kansasgatan, Alabamagatan, Floridagatan, etc.

    Maybe there are other places or cities I’m not aware of.

  41. I can’t actually think of a single one.

    We have a city named after Queen Christina of Sweden (Kristiinankaupunki)

    A street in the capital named after Alexander II of Russia

    And my city is named after the governor of Finland and the founder of the city, Per Brahe (Raahe or Brahestad in Swedish)

    Also interestingly a street in my town is named after the Quakers. During the Crimean war the British raided our town and sank our ships and burned our port buildings. The Quakers donated the town money after the war as a compensation and they got a street for that

  42. US presidents has streets or squares in Poland: Hoover, Wilson, Washington, Reagan and so on.

    There are some small villages named after American locations: America, New York and so on

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