America’s biggest cities have evolved dramatically over time, their skylines and streetscapes shifting with each passing era. But it’s not only their appearance that has changed – many cities also started life with entirely different names, later rebranding themselves for reasons as varied as politics, ambition and sheer practicality.
Read on to discover which US cities have changed their names and why. To enjoy these images FULL SCREEN, click the icon in the top right...
Yerba Buena – meaning ‘good herb’, so given for its abundance of wild mint – was a sleepy little pueblo on the shores of San Francisco Bay when it was founded in 1835 as part of Mexican territory.
In 1847, as the region came under American control after the Mexican-American War, local officials got wind that prominent landowner Mariano Vallejo was establishing a rival city a few miles inland, named after his wife Francisca. Keen to remain the bay’s dominant city, Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco. Vallejo instead used his wife’s middle name, and Benicia was born.
America’s early European settlers spoke many languages, and few examples illustrate that melting pot better than Losantiville, the original name for Cincinnati from 1788 to 1790. The name was a linguistic mashup: It took the ‘L’ from the nearby Licking River, ‘os’ from the Latin for ‘mouth’, ‘anti’ from Greek and ‘ville’ from the French for 'town', making it 'Town Opposite the Mouth of the Licking'.
In 1790, newly appointed governor Arthur St. Clair renamed it Cincinnati in honour of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, a Roman general celebrated for surrendering power and returning to farming rather than becoming a dictator.
The tiny hamlet of Waterloo on the banks of the Colorado River had only existed for two years when it was – controversially – chosen as the capital of the new Republic of Texas in 1839. It was renamed for the ‘father of Texas’, Stephen F. Austin (pictured), with a simple log cabin as the seat of government.
Facing invasion from Mexico, power soon passed to the bigger Houston – but determined Austinites refused to hand over government records – a standoff known as the Archive War – and Austin regained its status as the capital when Texas joined the United States in 1845.
New York – 'the city so nice they named it twice' – has roots in the Dutch colony of New Netherland, established in 1624. According to legend, the Dutch 'purchased' Manhattan from the Indigenous peoples for trade goods worth about 60 guilders (roughly £800/$1,000 in today's money).
However, English settlements were expanding in the region, and on 8 September 1664, forces sent by the Duke of York (later King James II) seized the colony without a fight. The city was renamed New York in his honour.
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What began as a simple wooden blockhouse on a bend of the Chicago River in 1803 – named Fort Dearborn after Revolutionary War Secretary of War Henry Dearborn – would go on to set a new standard for today’s skyscraper-filled cities.
The fort was burned down during a furious battle in the War of 1812, but was rebuilt in 1816 and remained active until its decommissioning in 1837. The surrounding settlements, however, eventually grew into Chicago, a name derived from the Miami-Illinois word 'shikaakwa', meaning wild onion or garlic, which grew abundantly in the area.
Imagine having to list your address as ‘Hawkins Merry-Peep-O-Day’ – if you lived in what is now Brunswick, Maryland in 1753 – that might have been the case. The name, inspired by the sunrise 'peeping' over the Catoctin Mountains, was just one of many given to the city over the years.
It’s also been known as Eel Pot, Eel Town, Coxon’s Rest, German Crossing, Potomac Crossing, Barry and Berlin – but was incorporated as Brunswick in 1890 when the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad came to town, to avoid confusion with another Berlin on the same route.
Rome is famous as the city of seven hills, but did you know Boston was originally named after its own trio of peaks? When English Puritan settlers arrived, they called the area 'Trimountaine', referring to three prominent hills on the peninsula. Over time, much of the landscape was levelled for development, but Beacon Hill remains as the most well-known of the original trio.
On 7 September 1630, the settlement was renamed Boston after the town in Lincolnshire, England. Though the old name faded, Tremont Street still reflects its origins, derived from 'Tri-Mountain'.
Transport plays a key role in deciding where cities spring up – and Atlanta, Georgia, owes its origins to the railroad. In 1837, the Western & Atlantic Railroad company was plotting a 138-mile (222km) route south from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and opted to end it in a new town, aptly named Terminus.
It was briefly rechristened Marthasville in honour of the then-governor’s daughter, but by 1845, it took its current name from the ‘Atlantic’ in the railroad name and was a key part of supplying the Civil War effort (pictured).
Can you imagine riding roller coasters in Jernigan? Long before Mickey and friends arrived, the Florida town was named after Isaac and Aaron Jernigan, cattle herders who settled in the area in 1843.
Aaron Jernigan built a post office and became Orange County’s first state representative in 1845, but his name was dropped in 1857. The reasons remain unclear – some cite his militia’s misconduct, while others suggest a shift away from his influence. As for why ‘Orlando’ was chosen, theories range from a soldier named Orlando Reeves to a reference from Shakespeare’s As You Like It, but the true origin remains debated.
Phoenix has been home to civilisation for over 1,500 years, beginning with the Hohokam people, who built an extensive canal system to support agriculture in the arid landscape. The city's modern chapter began in 1867, when Civil War veteran Jack Swilling saw the potential for farming by re-excavating the abandoned Hohokam canals.
He recruited workers to dig a canal from the Salt River (pictured) and settlers began to flock to the area, dubbing it Swilling’s Mill, then Helling Mill, then Mill City. In 1868, the name Phoenix was proposed to symbolise the city rising from the remnants of the Hohokam civilisation.
Would Portland still be the city it is today if it had been known as Boston, Oregon? It could just as easily have been so, since the city’s name was decided on a coin toss.
As the settlement known as The Clearing or Stumptown grew, it needed a name – and so in 1845, business partners Asa Lovejoy from Boston, Massachusetts and Francis Pettygove from Portland, Maine decided to let fate decide with the flip of a penny. The latter won and the name was made official in February 1851, with the ‘Portland Penny’ (pictured) preserved for history.
The West Coast almost had its own New York when the Denny Party, a group of five pioneer families, landed at Alki Point on 13 November 1851. They initially named their settlement New York, aspiring for growth, but added 'Alki' – a Chinook word meaning 'someday' – to set it apart.
Within months, many settlers moved across Elliott Bay for better resources, founding what is now downtown Seattle. The new settlement was named after Chief Si'ahl of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes, who had welcomed and aided them.
The salt licks near modern-day Roanoke, Virginia attracted buffalo, elk and deer for centuries, making it a natural spot for settlers. In 1852, the town of Big Lick was established – although with just 50 residents, ‘big’ was an overstatement.
As the Norfolk and Western Railway expanded, the town (and its name) relocated closer to the tracks, leaving the original area which became known as 'Old Lick'. By 1882, the Shenandoah Valley Railroad had arrived and the town took its new name from the Roanoke River.
Mean-spirited nicknames are par for the course at school, but it's unusual for an entire city to be branded based on one unflattering attribute. Yet that's what happened to Saint Paul, Minnesota, once informally called Pig's Eye after Pierre 'Pig's Eye' Parrant, a fur trader and tavern owner.
Parrant, who was blind in one eye, had a distinctive appearance that led to the nickname. The area was also known by the Dakota name Imniza Ska, referring to the white sandstone bluffs along the river. In 1841, the settlement was renamed Saint Paul by Father Lucien Galtier, after building a log chapel dedicated to the apostle Paul.
Some people go to extremes for fame, but can you imagine changing the name of an entire city? In 1950, the popular radio quiz show Truth or Consequences offered to broadcast its 10th anniversary episode from any town willing to change its name to that of the show.
The town of Hot Springs, New Mexico accepted the challenge, and on 31 March 1950, residents voted 1,294 to 295 in favour of the change. The following day presenter Ralph Edwards hosted the show from the newly renamed Truth or Consequences. This event initiated an annual 'Fiesta' celebration, featuring parades, dances and contests, a tradition that continues today.
Los Angeles may now have one of the shortest city abbreviations, but its original name was anything but concise. It was first known as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río Porciúncula, meaning 'The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of the Porciúncula River'. The name referenced St. Francis of Assisi’s chapel in Italy, Porciúncula, and evolved over time into the much shorter Los Angeles.
The area now known as Jacksonville, Florida was once called Cowford, named for a narrow crossing on the St. Johns River where cattle were herded across. The Seminole people referred to the site as Wacca Pilatka, meaning 'Cows Crossing', though the earlier Timucua name for the area is unclear.
In 1822, shortly after Florida became a US territory, the settlement was renamed Jacksonville in honour of Andrew Jackson, the territory’s first provisional governor and later the seventh US president.
The town of Carnation, Washington hasn’t always gone by that name – and its identity crisis made for a bumpy ride. Originally called Tolt, from the Snoqualmie word 'Tolthue', the town changed its name in 1917 to Carnation, hoping to ride the coattails of the famous Carnation Milk Farm nearby.
Not everyone was on board. In 1928, locals pushed to restore the original name, but this only created confusion – while the town was officially Tolt, the post office and railroad depot stubbornly stuck with Carnation. In 1951, the town made the switch back to Carnation, and this time, it stuck.
After the American Revolution North Carolina moved its capital inland, taking over a relatively undeveloped outpost known as Wake Courthouse or Wake Crossroads in 1792. The city was named after Sir Walter Raleigh, the English explorer who played a major role in sponsoring expeditions to the Americas. The North Carolina State Capitol (pictured), remains one of the finest examples of architecture from the period.
The Spanish explorers who navigated the US West Coast in the 16th and early 17th centuries weren’t always imaginative when it came to naming places, often drawing inspiration from Catholic saints. In 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo (whose statue is pictured here) became the first European to document a sighting of San Diego Bay, naming it San Miguel.
Nearly 60 years later in 1602, fellow Spanish navigator Sebastián Vizcaíno led a new expedition and renamed the area San Diego in honour of San Diego de Alcalá – also known as St. Didacus, a Spanish saint born around 1400 in Seville.
The origins of Sacramento, California’s capital, are deeply tied to European settlement and the Gold Rush. In 1839, Swiss immigrant John Sutter arrived in Mexican-controlled Alta California, where he established the colony of New Helvetia (New Switzerland).
Sutter’s Fort became a centre of commerce, but everything changed in 1848 when gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, about 50 miles northeast. The Gold Rush triggered a massive influx of fortune-seekers, and later that year, John Sutter Jr. mapped out Sacramento City, naming it after the nearby Sacramento River, which had been named by Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga in the early 1800s.
The Kansas capital, Topeka, was founded in December 1854 by anti-slavery settlers, establishing it as a 'free state' stronghold. Its name is believed to come from the Kansa-Osage language, meaning 'a good place to dig potatoes'.
For a brief moment in March 2010, however, Topeka renamed itself 'Google, Kansas' in a bid to attract Google’s high-speed fibre optic network trial. In response, Google playfully changed its homepage logo to 'Topeka' as an April Fool’s joke. Both names quickly reverted – because 'Topeka it' never quite caught on.
The US may have long since severed ties with the British crown, but traces of royal influence remain – especially in city names. The South Carolina city of Charles Town was founded in 1670, named in honour of King Charles II.
During the American Revolutionary War, British forces occupied Charles Town from 1780 to 1782. After their departure, the city was officially incorporated as Charleston in 1783. While the exact reason for the name change isn’t fully documented, it may have been an effort to forge a new identity, distinct from its colonial past.
The smallest incorporated city in Montana, Ismay, owes its name to a combination of Isabel and Mary, possibly linked to the daughters of a railroad official when the town was established in 1907.
But in 1993, a Kansas City radio station concocted a stunt to celebrate NFL quarterback Joe Montana’s move from the San Francisco 49ers to the Kansas City Chiefs, persuading Ismay’s 22 residents to rename the town 'Joe, Montana' for the football season. The town embraced the gimmick, using proceeds from merchandise sales to fund a new community centre, fire hall and fire truck – now that’s a touchdown.
Which sounds more appealing to visit: Alligator Town or Lake City? It seems the latter painted a prettier picture for the leaders of this northern Florida city, about 60 miles (100km) west of Jacksonville.
It was originally a Seminole village presided over by chief Halpatter Tustennuggee (which means Alligator Warrior) and retained the name of Alligator until 1859, when it was incorporated under the new name Lake City, a tribute to the many lakes surrounding it. Though you might want to check what’s lurking in those waters first…
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