Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1917-06-01
CITIES ODD Names
Few National Capitals Are Called
After Noted Citizens.
Many municipalities in United States
Commemorate Famous Men OF
History, But Not Many OF
Them Are Americans.

There used to be a saying tnaI W
roocb the heights of fame man must
have q street, a town and a cigar
named after him. But it is an ouu
fact that while many men achleVe such
Greatness. there are only one or TWO
who have had the capitals OF natlons
named for them.
There is, of course, Washington,
named after the first president; fe1-
rograd, named for its founder Petel
the Great, and Constantinople, named
for the great Constantine; but oeyona
these the capitals of the various coun-
fries have received their names ny
reason of their climate, their seo-
graphic position or some toucn OIL sen
timent q writer in the Philadelphia
North American observes.
Changing the name of the capltai
has been frequently done. Indeed II
was only with the beginning OF the
nresent war that st. Petersburg De-
came Petrograd, eliminating the Ter
man sburg," whose choosing has al
WAYS been a mystery to the RUSSIAN
people. 10.
Tokyo, the capital of Japan, mas
also had it's name changed, for less
than fifty years ago it was known as
"Yeddo," a Japanese word meaning
estuary gate. When the mikado TOOK
ND his residence there, however, ne
changed the name to Tokyo, meaning
eastern capital, thus differentiatlng
il from the former capital, which mao
been called Saikyo, or western capital
Another capital which has been re-
christened within recent years Is
Christiania, the capital OF Norway
which derives it's name from King
Christian ", who built the now-fa-
nous CITY after the destruction by
fire of the old capital Oslo. 1t was his
desire to make it the most modern
and most beautiful Of cities, and ne
took so great personal interest In IL
that when it came to name every
one urged that it be called for him,
and Christiania was finally adopted
as being more artistic than Christian
vile or burg.
There are very few great cities of
the United States named for Ameri-
cans, but there are many which COM
memorate famous men of history. VI
those named for Americans, there are,
among others, Jefferson City, Mo. ;
Madison, Wis; Lincoln, Neb.; ana
Houston, Tex, while there are also
many cities which tell in their names
the stories of gallant priests who
started missions among the Indians,
and were often the first white men to
penetrate into the depths Of the will
derness. San Francisco is named, IT
is true, for st. Francis, but the monks
of that order are really the ones
whose deeds the city commentaries
and there are, besides, Hennepln,
Mimi, and Marquette, Wis, whose
names tell mute stories of the priests
The majority of the larger cities are,
however, named for EngliShmen or
Frenchmen, for when the cities re-
celVoU IlelT CIlIlSlcAluS liz oiS
dreamed that the time would come
when the vast new country would be
a nation of itself. Thus New York
was named for the duke Of York, st.
Louis for the king of France, Pitts
burgh for Lord Pitt, Baltimore for
Lord Baltimore, New Orleans for the
duke of Orleans, and so on through a
long list of names that have now be-
come most thoroughly Americanized. in
the thoughts of the whole world.
In Australia the habit Of naming
cities after statesmen is more preva-
lent than in any other country, and
the majority of it's larger towns bring
to mind men who have helped. to make
history. Thus Melbourne recalls Lord
Melbourne; Sydney was named after
Thomas Townsend, first yiscount Sgd
ney, and at that time secretary of
state for the colonies, and Adelaide,
another of Australians capital cities,
keeps green the memory Of Queen
Adelaide, wife of William ~.