There are many places in the United States that are named after places in another country. By far, the majority of the names came from immigrants naming their new home after their former home. As such, they reflect the pattern of immigration to the United States. Immigrants did not just settle in random locations, but rather congregated with others who spoke the same language and had the same religion. Three examples:

An area in western Michigan centered on Holland in southern Ottawa County was settled by religious refugees from the Netherlands. After a split from the state church in the Netherlands, they were unhappy with the restrictions the Dutch government placed on their religious practices. There are several villages in that region named after villages in the old country. A number of Belgian names are found clustered in the Green Bay area of northeastern Wisconsin. This reflects the high concentration of Belgian immigrants in that area. Ellis County, Kansas was the destination of a group of Volga Germans who moved there in the 1870s. Their settlements were mostly given the names of the villages they left behind in Russia.

Less concentrated groupings of foreign place names are Norwegian names throughout Minnesota, Czech names in southeast Texas, and Dutch names in the Hudson Valley of New York. The Hudson Valley locations are so named because the area was a Dutch colony before it became an English colony.

But not all the immigrants concentrated so heavily. Germans, for example, are one of the largest immigrant groups and places named after German cities are widespread across the United States. However, there is still a general concentration of them in the Midwestern United States, especially in Missouri.

Other sources of foreign names transferred to the U.S. are the Bible and ancient history. Biblically sourced names are widespread and are sometimes the result of naming a settlement after its church. Names from ancient history can also be found in a number of places, although a concentration of them can be found in upstate New York. Names from these two sources can be found in the Ancient World section below the list of countries.

Battle sites are also a source for foreign names. The Mexican–American War is the most common source, but other wars such as the Napoleonic Wars and World War I are also represented.

There is a small number of names whose origins do not fall into the above categories: some were given by railroad companies or taken from books the people naming the town had been reading. Names with yet other unusual sources include Madras, Oregon, which was named after a bolt of Madras cloth seen in the general store, and Poland, Maine, which was named after a medieval song that its first settler liked.

Not all towns whose names are the same as a foreign city or country are named after that city. For example, there is only one US place that is known to be named for the Boston in England. That is Boston, Massachusetts. The Bostons in Indiana, Missouri, New York, and Highland and Summit Counties in Ohio, as well as Boston Corner, New York and South Boston, Virginia are named after Boston, Massachusetts; those in Georgia and Texas are named after people; most other places with the name do not have a known etymology. Also note that places named after people are not on this list, even if that person's name can be traced back to a city. For this reason, cities such as New York, Baltimore, New Orleans, and Albuquerque are not on the list. Places named for people can be found at List of places in the United States named after people.

Some places have an indeterminate etymology, where it is known that they are named after a city in a particular country, but there is more than one place with that name and the etymology does not distinguish which one. These entries have "needs disambiguation" in their notes section.

Afghanistan Place Namesake Kabul Cabool, Missouri

Albania Place Namesake Vlorë Valona, Georgia

Algeria Place Namesake Algiers Algiers, Louisiana Algiers, Indiana Oran Oran, Missouri

Angola Place Namesake Angola Angola, Indiana Angola, New York

Argentina Place Namesake La Plata La Plata, Missouri La Plata, Maryland 

Armenia Place Namesake Armenia Armenia, Wisconsin Armenia Gardens Estates, Florida Armenia Township, Pennsylvania Little Armenia, Los Angeles, California Old Armenian Town, Fresno, California Armenia, Chester County, South Carolina

Australia Place Namesake Notes Ballarat, Victoria Ballarat, California Brisbane, Queensland Brisbane, California   Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne, Florida Melbourne, Kentucky Melbourne, Arkansas Rockhampton, Queensland Rockham, South Dakota

Austria Place Namesake Notes Deutsch-Wagram Wagram, North Carolina named for the Battle of Wagram Freistadt Freistatt, Missouri Vienna Vienna, Illinois Vienna, Indiana Vienna, Missouri Vienna, New York   Vienna, Virginia   Vienna, West Virginia Wels New Wells, Missouri  

Bangladesh Place Namesake Bangladesh Little Bangladesh, Los Angeles

Belgium Place Namesake Notes Antwerp Antwerp, New York Antwerp, Ohio Bastogne Bastogne Gables, North Carolina Brussels Brussels, Wisconsin Brussels, Illinois Belgium Belgium, Wisconsin Charleroi Charleroi, Pennsylvania Ghent Ghent, Minnesota Ghent, KentuckyGhent, New York Ghent, West Virginia Hoboken Hoboken, New Jersey The original name Hoebuck was changed to Hoboken. Liège Liege, Missouri Liege, Missouri was annexed by Bellflower, Missouri in 1960 Namur Namur, Wisconsin Rosières Rosiere, Wisconsin Walhain Walhain, Wisconsin Waterloo Waterloo, New York named for the Battle of Waterloo Waterloo, Indiana Waterloo, Illinois named for the Battle of WaterlooWaterloo, Iowa Watervliet Watervliet, New York Watervliet, Michigan

Bolivia Place Namesake Notes Bolivia Bolivia, North Carolina La Paz La Paz, Indiana Potosí Potosi, Missouri Potosi, Texas Potosi, Wisconsin

Brazil Place Namesake Brazil Brazil, Indiana

Bulgaria Place Namesake Notes Pleven Plevna, Montana Plevna, Kansas Shumen (formerly: Shumla) Shumla, Texas Sofia Sofia, New Mexico   Varna Varna, Illinois

Canada Place Namesake Notes Acton, Ontario Acton Township, Minnesota Alma, Ontario Alma, North Dakota Amherst, Nova Scotia Amherst, Wisconsin Annapolis Valley, Nova ScotiaAnnapolis, California Ardoch, Ontario Ardoch, North Dakota Auburn, Ontario Auburn, North Dakota Aylmer, Ontario Alymer, North Dakota Ayr, Ontario Ayr, Michigan Beaverton, Ontario Beaverton, Michigan Belleville, Ontario Belleville, Wisconsin Brampton, Ontario Brampton, North Dakota Brantford, Ontario Brantford, North Dakota Calgary, Alberta Kalgary, Texas Chatham-Kent, Ontario Chatham, Michigan Cobourg, Ontario Coburg, Indiana Conway, Ontario Conway, North Dakota Devizes, Ontario Devizes, Kansas Dundas, Ontario Dundas, Minnesota Fenwick, Ontario Fenwick, Michigan Fingal, Ontario Fingal, North Dakota Galt, Ontario Galt, California Galt, ON was amalgamated into Cambridge in 1973 Gentilly, Quebec Gentilly Township, Minnesota Glenburn, Ontario Glenburn, North Dakota South Glengarry, Ontario Glengary, Idaho possibly named by David Thompson after his hometown Guelph, Ontario Guelph, North Dakota Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax, Missouri Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton, North Dakota Hatley, Quebec Hatley, Wisconsin Hemmingford, Quebec Hemingford, Nebraska Holyrood, Ontario Holyrood, Kansas Inglewood, Ontario Inglewood, California Joliette, Quebec Joliette, North Dakota Kenmore, Ontario Kenmore, Washington Keswick Ridge, New BrunswickKeswick, Michigan Kingston, Ontario Kingston, Wisconsin Kinloss, Ontario Kinloss Township, Walsh County, North Dakota Lindsay, Ontario Lindsay, Nebraska Minto, Ontario Minto, North Dakota Moncton, New Brunswick Monkton, Maryland Montreal, Quebec Montreal, Missouri   Napanee, Ontario Naponee, Nebraska Omemee, Ontario Omemee, North Dakota Ontario, Canada Ontario, California Ontario, Oregon Orillia, Ontario Orillia, Washington   Oshawa, Ontario Oshawa, Minnesota Osnabruck, Ontario Osnabrock, North Dakota Osnabruck ON (which was named for Osnabruck in Germany) was merged with Cornwall to form South Stormont in 1998 Perth, Ontario Perth, North Dakota Pictou, Nova Scotia Pictou, Colorado Quebec City, Quebec Quebec, Montana Regina, Saskatchewan Regina, New Mexico Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec Saint John, North Dakota St. Thomas, Ontario St. Thomas, North Dakota Sarnia, Ontario Sarnia, North Dakota Sherbrooke, Quebec Sherbrooke, North Dakota Sydney, Nova Scotia Sidney, North Dakota Simcoe, Ontario Simcoe, North Dakota Strabane, Ontario Strabane, North Dakota Terrebonne, Quebec Terrebonne Township, Minnesota Thedford, Ontario Thedford, Nebraska Toronto, Ontario Toronto, Kansas Toronto, Ohio Truro, Nova Scotia Truro Township, Ohio Uxbridge, Ontario Uxbridge, North Dakota Watford, Ontario Watford City, North Dakota Watford, ON was merged into Warwick in 2001 Windsor, Ontario Windsor, North Dakota

Chile Place Namesake Notes Valparaíso Valparaiso, Indiana

China Place Namesake Notes Beijing Pekin, Illinois New Pekin, Indiana China China, New York Guangzhou Canton, Georgia Canton, New York Canton, Ohio Canton, Massachusetts Canton, Michigan Jilin City Kiron, Iowa Jilin was formerly romanized as Kirin Nanjing Nankin Township, Michigan   Shanghai Shanghai, West Virginia Shanghai City, Illinois Wusong Woosung, Illinois

Colombia Place Namesake Notes Bogotá Bogota, Illinois Bogota, Tennessee Bogata, Texas

Cuba Place Namesake Notes Cuba Cuba, Missouri Cuba, Illinois Cuba Township, Lake County, IllinoisCuba, New York Havana Havana, Illinois Havana, Arkansas Matanzas Matanzas, Kentucky Matanzas Beach, Illinois Miramar, Havana Miramar, Florida Yara Yara, Minnesota

Czech Republic Place Namesake Notes Beroun Beroun, Minnesota   Brno Bruno, Nebraska Dolní Loučky Loucky, Nebraska Domažlice (German: Taus) Taus, Wisconsin Frenštát pod Radhoštěm Frenstat, Texas Frýdek-Místek Frydek, Texas Horní Loučky Loucky, Nebraska Hostýn Hostyn, Texas Hradec Králové New Hradec, North Dakota Karlín Karlin, Michigan   Karlin, Missouri   Karlovy Vary (German: Karlsbad) Carlsbad, New Mexico   Carlsbad, California Kolín Kolin, Louisiana Malín (part of Kutná Hora) Malin, Oregon Lidice Lidice, Illinois renamed from Stern Park Gardens in July, 1942 in response to the Lidice Massacre; now part of Crest Hill, Illinois Litice Castle Lititz, Pennsylvania Mělník Melnik, Wisconsin Nechanice Nechanitz, Texas Olomouc (German: Olmütz) Olmitz, Kansas Pacov (German: Patzau) Patzau, Wisconsin Písek Pisek, North Dakota Plzeň (German: Pilsen) Pilsen, Kansas Prague New Prague, Minnesota Prague, Oklahoma   Praha, Texas   Protivín Protivin, Iowa Rožnov pod Radhoštěm Roznov, Texas Roztoky Rostok, Wisconsin Slavkov u Brna (German: Austerlitz) Austerlitz, New York named after the Battle of Austerlitz Tábor Tabor Township, Minnesota Veselí nad Lužnicí Veseli, Minnesota Vodňany Vodnany, South Dakota Vsetín Vsetin, Texas

Denmark Place Namesake Notes Copenhagen Copenhagen, New York DenmarkDenmark, MaineDenmarkDenmark, South Carolina Helsingør Elsinore, Utah Nysted Nysted, Nebraska Odense Odense, Kansas   Ringsted Ringsted, Iowa Torning Torning Township, Minnesota Viborg Viborg, South Dakota

Ecuador Place Namesake Notes Quito Quito, Tennessee

Egypt For more cities in Egypt, see the Ancient world section below. Place Namesake Notes Cairo Cairo, Illinois Cairo, West VirginiaCairo, Ohio Cairo, Georgia Cairo, New York Egypt Egypt, Texas Luxor Luxor, Pennsylvania Memphis Memphis, Tennessee Memphis, FloridaMemphis, MissouriMemphis, TexasMemphis, MichiganMemphis, New York Memphis, Indiana Suez Suez Township, Illinois

Finland Place Namesake Notes Finland Finland, Minnesota Liminka Liminga, Michigan Oulu Oulu, Wisconsin PaavolaPaavola, Michigan Pori Pori, Michigan Salo Salo Township, Minnesota TapiolaTapiola, Michigan Toijala Toivola, Michigan   Toivola Township, Minnesota Vaasa Wasas, Michigan Waasa Township  

France