This is a list of Missouri places named after non-US places. In the case of this list, place means any named location that's smaller than a county or equivalent: cities, towns, villages, hamlets, neighborhoods, municipalities, boroughs, townships, civil parishes, localities, Census Designated Places, and some districts. Also included are country homes, castles, palaces, and similar institutions.
This page was created from the “List of U.S. places named after non-U.S. places,” to provide just the list of Missouri places.
There are many places in the United States that are named after places in another country. By far, the majority of the names are due to 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 US 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.
Places where battles happened 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 origin does not fall into the above categories. For example, some were given the names by railroads or taken from books the people naming the town had been reading. A few very unusual sources are 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-era song that the first settler liked.
Note that 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; while 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 named after people in the United States.
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 City or town Namesake Kabul Cabool, Missouri
Algeria City or town Namesake Oran Oran, Missouri
Argentina City or town Namesake La Plata La Plata, Missouri
Austria City or town Namesake Notes Freistadt Freistatt, Missouri Vienna Vienna, Missouri Wels New Wells, Missouri
Belgium City or town Namesake Notes Liège Liege, Missouri Liege, Missouri was annexed by Bellflower, Missouri in 1960
Bolivia City or town Namesake Notes Potosí Potosi, Missouri
Canada City or town Namesake Notes Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax, Missouri Montreal, Quebec Montreal, Missouri
Cuba City or town Namesake Notes Cuba Cuba, Missouri
Czech Republic City or town Namesake Notes Karlín Karlin, Missouri
France City or town Namesake Notes Avallon Avalon, Missouri Chantilly Chantilly, Missouri Metz Metz, Missouri named for the Siege of Metz (1870) Paris Paris, Missouri Versailles Versailles, Missouri Pronounced “Ver-sales” Vichy Vichy, Missouri
Germany City or town Namesake Notes Arnsberg, North Rhine-Westphalia Arnsberg, Missouri Cottbus, Brandenburg Cottbus, Missouri Dissen, Lower Saxony Dissen, Missouri Dutzow, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Dutzow, Missouri Melle, Lower Saxony New Melle, Missouri Niederfrohna, Saxony Frohna, Missouri Offenburg, Baden-Württemberg New Offenburg, Missouri Paitzdorf, Thuringia Uniontown, Missouri original name of Uniontown was Paitzdorf Seelitz, Saxony Seelitz, Missouri Weingarten, Württemberg Weingarten, Missouri Wittenberg, Saxony-Anhalt Wittenberg, Missouri Zell am Harmersbach, Baden-Württemberg Zell, Missouri
Italy For more cities in Italy, see the Ancient world section below. City or town Namesake Notes Arcole Arcola, Missouri named for the Battle of Arcole Como Como, Missouri Milan Milan, Missouri Pronounced "Mylan" Modena Modena, Missouri Venice Venice, Missouri
Lebanon For more cities in Lebanon, see the Ancient world section below. City or town Namesake Notes Lebanon Lebanon, Missouri
Lebanon, Missouri is named after the country itself.
Louisiana City or town Namesake Notes Louisiana Louisiana, Missouri
Mexico City or town Namesake Notes Mexico Mexico, Missouri
The Netherlands City or town Namesake Notes Amsterdam Amsterdam, Missouri
Peru City or town Namesake Notes Callao Callao, Missouri
Poland City or town Namesake Notes Miasteczko Krajeńskie (German: Friedheim) Friedheim, Missouri Kraków Krakow, Missouri Warsaw Warsaw, Missouri
Portugal City or town Namesake Notes Lisbon Lisbon, Missouri
Russia City or town Namesake Notes Moscow Moscow Mills, Missouri Sovetsk Tilsit, Missouri
South Africa City or town Namesake Notes Kimberley, Northern Cape Kimberly, Missouri
Spain City or town Namesake Notes Iberia Iberia, Missouri Madrid New Madrid, Missouri
United Kingdom British Overseas Territories City or town Namesake Notes Longwood, Saint Helena Longwood, Missouri Place where Napoleon lived during his second exile.
England City or town Namesake Notes Birmingham, West Midlands Birmingham, Missouri Broseley, Shropshire Broseley, Missouri Brunswick (Hove), East Sussex Brunswick, Missouri London New London, Missouri Manchester Manchester, Missouri
Scotland City or town Namesake Notes Caledonia, the Roman Empire's name for Scotland Caledonia, Missouri Edinburgh Edina, Missouri Glasgow Glasgow, Missouri Glen Coe Glencoe, Missouri Kilwinning Kilwinning, Missouri
Ancient world Cities that have namesakes because they are biblical or prominent in ancient history are in this section. City or town Civilization Modern location Namesake Notes Arbela Assyrian Erbil, Iraq Arbela, Missouri named for the Battle of Arbela, where Alexander decisively defeated the Persian Empire Bethany Hebrew al-Eizariya, West Bank Bethany, Missouri Carthage Punic, Berber Carthage, Tunisia Carthage, Missouri Herculaneum Samnite Ercolano, Campania, Italy Herculaneum, Missouri Memphis Egyptian ruins near Mit Rahina, Egypt Memphis, Missouri Troy (unknown) Hisarlik, Turkey Troy, Missouri
See also
List of places named after people in the United States List of places named after places in the United States Lists of places by language of origin List of place names of Czech origin in the United States List of place names of Dutch origin in the United States Locations in the United States with an English name List of place names of French origin in the United States List of Irish place names in other countries List of place names of Scottish origin in the United States List of place names of Spanish origin in the United States List of Swedish place names in the United States List of place names of Welsh origin in the United States
References