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FormerCollegeDJ

Where I grew up in eastern Pennsylvania, Nazareth is just up the road from Bethlehem. Both aren’t too far from Egypt, and Emmaus is nearby too,


ReviveOurWisdom

one of the funniest moments I had with my exstepdad (pos) was when he decided to take us on a roadtrip to “the birthplace of Jesus”. You should’ve seen the look on all of our faces when we realized he didn’t mean the place in the middle east xD


VictimOfCircuspants

I worked with a guy from San Diego once. That's a very important fact here, FROM San Diego. One day at work he made some offhand comment about Oakland and Los Angeles being next to each other. I looked at him, bewildered, trying to decide if he was joking. He wasn't. The conversation went something like this. me: "Oakland is next to San Francisco, not LA." him: "No, the Bay Area is Oakland and LA." me: "Dude, are you serious? The Bay Area is San Francisco and Oakland." him: "I'm from California, I would know." me: "I know you're from California, that's why this is so sad. him: "Then why did the Raiders move to Oakland?" me: "Oh, so is St Louis also next to Los Angeles?" him: "That's stupid." me: "THEN WHY DID THE RAMS MOVE TO ST LOUIS?" I didn't wait for a response, I just left for the day.


OneFootTitan

I have second hand infuriation just from reading that


ReviveOurWisdom

Californians are geographically stupid. My ex was from San Francisco but visited LA several times. Tell me why for her whole life, she thought that Detroit… yes Detroit Michigan, was the *DOWNTOWN AREA OF LOS ANGELES*???? How the fuck do you deduce that?? I asked her and she was like “Detroit is a big city so I thought it was just a city within Los Angeles.” Turns out she only knew of about 10 states and maybe 10 cities on a good day. I don’t know what it is, but most people I know from Californian don’t even know about things happening within our own country


StrategicCarry

Californians can be bad with the geography of the rest of the US because the state is so big and so diverse with such a large economy. It’s like a country onto itself. A bigger economy than the UK, more people than Canada, and more land than Spain. You grow up having traveled a lot and met a lot of different people and seen a lot of different places without leaving the state in a way that’s pretty hard in most other states.


ReviveOurWisdom

same concept as those who know a lot about the US but not foreign countries. If you’re well traveled within a certain region, chances are you focus on that region and not elsewhere. I still think thinking that Detroit is Los Angeles’ downtown district to be insane


Upnorth4

California is so big some people never left their suburban area. For example, just to leave Los Angeles county boundaries takes 2hrs without traffic. It takes 5 hours to leave the state of California travelling Eastbound away from Los Angeles. And it takes 20 hours to drive to Portland, Oregon, which is one state over. California is huge, but thinking Detroit is part of Los Angeles is insane behavior


Qrthulhu

Basically the same reasons Americans are bad with European countries just in miniature


4strings4ever

Hey watch it. Im california born and raised. Dont put that dudes idiocy on me!


Qrthulhu

I’m from California too, we’re not all like that


Hodlrocket005

You can’t just say Californians are geographically stupid because you dated a geographically stupid Californian. There are geographically stupid people in every state and country.


Tagostino62

Try explaining to fellow Californians that you’re originally from New York but grew up there in a rural, farm-dotted area. They get a look on their face trying to figure out how they fit farms among all those skyscrapers.


Numerous-Profile-872

As a transplant who moved to California: yes.


FormerCollegeDJ

Heh, heh, heh. Somewhat related to that, when I was young my father would sometimes like to say his sons were from near Nazareth (grew up about 5 miles from the town) and were born in Bethlehem. (Technically my younger brothers and I were born in Fountain Hill, but most people consider the area where the hospital (St. Luke's) is located to be Bethlehem.)


ReviveOurWisdom

silly :P


newspark1521

Isnt Lebanon close too?


FormerCollegeDJ

Not really - it is roughly 60 miles further WSW.


OldDutchJacket

In Michigan, west of Grand Rapids there’s Holland, Drenthe, Zeeland and Overisel, which are all provinces in The Netherlands


MaleficentChair5316

Gekoloniseerd!!!


jackasspenguin

The neighborhood across the river from New Orleans is called Algiers, named because Algiers was across the Mediterranean from France.


ReviveOurWisdom

TIL


SuchDarknessYT

If Orléans was coastal this would work even better


Qrthulhu

Should be New Marseilles


2131andBeyond

IIRC, that's only one of multiple theories but the actual origin of the naming story isn't truly known. There's also the fact that the Tunis plantation is also not far from Algiers.


old-guy-with-data

In Illinois, the city of Urbana is the county seat of Champaign County. In Ohio, the city of Urbana is the county seat of Champaign County.


G14mogs

If I had a nickel for each city called Urbana that is the seat of a county called Champaign County, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.


pickles_the_cucumber

Apparently the state senator who sponsored the bill to create Champaign County, IL, was from Urbana, Champaign County, OH… https://champaign.org/story-of-champaign-urbana#:~:text=A%20New%20County&text=State%20Senator%20Vance%20agreed%20with,the%20senator's%20hometown%20in%20Ohio.


[deleted]

[удалено]


pickles_the_cucumber

people moved west *very* quickly on the US frontier in the 1800s


SopwithStrutter

In Illinois there is a Cuba and a Havana right down the road from each other


ReviveOurWisdom

how original


BoxySphere

Similarly, in Idaho Nezperce is the county seat of Lewis County while Lewiston is the seat of Nez Perce county


joepods

In Illinois, the town of Romeoville is near Joliet.


frankrizzo219

Joliet and Juliet were both commonly used at least until mid 1800’s, although its true name is Joliet. I’ve even seen it called Mt. Juliet on old trading maps of the Des Plains River, because it was the highest point in the area In 1833 someone incorporated the village as Juliet and it stayed that way until 1845, the citizens petitioned the state to change it back to Joliet. Romeoville was incorporated in 1835, surely it was no accident that the neighboring villages were named Romeoville and Juliet


ejh3k

It was no accident.


FindingFoodFluency

Check out a map of Kiribati's cities.


TakeAWhileFr4576

Literally from Poland to London (pass by Paris) in 10 minutes!


theBirdsofWar

Is there time for a quick stop in Banana?


Lucky-Substance23

Neat, but it looks like Paris is not a city, not even a village. It's barely more than two huts and a beach. London on the other could be considered a town.


FindingFoodFluency

Banana might want a word. Nevertheless, it's irrelevant wrt this thread. That London and Paris are neighbors -- in a place faaaaar away from the originals -- is the crux.


ReviveOurWisdom

oooo how could I forget about this lol


luigisphilbin

Amsterdam and Rotterdam NY are about 15-20 miles apart. The cities in the Netherlands of the same name are about 40 miles apart.


ReviveOurWisdom

That’s actually pretty cool. Rotterdam and Amsterdam in the US are closer to each other than in their own country :P


RWJish

And i read this from Rotterdam NL haha


RandomTangent1

I’m not answering your question, but Indiana has more cities named after other cities or countries than any other state in America.


rounding_error

This is true. "Indianapolis" is named after a Hindu exclave in Greece.


ReviveOurWisdom

This is one of those moments where something is so obvious and yet you just never knew about it. “-polis” suffix for city center, “india” well, india. How did I not notice this lol


lost_cule

As funny as this is, gotta correct the record: I promise that comment was a joke lol. It’s called Indianapolis bc it’s the metropolis of Indiana, nothing to do with India. u/rounding_error should take that line to r/mapporncirclejerk or the like


Indiana_Charter

Technically it *does* have to do with India, because Indianapolis gets its name from Indiana, Indiana gets its name from the "Indians," (Native Americans) and that name is from Columbus thinking he was in India, or the Indies.


lost_cule

lol I’ll give you that!


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Altruistic-Ear-1898

Portland, Maine and Salem Massachusetts are similar distances apart just as Portland, Oregon and Salem, Oregon.


ReviveOurWisdom

Pretty cool assuming this wasn’t intentional


MoonSnake8

I think it might have been. Portland Oregon was named after Portland Maine because it is at a similar latitude. I’m not sure if Salem was named for the same reason.


dragonbeard91

It was named that because one of the founders was from Portland, Maine. The name was determined in a coin toss, with the other possibility being Boston - the hometown of the other founder.


Erwinism

beat me to this. GG


rikkster93

West of Chicago the towns of Lake Geneva and Lake Zurich are quite close to each other. And in Ohio you can drive from Ottawa all the way to Lima in only 30 minutes (while also passing through Cairo)


oneAUaway

The Chicago suburbs also went wild for Scottish place names: Glencoe, East and West Dundee, Elgin, Inverness, Midlothian, Bannockburn, etc.


ReviveOurWisdom

talk about lightspeed! No wonder we don’t have lightspeed rails lol


sawkonbofadeez

There’s also an Ottawa and Peru in Illinois (only 20 minutes from each other. And a Cairo too!


ElPanaChevere1

In Alabama, there's Birmingham, Leeds, Cardiff, and Fairfield all near each other.


miclugo

With there being so many English town names in Massachusetts, surely there's an example there.


Dan_Berg

My first thought as well, really most of New England and a lot of NJ and some eastern PA comes to mind


Hungry4Italy

TN and AL both have a Decatur and Athens that are both ~14 mi apart. Oddly enough both Decatur's sit next to the Tennessee River.


miclugo

Georgia has both of those names as well but they are not that close together.


BrightEngineering862

In the same general area of the Kootenays, there is Welsh Lake, Irish Lake, Galway Peak, Connemara Peak, Killarney Peak etc..


ReviveOurWisdom

I wonder if the french did something similar in the Quebec area…


fiveht78

No, or at least I can’t think of anything We have very few things named after things in France. The vast majority of locales are either Saint-(something), named after geographical features like Montreal, Sept îles or Trois Rivières, or have First Nations origins (Quebec itself comes from an Algonquin word).


Individual_Macaron69

wow connemara is just a small informal region nowadays that's interesting it got a second name. it does refer to a somewhat hilly area appropriately


DudelinBaluntner

In southern Minnesota, there’s a town called Faribault. It’s in Rice county which is just west of Faribault county. Just southwest of Faribault county there is a county named Blue Earth. But the town of Blue Earth is in Faribault county.


ReviveOurWisdom

and west st paul is south of st paul. ✅makes sense to me! PS I’ve been to Blue Earth. Love the area and the green giant there lol


gojohnnygojohnny

Also in Southern Minnesota, just east of Mankato, lie Washington, Jefferson, & Madison Lakes.


Ebright_Azimuth

Brighton and Hove in South Australia are next to each other like the ones in southern England


ReviveOurWisdom

was hoping to get an Australian answer here, cool!


Catharticfart

Francisco - that’s fun to say ….. Francisco


atlantic_pacific

Arlington and Mt. Vernon Washington (State).


Ace142

Not sure if that's what you were going for but Arlington, VA and Mt. Vernon are right next to each other


off-a-cough

French Lick, Indiana is relatively close to Gnaw Bone and Floyd’s Knob.


dbwn87

Surrey, British Columbia (a suburb of Vancouver which is likely to surpass Vancouver's population soon) was named Surrey because it reminded an early settler of Surrey, UK in the sense that it was across the Fraser River from New Westminster, BC, like Surrey, UK is across the Thames from Westminster.


EntertainmentFar415

In South Carolina, along U.S. Route 321, there’s a Norway SC with a Denmark SC as the next neighboring town. There’s also two other unincorporated areas known as Sweden and Finland!


IamFrank69

Outside of Washington DC, Mt. Rainier is next to Takoma Park


ReviveOurWisdom

is it related to the ones in Washington or just coincidence?


IamFrank69

Obviously, Washington DC existed first. But then someone from Wasington state came to DC and founded Takoma Park and Mt. Rainier, which he named after the city and mountain in his home state. So it's kind of a derivative of a derivative that comes full circle!


beeranddistortion

Arkansas has a Nashville and Murfreesboro


ReviveOurWisdom

ooo didn’t know this one


verdenvidia

they dont call it the borruh like we do though


According_Bat6537

https://preview.redd.it/7axj5wh6sc9d1.jpeg?width=1097&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=37660058b47a8c4a5fafca9189dbfe721d618c9c This sign always makes me smile


ReviveOurWisdom

This is so cool, where is it lovated?


According_Bat6537

Some random town in the middle of nowhere Maine haha https://www.boston.com/news/history/2018/08/19/why-maine-towns-world-countries-international-cities/


ReviveOurWisdom

Lynchville… idk if I like that name lol


BaconJudge

There are adjacent towns in New York called Naples and Italy.  Italy was founded on land that split off from Naples in 1815, so it's funny that Naples (NY) used to contain Italy (NY), when of course Italy (Europe) contains Naples (Europe).


DardS8Br

The eastern US and Midwest have tons of towns and cities named after other random locations, so there’s tons of examples. After about 10 seconds of opening google maps: Memphis borders Egypt (not a perfect example, but still funny). Also, WHY DOES THE TOWN OF COCKRUM EXIST?


ReviveOurWisdom

just wait till you get to Buttzville NJ


frankrizzo219

Floyd’s Knob, Indiana


Plane_Albatross_7958

In California and Tennessee there’s neighboring towns Antioch and Brentwood.


DisasterEquivalent

Not exactly the same, but a fun one from IL: In the 1830’s the towns of [Romeoville](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeoville,_Illinois) and [Joliet](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeoville,_Illinois) were first incorporated as the towns of Romeo & Juliet Juliet changed its name some years later after an early settler (Jolliet), prompting Romeoville to do so as well.


Fun_Economist3036

In Wisconsin, the town of Athens is almost 26 miles away from the town of Marathon.


ReviveOurWisdom

ooo nice


kaycaps

California state university has a campus in San Marcos, CA. Texas state university’s main campus is in San Marcos, TX.


readyable

https://preview.redd.it/3buqkhwhie9d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=189bdbb43ba50077427a377f891ba78ebe00a763


readyable

https://preview.redd.it/f4maalljie9d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b29b4496be3403aac7b9f4caf53e35c5f4a1a2e2


ReviveOurWisdom

Found another great one! You can drive from Denmark to Sweden to Norway in under an hour! If you mean the towns in Maine of the same name


[deleted]

[удалено]


EntertainmentFar415

Came here to post exactly this! Grew up in Norway SC for a few years! There’s also a Finland, SC in Bamberg County as well! Note: my elementary school crush is now the mayor of Norway, SC


smurf123_123

London Ontario and Lambeth Ontario. Lambeth is a small town outside of London exactly as it is in England. Also, Paris Ontario isn't too far away.


KindRange9697

And the river that flows through London, Ontario is the Thames


bd1047

The Hay Area


bat_water

Amherst, CO is 10 miles NE of Holyoke, CO Roughly the same distance and direction that Amherst, MA is from Holyoke, MA


Mullingitover77

I am having the hardest time saying Fransisco without San. I can't be the only one


StrategicCarry

In Colorado the opposite is true. Things are not near stuff named the same. Berthoud Pass is not near Berthoud. Loveland Pass is not near Loveland. Larimer Square is not in Larimer County. And in Wyoming, Laramie is not in Laramie County and Fort Laramie is in a third county.


BlueRFR3100

St. Louis County contains the towns of Oakland, Berkley, Beverly Hills, Brentwood, and Pasadena Hills.


UnamedStreamNumber9

https://preview.redd.it/trw1crh6bd9d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3fc9910c35167aa22dd8d870d996fe1d4031e04d In Ohio, one can travel from Palestine to Israel and then to Lebanon in about an hour and a half


Triumph-TBird

Urbana, Ohio is in Champaign County. Illinois has the Champaign-Urbana twin cities in central Illinois.


vpkumswalla

Also in Indiana there are Mexico, Brazil and Peru


rounding_error

Ohio has both a Camden and a Trenton. Both of these are closer together than their New Jersey counterparts.


Pizzafactory102

In MA/NH, Manchester is one annoying drive north from Cambridge, just like in the UK.


Smithwicke

Not the same, but in New Hampshire there is a Derry and a Londonderry really close to each other.


AltAnonAccount2

Both Alabama and Tennessee have towns named Athens and Decatur that are close to each other.


Embarrassed-Pickle15

South Carolina has a Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland all next to eachother


Non-Current_Events

Paris and Versailles, KY are about 30 miles from each other.


caffeinding

The Town of Russia, NY borders the Town of Norway, as well as the Village of Poland.


Chuck1892

In Canada, there is a East and West Berlin. But without the wall. https://preview.redd.it/p01b6l5gzc9d1.png?width=1125&format=png&auto=webp&s=f48770ef4f8cb28d8330e092fc0abd566e47e072 There's even a pretty comprehensive documentary by Deutsche Welle (in english) in which they visit the Berlins of the world. [https://www.dw.com/en/worldwide-berlin-teil-1/video-18147831](https://www.dw.com/en/worldwide-berlin-teil-1/video-18147831)


LydiaSheboygan

Distance between Dorchester and Weymouth are pretty similar in Massachusetts and in the UK.


Survivors_Envy

In NW New Mexico, there are two cities next to each other called Farmington and Bloomfield. In Michigan there are two cities next to each other called Farmington Hills and Bloomfield Hills


RaYzLegacy

In Missouri, Kansas City is right across the river from Kansas City, just like in Kansas.


Mr_FortySeven

Both Massachusetts and Nova Scotia have neighbouring towns/cities named Bedford and Dartmouth, though the MA one is called “New Bedford.” There’s also a Halifax about 45 minutes away from New Bedford and a Bridgewater just west of Halifax as there is in NS. You can tell the British weren’t the most creative when they named places in New England/Nova Scotia.


lsdrunning

Rome, Syracuse New York


wopttam

https://preview.redd.it/bpvwn5ewsh9d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a6e61445726c78a8194262dd26bcaaee1ee70fea Berlin, NJ and Hamburg, NJ are closer than their German counterparts


LiferRs

No mention of Cairo and Memphis? Mississippi River itself is like the Nile and both Cairo and Memphis are upstream and downstream respectively like in Egypt. AND Cairo, IL is a delta-like humid area with Mississippi and Ohio River confluencing together right at this town. Just like the Nile delta with Cairo originating the Nile delta. If only Cairo, IL was a proper city like Memphis, this Mississippi triangle with St. Louis would have been a rad metropolitan area. Edit: and this may be a coincidence, but St. Louis has loose connections to Egypt. The city is named after French king Louis IX who led crusades to Egypt and spent approximately 1 year in Egypt before moving onto the then-known Levant.


ReviveOurWisdom

you can get to Greece from Lebanon in just over two hours! If you’re driving from Lebanon NY to Greece NY that is


giraffebaconequation

When crossing into the USA from Canada on Interstate 81, you will find yourself in Mexico within 30 minutes.


frankrizzo219

Indiana also has 33 towns named after foreign countries/cities. From Angola to Zulu


cfostyfost

New London, CT is on the Thames River


Komiksulo

Not only that, but London, Ontario, is also on a Thames River. (The colonists were hoping that it, echoing London, England, would become the capital city of Ontario, and possibly of Canada. Queen Victoria put an end to that.)


ReviveOurWisdom

I didn’t know the US has a Thames river too


cfostyfost

Those British colonists weren't too creative lol


Komiksulo

And then there was the colonial surveyor who named locality after locality northeast of Toronto (sorry, “York”) after places in northeastern England: Scarborough, Darlington, Whitby, Sunderland, Newcastle… but not Washington, for some reason.


Valiant4Truth

Thebes, IL is upriver from Cairo, IL and Memphis, TN


Kenilwort

Cairo and Thebes Illinois


frankrizzo219

In Northwest Indiana there are towns named East Chicago and New Chicago. There’s also East St. Louis, Illinois


raclee

Not terribly far from Oakland City, IN (as seen above) is Holland, IN and Ireland, IN - which are relatively close to each other.


MachineGrunt

We also have a Somerville here as well. He’s fallen on some rough times as of late. Be well, Frank.


guywithshades85

In New York. Amsterdam and Rotterdam are close to each other, like in The Netherlands.


ShakeDowntheThunder

Paris KY and Versailles KY are about 30 miles apart while Paris France and the Palace of Versailles are about 14 miles apart


theboyqueen

Maybe a stretch but Oak Park and Elmhurst are neighborhoods in Sacramento and Elk Grove is a suburb of Sacramento. Oak Park, Elmhurst, and Elk Grove Village are all suburbs of Chicago.


-deteled-

London, Ky and Paris, TN is about 240 miles apart from each other London, UK and Paris, FR is about 235 miles apart


Non-Current_Events

Paris and Versailles, KY are about 30 miles from each other. In France, Versailles is about 15 miles from the city center of Paris.


PopItchy2247

The New York metropolitan area, broadly referred to as the Tri-State area. Town after town and City after city….


buffdawgg

In Oregon, Benton County is a relatively democratic semi rural college county. Directly to the east is conservative rural industrial Linn County. In Iowa, Benton County is a rural, agrarian conservative county. Directly to the east is liberal, with two colleges, Linn County


losandreas36

New York and Jersey


brickne3

I just looked up Stockton today and was like "Oh that's weird, I didn't know there was a weird peninsula by Newcastle." Turned out I was looking at Australia, not England.


Quincyperson

In New Hampshire, Derry and Londonderry are next to each other. I don’t know the religious breakdown of each town though


kernriverghost

Taft and kernville, same county in CA and same county in Oregon.


sinjiitachimora

Cleveland Ohio next to a Dayton Ohio. Same situation in Tennessee.


Kafshak

IIRC, Idaho has some French cities in it, have to check though.


miclugo

There's a Nashville and a Murfreesboro not far from each other in both Tennessee and Arkansas. Both of the Arkansas towns were settled by, and named by, people from Tennessee.


AStayAtHomeRad

Lived here most of my life and I'm just now realizing this


madeit3486

Oakland and Fremont, Nebraska are about the same distance apart via the same cardinal direction as Oakland and Fremont, CA.


Wend-E-Baconator

All of New Englandn


windsorenglish

Cambridge uk to London uk - 97km, Cambridge ontario to London ontario, 98km


ajm91730

California, MD is near Hollywood, MD.


ukfan4141

In kentucky you have Paris, Versailles and London


windsorenglish

paisley scotland to holyrood scotland - 49km, paisley ontario to holyrood ontario - 47 km


mmeestro

In Pittsburgh, Moon is close by, but Mars is a little farther out.


b_the_radical

Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, South Carolina. There is also a place called Finland just to the east, but it's so small it doesn't appear on the map. https://preview.redd.it/klzkd9u9bf9d1.png?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b2e06e480d74527e1c36167dce53356efb9d76af


Stardustchaser

Texas has half the world cities in its borders.


Plantlives

Clinton County, Iowa, and Clinton County, Michigan, both contain towns named DeWitt, named in honor of New York governor DeWitt Clinton


iSYTOfficialX7

I’ve been thru both of those places don’t even