Ambiguous City Names

[Roadgeekteen]

When San Antonio is mentioned, it almost always means the city in TX, but there is also San Antonio, NM.

But it's difficult to imagine a context in which someone would get them mixed up.  Otherwise, this would be a thread about all the large cities that also have a namesake small town in some other state.  (such as Des Moines, if we stick with NM)

Maybe if you live near San Antonio NM.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

New York

This is akin to most of the Spanish provinces (named after their seats), except of course the capital of New York (the state) is Albany, not New York (the city).

I'm surprised this has run for so long before anyone pointed out there is an earlier thread about this very same topic.

[kphoger]

When San Antonio is mentioned, it almost always means the city in TX, but there is also San Antonio, NM.

But it's difficult to imagine a context in which someone would get them mixed up.  Otherwise, this would be a thread about all the large cities that also have a namesake small town in some other state.  (such as Des Moines, if we stick with NM)

Maybe if you live near San Antonio NM.

Doubtful.  They're more than 650 miles apart.  I struggle to think of a conversation in which it wouldn't be clear by context which location was being referred to.

[kphoger]

New York

This is akin to most of the Spanish provinces (named after their seats), except of course the capital of New York (the state) is Albany, not New York (the city).

I'm surprised this has run for so long before anyone pointed out there is an earlier thread about this very same topic.

New York isn't in my area.   

[hotdogPi]

When San Antonio is mentioned, it almost always means the city in TX, but there is also San Antonio, NM.

But it's difficult to imagine a context in which someone would get them mixed up.  Otherwise, this would be a thread about all the large cities that also have a namesake small town in some other state.  (such as Des Moines, if we stick with NM)

Maybe if you live near San Antonio NM.

Doubtful.  They're more than 650 miles apart.  I struggle to think of a conversation in which it wouldn't be clear by context which location was being referred to.

At 10 miles away from San Antonio NM, most people are thinking of the one in NM.
Equidistant from the two, most are thinking of the one in TX.
There has to be somewhere in between (much closer to the one in NM, obviously) where it's half and half.

[kphoger]

When San Antonio is mentioned, it almost always means the city in TX, but there is also San Antonio, NM.

But it's difficult to imagine a context in which someone would get them mixed up.  Otherwise, this would be a thread about all the large cities that also have a namesake small town in some other state.  (such as Des Moines, if we stick with NM)

Maybe if you live near San Antonio NM.

Doubtful.  They're more than 650 miles apart.  I struggle to think of a conversation in which it wouldn't be clear by context which location was being referred to.

At 10 miles away from San Antonio NM, most people are thinking of the one in NM.
Equidistant from the two, most are thinking of the one in TX.
There has to be somewhere in between (much closer to the one in NM, obviously) where it's half and half.

Maaaaaaaaybe, but I'm doubtful even of that.  I could see possibly being confused in, say, Roswell.

Much more likely to cause confusion in NM is Las Vegas, but that one's already been mentioned.

[Roadgeekteen]

Maybe London if you are in Ontario or near Ontario, but the vast majority of people would think England.

[webny99]

How about Pennsylvania, that has cities named after other states like California and Wyoming

... and Indiana, which is actually a decent sized county seat.

New York has an Alabama and a Florida, possibly among others.

[Roadgeekteen]

How about Pennsylvania, that has cities named after other states like California and Wyoming

... and Indiana, which is actually a decent sized county seat.

New York has an Alabama and a Florida, possibly among others.

Massachusetts has a town of Florida too.

[webny99]

When San Antonio is mentioned, it almost always means the city in TX, but there is also San Antonio, NM.

But it's difficult to imagine a context in which someone would get them mixed up.  Otherwise, this would be a thread about all the large cities that also have a namesake small town in some other state.  (such as Des Moines, if we stick with NM)

Maybe if you live near San Antonio NM.

Doubtful.  They're more than 650 miles apart.  I struggle to think of a conversation in which it wouldn't be clear by context which location was being referred to.

At 10 miles away from San Antonio NM, most people are thinking of the one in NM.
Equidistant from the two, most are thinking of the one in TX.
There has to be somewhere in between (much closer to the one in NM, obviously) where it's half and half.

Maaaaaaaaybe, but I'm doubtful even of that. I could see possibly being confused in, say, Roswell.

So, Roswell would be in the zone where context is required for clarity, thus making it ambiguous there.

In this case, I would guess the zone of ambiguity for "San Antonio" is bounded very roughly by US 54 and the Texas/New Mexico state line.

[briantroutman]

How about Pennsylvania, that has cities named after other states like California and Wyoming

The state is named after the valley in Pennsylvania.

The territory was named after the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania, made famous by the 1809 poem Gertrude of Wyoming by Thomas Campbell, based on the Battle of Wyoming in the American Revolutionary War. The name ultimately derives from the Munsee word xwé:wamənk, meaning "at the big river flat".[9][10]

[vdeane]

New York has an Alabama and a Florida, possibly among others.

New York actually has two Floridas, a town and a village.  That in and of itself wouldn't be unusual, but they're nowhere near each other.  The Town is south of Amsterdam and the Village is down in Orange County.

Rochester is also duplicated, and the two are in opposite ends of the state (the Town is in Ulster County; I think most people know where the City is).  And there are two Town of Brightons - one that's a suburb of Rochester, the other in the Adirondacks.

Speaking of Rochester, apparently the confusion between Rochester, NY and Rochester, MN is enough that this media market map accidentally swapped them.

[1995hoo]

New York

What other New York's exist?

The state, obviously.

If you say you're from New York, people aren't sure if you mean the city or the state.  Unless I read it wrong, the OP didn't specify that both locations must be cities.  Apparently, I read it wrong.

Heh. When I was a kid, my relatives in Brooklyn would say they were "going to New York" if they were going to Manhattan, which to this day none of us ever call "Manhattan"–nowadays, my aunts live in Breezy Point, which feels like it's a long way from New York City despite being in Queens, so we generally just refer to "the city" instead (and "the city" still doesn't include Brooklyn).

This discussion prompts me to think of how here in Northern Virginia we have Fairfax County and Fairfax City. The latter is almost always referred to as "Fairfax City" to clarify because there are so many Fairfax County addresses that are just "Fairfax."

How about Pennsylvania, that has cities named after other states like California and Wyoming

... and Indiana, which is actually a decent sized county seat.

New York has an Alabama and a Florida, possibly among others.

To increase the potential for confusion, the town of Indiana, Pennsylvania, is the home of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, often referred to as "IUP." I attended a convention there in the summer of 1989.

I suppose that calls to mind Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, which is usually called "Miami of Ohio" to distinguish it from the better-known one in Florida. But in this case the town doesn't share the name, so it doesn't really count for this thread.

[webny99]

I feel like almost everyone assumes the city.

They do in my region. I've spent a fair amount of time in NYS, never been to NYC. Always asked what museums, whatever I was planning to see and I'd have to specify I wasn't going to the city.

It's even worse when you're from the state. You go out of town and tell strangers you're from New York, and inevitably, they'll ask "what borough?" or some such question. The icing on the cake is when you say Rochester, or upstate, and get a flat "Oh." in response.

I remember discussing this phenomenon with an art teacher in middle school, and she apparently just picked random borough that she was from in answer to those types of questions. You're all lined up to be cool by being able to say you're from New York, so why not let them think you're from the city?! 

I assume the opposite.  I figure someone will say "New York City" if they mean the city, same as people will say "Mexico City" if they mean the city.

Thank you! That's how it should be. But unfortunately, that rule doesn't seem to apply to the Biggest and the Best, as those of us north of the 42nd parallel know all too well...

[Scott5114]

I remember discussing this phenomenon with an art teacher in middle school, and she apparently just picked random borough that she was from in answer to those types of questions. You're all lined up to be cool by being able to say you're from New York, so why not let them think you're from the city?! 

Hell, you could probably convince someone in a different part of the country that Rochester is a borough of NYC. Around here, people know NYC has "boroughs", and they would recognize Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens as being such thanks to TV and movies, but I doubt most people know how many boroughs there are or could list them all (who ever talks about Staten Island? May as well be Rochester).

[Bruce]

I'm surprised it took this many posts to mention the two Vancouvers, although I don't know why that confuses anyone outside of the PNW.

Both Vancovuers are on the same freeway corridor, the same Amtrak line, and are on the edge of Washington. Apparently there were more than a few tourists who booked hotels in the wrong Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics.

[GenExpwy]

Wilmington, North Carolina, versus Wilmington, Delaware; this was even ambiguous when I was attending law school in North Carolina because some people referred to the Delaware one without specifying, which led some of us to assume they meant the local one.

That's a good one, because neither is particularly well-known or of national importance, so it's probably ambiguous for most of the country. I would have guessed Wilmington, DE was the bigger of the two, but it actually only has a population of 70,000 to Wilmington, NC's 122,000. That just goes to show that it's ambiguous to me, if nothing else!

That's probably because Wilmington DE is more prominent in its state than Wilmington NC.

Likewise, Peoria IL (115,000) versus Peoria AZ (154,000).

[Roadgeekteen]

Wilmington, North Carolina, versus Wilmington, Delaware; this was even ambiguous when I was attending law school in North Carolina because some people referred to the Delaware one without specifying, which led some of us to assume they meant the local one.

That's a good one, because neither is particularly well-known or of national importance, so it's probably ambiguous for most of the country. I would have guessed Wilmington, DE was the bigger of the two, but it actually only has a population of 70,000 to Wilmington, NC's 122,000. That just goes to show that it's ambiguous to me, if nothing else!

That's probably because Wilmington DE is more prominent in its state than Wilmington NC.

Likewise, Peoria IL (115,000) versus Peoria AZ (154,000).

Well Peoria AZ is just some no name suburb.

[empirestate]

Portland ME and Portland OR (there are others, but they are the best-known).

Those two may enjoy the distinction of having the largest size disparity compared to their relative prominence (and eligibility for this thread). Even as large as it is, Portland OR is not universally considered the default choice against Portland ME.

Not the same, but Ontario CA sometimes gets confused with the Canadian province with that name, to the point where some airline passengers reportedly get ticketed to the wrong airport.

Greatly exacerbated by the fact that "Ontario CA" could be construed as an abbreviation for "Ontario, Canada".

Hell, you could probably convince someone in a different part of the country that Rochester is a borough of NYC. Around here, people know NYC has "boroughs", and they would recognize Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens as being such thanks to TV and movies, but I doubt most people know how many boroughs there are or could list them all (who ever talks about Staten Island? May as well be Rochester).

That actually isn't uncommon, largely because of the similarity of "Rochester" to "Westchester", which people do know is near NYC. (And the distinction between a borough and an adjacent suburban county to NYC isn't universally understood.)

On a similar and more general note, I feel that the ambiguity between New York city and state isn't so much that people assume you're referring to one versus the other, but that they simply don't recognize a distinction between the two. That's particularly true of folks from abroad, as not all countries have large sub-national units like our states.

[kphoger]

Portland ME and Portland OR (there are others, but they are the best-known).

Those two may enjoy the distinction of having the largest size disparity compared to their relative prominence (and eligibility for this thread). Even as large as it is, Portland OR is not universally considered the default choice against Portland ME.

And yet schoolchildren and adults alike, the nation over, have trouble remembering which state's capital is Portland:  is it Oregon or Maine?   

[Roadgeekteen]

Not cities, but Georgia (US vs country). State is probably the default one in America, but I'm not sure about elsewhere.

[hotdogPi]

Not cities, but Georgia (US vs country). State is probably the default one in America, but I'm not sure about elsewhere.

Wikipedia naming debate:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Georgia

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Not cities, but Georgia (US vs country). State is probably the default one in America, but I'm not sure about elsewhere.

I like to deliberately confuse the state with the former Soviet country. I refer to the state as the "American Caucasus", and since I go through the countries in the Caucasian area Georgia-Azerbaijan-Armenia the state following Georgia gets always called "Azerbaijan" by me regardless of which one is. And I won't be the first time I refer to Atlanta as "Tbilisi"...

[kphoger]

Even though it hasn't been the official name since the 90s, I still refer to it as "the Republic of Georgia".

[CoreySamson]

Mississippi has two communities named "Bogue Chitto"

Seriously, look it up.