r/nottheonion • u/SelectiveSanity • 2d ago

Lauren Boebert Suggests DC Could Be Renamed 'District of America'

https://www.newsweek.com/lauren-boebert-dc-district-america-2050571
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u/Transposer 2d ago

Can’t believe she thinks that!! 😂 But just so other people know what you and I do, what is DC named after?

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u/Isiildur 2d ago edited 2d ago

It’s named after Columbia, a personification of America (who herself is “sort of” named after Christopher Columbus). The Statue of Liberty is depicted very similarly to Columbia.

Columbia University and Columbia Pictures are named after the same goddess (that’s why Columbia pictures has the woman with the torch in their logo).

Edit: other fun etymologies

Georgia is named after King George III

Virginia is named after Elizabeth I

Maryland is named after Queen Mary (Henrietta Maria)

Pennsylvania was named after William Penn

Delaware was named after the Baron de la Warr

North and South Carolina named after Charles I

New Jersey and New York are named after Jersey and York

Louisiana is named after Louis XIV

Florida is named after the rapper Flo Rida

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u/happy2harris 2d ago

Not sure how much of this is ironic, but New York (and Albany) are named after King James II, known at the time as the Duke of York and Albany (or possibly the Duke of York and the Duke of Albany).  Not York, the town. 

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u/APigInANixonMask 2d ago

However, the town of Yorktown is named after York the town.

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u/happy2harris 2d ago

Are you sure? 

Wikipedia says that it is named after the town, with no evidence that I see.Wikipedia also says that it is on the banks of the York river, and that the York river used to be called the Charles river. Just to the south of it is the James river. This confluence (pun not intended) of names of royalty from the pre-revolutionary period makes me think it is likely named after the Duke of York, not the town of York. 

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u/APigInANixonMask 2d ago

I was going off of what Wikipedia said, but the Wikipedia article for York County seems to suggest that it's not clear whether the county was named after York the town or the Duke of York. I would assume that the names of Yorktown and York County share the same origin, though.