Who's Ray - What does the name of your town mean?

[richlevy]

I was reading Elspodes post and I noticed his location of Raytown, Missouri. It just got me thinking about place names and their origins.

Philadelphia - Greek for City of Brotherly Love

From here. (BTW, the lecture here could equally be interpreted as pro- and anti- Gay marriage)

The Greeks are more definitely expressive. They use three words which define love more accurately.
(snip)
Second, is philia, or philadelphia, two related forms. This is the love of friendship—brotherly love—love of parent, or child.

Pennsylvania - Latin for Penn's Woods

I just learned something new here, I remember being taught in grade scholl that Pennsylvania was named for William Penn. This is wrong. Pennsylvania was granted to William Penn but named in honor of his father.

now I read this.

King Charles II of England had a large loan from Penn's father, after whose death, King Charles settled by granting Penn a large area west and south of New Jersey on March 4, 1681. Penn called the area Sylvania (Latin for woods), which Charles changed to Pennsylvania in honor of the elder Penn. Perhaps the king was glad to have a place where religious and political outsiders (like the Quakers, or the Whigs, who wanted more influence for the people's representatives) could have their own place, far away from England. One of the first counties of Pennsylvania was called Bucks County, named after Buckinghamshire (Bucks) in England, where the Penn's family seat was, and from whence many of the first settlers came.

Wynnewood - Named for Dr. Thomas Wynne

From here. This information is posted on a lot of 'historical' signs around town.

Wynnewood was named in 1691 for Dr. Thomas Wynne, William Penn's physician and the first Speaker of the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

Basically, many Pennsyvlania towns are names taken from English, Greek, Latin, Native American (Delaware, aka Lenape, Lenni Lenape), and even Welsh. If you see a Pennsyvlania town name with no vowels, it's probably Welsh.

(the name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh (not "high hill," Bryn Uchel, as is often mistakenly given as the translation).

[lumberjim]

Elverson: Son of Elver. Elver: Elf Hunter. Elf: Fruity little being that is half human, half elemental. Tree Elves are the most Common In Pa, but we do get some water nymphs too, which are related.

[Trilby]

Kettering--named after Charles Kettering, inventor of the electric starter, electric cash register and other things.

[wolf]

The first Whitpain (Zechariah Whitpaine, as near as I can find out) arrived with William Penn on the ship The Welcome in 1682. His father Richard Whitpaine had purchased the land as part of Penn's Holy Experiment, but never visited it himself.

Today, Whitpain Township is a composite of several small communities established before and after the Revolutionary War. They include West Ambler, Centre Square, Blue Bell, Broad Axe, Custer, Franklinville, Washington Square and Belfry.

I will be perfectly honest and state that I have never heard of "Custer, Franklinville, Washington Square, or Belfry," nor have I heard of sections of the township referred to by those names. These areas do not have their own ZIP codes, nor do they share ZIP Codes with one of the other communities in the township, such as Center Square does with Blue Bell.

The town of Blue Bell is named after the Blue Bell Inn, but had formely been called Pigeontown because of the huge flocks of pigeons that used to be hereabouts.

[Elspode]

Raytown is named after a blacksmith - Mr. Ray - whose shop stood near the current center of town in the early 1800's. Raytown, like so many other small municipalities in this area, was located on a collector branch of the Santa Fe/Oregon/California Trail cluster, and so there was a need for such services.

[glatt]

Arlington, Virgina is named after the Custis estate, which was also named Arlington. (The Custis Estate was taken over during the Civil War, and is now the home of Arlington National Cemetery.) Custis named his estate after another family estate on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake. That estate was named after the Earl of Arlington, who was the patron of the Custis family.

[zippyt]

Paragould is named so because it is where the Para and Gould Rail roads met , the original town was a little further north , but all the busnises were around the rail line , so they moved the county seat .

[elSicomoro]

St. Louis--named after St. Louis IX, King of France 1226-1270, canonized 1297.

We have a nifty statue of him in Forest Park, across from the Art Museum:

[busterb]

Originally Posted by glatt

Arlington, Virgina is named after the Custis estate, which was also named Arlington. (The Custis Estate was taken over during the Civil War, and is now the home of Arlington National Cemetery.) Custis named his estate after another family estate on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake. That estate was named after the Earl of Arlington, who was the patron of the Custis family.

Did not Robert E. Lee marry a Custis?? And the USA seize it?

[busterb]

BAy Springs. Named from a Bay tree by the spring? THe town site hasn't been update since I was a pup.http://www.baysprings.net/home1.htm
And low and behold. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_Springs,_Mississippi

[glatt]

Originally Posted by busterb

Did not Robert E. Lee marry a Custis?? And the USA seize it?

That's right. He lived on the Custis (now Lee) estate for about 30 years before the civil war started, he chose the South, and the Union seized the estate. It made a nice base for the Union army near DC. The mansion, known as the Arlington House, is on the official seal of the county today.

[richlevy]

Bird-in-Hand and Blue Ball in Pennsylvania are named after nearby inns.

The old legend of the naming of Bird-in-Hand concerns the time when the Old Philadelphia Pike was being laid out between Lancaster and Philadelphia. Legend says that two road surveyors were discussing whether they should stay at their present location or go to the town of Lancaster to spend the night. One of them said, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," and so they remained. By 1734, road surveyors were making McNabb’s hotel their headquarters rather than returning to Lancaster every day. The sign in front of the inn is known to have once "portrayed a man with a bird in his hand and a bush nearby, in which two birds were perched," and soon was known as the Bird-in-Hand Inn. "The last hand-painted sign featuring the bird in hand was done by Benjamin Elmer Leaman and his artwork merely portrayed a bird in a hand." Variations of this sign appear throughout the town today. Some residents might say that the bird nestled in the human hand indicates friendship, comfort, and hospitality.

As for Blue Ball, all I can say is an Internet search found a number of Blue Ball Inns worldwide, some predating the arrival of Columbus, and I have no idea why they are named Blue Ball other than blue paint and a large ball must have been cheap advertisements.

Here is a wonderful book excerpt on suggestive place names and the debate about renaming them.

[Clodfobble]

My city's named after Stephen F. Austin, "The Father of Texas."

[zippyt]

Further Paragould info ,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paragould

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by richlevy

Bird-in-Hand and Blue Ball in Pennsylvania are named after nearby inns.

I talked about Blue Ball here.
Yes, it came from the Blue Ball Hotel established in 1706. The old girl would have been 300 this year if she hadn't been murdered 10 years ago.