4 ms·

It's a funny cultural thing that it wouldn't have even occurred to me that someone in Europe wouldn't realize city names can conflict—it's a chronic problem her

It's a funny cultural thing that it wouldn't have even occurred to me that someone in Europe wouldn't realize city names can conflict—it's a chronic problem here in the states. There are some ridiculously common city names here, but one that's been in the news lately and probably confusing a lot of people is Springfield, which is the name of at least 42 different cities in the US [0], including 5 just in Wisconsin. Most of them are small, but 5 of them (Massachusetts, Missouri, Illinois, Oregon, Ohio) have more the 20k residents. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield

rootusrootus 2y ago
> It's a funny cultural thing that it wouldn't have even occurred to me that someone in Europe wouldn't realize city names can conflict The irony is that a lot of our city names came from Europe.
chgs 2y ago
Every time o put directions to my local market town of Newport in Shropshire, google insists on thinking I want to travel two hours to Wales. I guess it could be worse and I’d end up in the Isle of Wight. Reused names isn’t just an American thing.
- zh3 2y ago
  Ashford Kent and Ashford Middlesex are common issues in the southeast. As for Hawkridge in Devon...dark night (not stormy) and it was only when I saw Dulverton road signs I got the sense this wasn't going to plan.
  - chgs 2y ago
    At least two Whitchurch stations I have used. There then the two Newcastle Oh and Shakespeare isn’t from East London
    - drcongo 2y ago
      My favourite thing about the Newcastles is that one is under and one is on. I was pondering just recently whether there's any other under/upon pairs in the UK.
Tomte 2y ago
We usually don’t think much about duplicate city names in America, but we sure notice that you‘ve taken all of ours!
1over137 2y ago
I knew city names were repeated in different US states, but they repeat even within a state?
- elashri 2y ago
  Yes, There are multiple Springfield in Wisconsin, multiple Madison in Pennsylvania and multiple Clinton in New York. These are some of the examples I remember. And yes it is annoying if you live in one of these towns.
- brudgers 2y ago
  Many US states are larger than many European countries.
  - Aachen 2y ago
    Okay but how do you agree in which Springsteen, Wisconsin to meet? How do you tell your favorite navigation software where you're going to be departing from? How is this disambiguated if not by country and state combined?
    - kgodey 2y ago
      I assume by zip code.
      - brudgers 2y ago
        Or drop a pin.
mrweasel 2y ago
Plenty of European countries have conflicting city/town/village names as well. If they grow to large they are sometimes specified by adding more locality to their name. Denmark has three cities names Nykøbing, typically specified as Nykøbing Mors, Nykøbing Sjælland or Nykøbing Falser. Small places are just allowed to conflict as long as they aren't in the same postcode.
- riffraff 2y ago
  Indeed, Italy has a ton of cities called something like "old town", "new inn" or "castle", for obvious reasons.
- dredmorbius 2y ago
  Frankfurt am Main and Frankfurt an der Oder in Germany.
  - scooke 2y ago
    I made the mistake once of "flying to Frankfurt!" on some low-cost airline out of the UK and landed in Frankfurt-Hahn. Yikes.
    - SahAssar 2y ago
      In "Frankfurt-Hahn" the "Frankfurt" is still the same Frankfurt you (probably) wanted, you just got a different airport located further out. "Frankfurt an der Oder" is on the other side of Germany on the border with Poland, a ~7h drive away. So this is more like you going to NY and landing at Newark when you expected JFK where Frankfurt an der Oder would be like ending up in New York, Iowa.
Muromec 2y ago
The amount of cities called "white city" around here is annoying to, but at least they have the decency to be spelled differently.
neilv 2y ago
> and probably confusing a lot of people is Springfield, which is the name of at least 42 different cities And a person, who wrote a song about name confusion, but wrt Springsteen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW1Frr4OcRc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW1Frr4OcRc
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
xyst 2y ago
Guess Austin, MN hackers are just going to have to join Austin, TX hackers :)
tkgally 2y ago
The long-defunct literary magazine Wigwag ran a monthly essay by an Angolan writer named Sousa Jamba titled "Letter from Springfield." For each installment he visited a different U.S. Springfield. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wigwag_(magazine) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wigwag_(magazine) https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/wigwag-the-magazine-that-lex-built https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/wigwag-the-magaz...
Aeolun 2y ago
Maybe they can do something like Discord, and append a 4 digit unique identifier?

rootusrootus 2y ago

> It's a funny cultural thing that it wouldn't have even occurred to me that someone in Europe wouldn't realize city names can conflict The irony is that a lot of our city names came from Europe.

chgs 2y ago

Every time o put directions to my local market town of Newport in Shropshire, google insists on thinking I want to travel two hours to Wales. I guess it could be worse and I’d end up in the Isle of Wight. Reused names isn’t just an American thing.

zh3 2y ago
Ashford Kent and Ashford Middlesex are common issues in the southeast. As for Hawkridge in Devon...dark night (not stormy) and it was only when I saw Dulverton road signs I got the sense this wasn't going to plan.
- chgs 2y ago
  At least two Whitchurch stations I have used. There then the two Newcastle Oh and Shakespeare isn’t from East London
  - drcongo 2y ago
    My favourite thing about the Newcastles is that one is under and one is on. I was pondering just recently whether there's any other under/upon pairs in the UK.

Tomte 2y ago

We usually don’t think much about duplicate city names in America, but we sure notice that you‘ve taken all of ours!

1over137 2y ago

I knew city names were repeated in different US states, but they repeat even within a state?

elashri 2y ago
Yes, There are multiple Springfield in Wisconsin, multiple Madison in Pennsylvania and multiple Clinton in New York. These are some of the examples I remember. And yes it is annoying if you live in one of these towns.
brudgers 2y ago
Many US states are larger than many European countries.
- Aachen 2y ago
  Okay but how do you agree in which Springsteen, Wisconsin to meet? How do you tell your favorite navigation software where you're going to be departing from? How is this disambiguated if not by country and state combined?
  - kgodey 2y ago
    I assume by zip code.
    - brudgers 2y ago
      Or drop a pin.

mrweasel 2y ago

Plenty of European countries have conflicting city/town/village names as well. If they grow to large they are sometimes specified by adding more locality to their name. Denmark has three cities names Nykøbing, typically specified as Nykøbing Mors, Nykøbing Sjælland or Nykøbing Falser. Small places are just allowed to conflict as long as they aren't in the same postcode.

riffraff 2y ago
Indeed, Italy has a ton of cities called something like "old town", "new inn" or "castle", for obvious reasons.
dredmorbius 2y ago
Frankfurt am Main and Frankfurt an der Oder in Germany.
- scooke 2y ago
  I made the mistake once of "flying to Frankfurt!" on some low-cost airline out of the UK and landed in Frankfurt-Hahn. Yikes.
  - SahAssar 2y ago
    In "Frankfurt-Hahn" the "Frankfurt" is still the same Frankfurt you (probably) wanted, you just got a different airport located further out. "Frankfurt an der Oder" is on the other side of Germany on the border with Poland, a ~7h drive away. So this is more like you going to NY and landing at Newark when you expected JFK where Frankfurt an der Oder would be like ending up in New York, Iowa.

Muromec 2y ago

The amount of cities called "white city" around here is annoying to, but at least they have the decency to be spelled differently.

neilv 2y ago

> and probably confusing a lot of people is Springfield, which is the name of at least 42 different cities And a person, who wrote a song about name confusion, but wrt Springsteen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW1Frr4OcRc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW1Frr4OcRc

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

xyst 2y ago

Guess Austin, MN hackers are just going to have to join Austin, TX hackers :)

tkgally 2y ago

The long-defunct literary magazine Wigwag ran a monthly essay by an Angolan writer named Sousa Jamba titled "Letter from Springfield." For each installment he visited a different U.S. Springfield. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wigwag_(magazine) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wigwag_(magazine) https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/wigwag-the-magazine-that-lex-built https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/wigwag-the-magaz...

Aeolun 2y ago

Maybe they can do something like Discord, and append a 4 digit unique identifier?