Is it still settled by Puritans in the ATL, because that could open up a whole slew of religiously derived designations such as: New Israel, Zion and so forth, all of which could be ... interesting.
Alternate Geographic Names
- Thread starter oshron
- Start date
so i decided on New Mercia as the name for New England ITTL and i'll probably look into other names like "New Northumbria" and "New Wessex" later on (basically any Anglo-Saxon state that doesn't have a namesake IOTL).
i've got another one that i've been bouncing around for i-don't-know-how-long. i'll explain in full: a while back i was looking for an alternate name for Afghanistan because why the hell not? what i gravitated to at first was "Pashtunistan", but i recently decided against that name. i've got one another that i'm considering, which doubles as a reference to Full Metal Panic!: "Helmajistan". in that series, a persisting Soviet Union reinvades Afghanistan and this time successfully conquers it, renaming the country Helmajistan. now keep in mind, this may not be how the name comes into use ITTL. i'm mainly wondering what everyone thinks in terms of realism for "Helmajistan". and before anyone asks, no, i don't know what it actually means.
i've got another one that i've been bouncing around for i-don't-know-how-long. i'll explain in full: a while back i was looking for an alternate name for Afghanistan because why the hell not? what i gravitated to at first was "Pashtunistan", but i recently decided against that name. i've got one another that i'm considering, which doubles as a reference to Full Metal Panic!: "Helmajistan". in that series, a persisting Soviet Union reinvades Afghanistan and this time successfully conquers it, renaming the country Helmajistan. now keep in mind, this may not be how the name comes into use ITTL. i'm mainly wondering what everyone thinks in terms of realism for "Helmajistan". and before anyone asks, no, i don't know what it actually means.
Morty Vicar
Banned
Depending on the timeframe, how about just reviving the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, only this time as a Soviet puppet state?
i figured i'd bump my old thread instead of starting a new one. a month and a half of inactivity isn't TOO bad, is it?
anyway, this is mainly to get around other decisions i've already made for other states in the US. basically, there are a LOT of states that start with the letter N, and one decision was that if it's two words then the abbreviation uses each of those. to that end, i've come to a small impasse: New Hampshire needs a different abbreviation since NH is already taken by North Henrico (North Carolina, renamed because the British monarch at the time of its founding is named Henry instead of Charles). one way around this that i'm already considering is a full name change, to New Wessex to keep up with the Anglo-Saxon naming theme. thoughts?
i'm also wondering if i could get some second opinions on abbreviations for three other US states as well: the Philippine states of Luzon, Mindanao, and Visaya. Luzon is easy enough--LU--and so is Visaya--VI--but Mindanao is a little more difficult since literally every other letter in the name is already taken in abbreviation by OTL states. one work-around for this is to just make their abbreviation PL, PV, and PM, but i don't really like that
another option is to completely reformat US state abbreviations ITTL with three letters (which would be presented with smallcaps and a period, but there's STILL difficulty with Mindanao in that case
anyway, this is mainly to get around other decisions i've already made for other states in the US. basically, there are a LOT of states that start with the letter N, and one decision was that if it's two words then the abbreviation uses each of those. to that end, i've come to a small impasse: New Hampshire needs a different abbreviation since NH is already taken by North Henrico (North Carolina, renamed because the British monarch at the time of its founding is named Henry instead of Charles). one way around this that i'm already considering is a full name change, to New Wessex to keep up with the Anglo-Saxon naming theme. thoughts?
i'm also wondering if i could get some second opinions on abbreviations for three other US states as well: the Philippine states of Luzon, Mindanao, and Visaya. Luzon is easy enough--LU--and so is Visaya--VI--but Mindanao is a little more difficult since literally every other letter in the name is already taken in abbreviation by OTL states. one work-around for this is to just make their abbreviation PL, PV, and PM, but i don't really like that
another option is to completely reformat US state abbreviations ITTL with three letters (which would be presented with smallcaps and a period, but there's STILL difficulty with Mindanao in that case
Driftless
Donor
Many of the place names in the US & Canada are convoluted versions of Native words, converted from Ojibwe, or Iroquois/Haudenosaunee, or? through French to English.
My home state Wisconsin, is based on an Algonquian term for "Red Rocks" (probably...) that the French explorers Marquette & Joliet first described as "Meskousing", later tweaked to "Ouiscousin", then to the anglicized version "Wisconsin" following the French getting the boot after the French & Indian War.
There's likely thousands of similar situations in North America
My home state Wisconsin, is based on an Algonquian term for "Red Rocks" (probably...) that the French explorers Marquette & Joliet first described as "Meskousing", later tweaked to "Ouiscousin", then to the anglicized version "Wisconsin" following the French getting the boot after the French & Indian War.
There's likely thousands of similar situations in North America
i know that and it's part of what i've been using for various locations already. for the most part, though, i'm trying to address alternate names that are necessary because of other changes or because they would sound better than the first choice--one is renaming New England to New Mercia, since the first choice would have been New Anglia and i didn't like the sound of that one all that much. generally speaking, i'm looking into alternative names that have historical precedent, but New Hampshire for instance doesn't have very many
Driftless
Donor
That's a tough one, as so much of the place names were dependent on who was ascendant long enough for a name to stick, especially if that group was no longer pre-eminent in that area.
*edit* I'd rather have Lake Superior be called Gitchagami (or a variation) - based on the Ojibwe "great sea". Superior is the anglicized version of the blase' French name for the "upper lake". It's just more appropriate.
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