English names for the Azores and Cape Verde

In an alternate timeline where English sailors discovered these two island groupings, what are likely names for them? The Blue Isles and the Green Isles, respectively?
 
In an alternate timeline where English sailors discovered these two island groupings, what are likely names for them? The Blue Isles and the Green Isles, respectively?

The name "Azores" predates the Portuguese rediscovery. They will probably keep this.
Cape Verde is named after a nearby cape. The islands themselves aren't particulary green so they will probably come out with a different name.
 
If they were discovered by the English first they'd likely have very different names, the Azores might be named the Atlantean Archipelago, or after some other mythical place in the Atlantic, though I'm not sure of what Cape Verde might be called.

If they're taken by/ceded to England from Portugal Cabo Verde might become the Cape Green Islands while the Açores would probably retain their anglicized name of The Azores.
 
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If they were discovered b the English first they'd likely have very different names, the Azores might be named the Atlantean Archipelago, or after some other mythical place in the Atlantic, though I'm not sure of what Cape Verde might be called.

If they're taken by/ceded to England from Portugal Cabo Verde might become the Cape Green Islands while the Açores would probably retain their anglicized name of The Azores.
this.

plus you pretty much used the english names in the OP
 
Where did it come from then? I thought it was the Portuguese word for "blue"....
An Açor is Portuguese for Northern Goshawk. Its etymology is however disputed. The name was featured in Medieval (pre-official discovery) maps along with some other real and phantom islands.
EDIT: I tried and failed to find a pre-discovery map that featured the Azores that I had seen. I think it was Genoese. If so, it makes sense that the etymology was indeed blue and a later Portuguese corruption upon discovery shifted the word to its current meaning. There are no Goshawks in the Azores so the traditional explanation was that the discoverers confused Kites with Goshawks.
 
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If they were discovered b the English first they'd likely have very different names, the Azores might be named the Atlantean Archipelago, or after some other mythical place in the Atlantic, though I'm not sure of what Cape Verde might be called.

With that logic shouldn't the West Indies been named after Antillia in English maps, especially given how Puerto Rico and the Virgin islands fit maps made about the mythical sets of islands?
 
With that logic shouldn't the West Indies been named after Antillia in English maps, especially given how Puerto Rico and the Virgin islands fit maps made about the mythical sets of islands?

Well, they are called the Antilles IOTL..

But otherwise in the Azores case it'd be more so since Europe had the legend of Atlantis, and since they thought it would be in the Atlantic, finding a bunch of uninhabited islands in the smack middle of the North Atlantic it's easy to see how they'd think they were related to Atlantis, especially if it's during a phase when mythology was more popular than normal.
 
Well, they are called the Antilles IOTL..

But otherwise in the Azores case it'd be more so since Europe had the legend of Atlantis, and since they thought it would be in the Atlantic, finding a bunch of uninhabited islands in the smack middle of the North Atlantic it's easy to see how they'd think they were related to Atlantis, especially if it's during a phase when mythology was more popular than normal.

That was partial sarcasm as the English named their holdings after the seas, whatever the previous inhabitants called them, and nautical terms. They didn't call them the British Antilles to my knowledge.
 
That was partial sarcasm as the English named their holdings after the seas, whatever the previous inhabitants called them, and nautical terms. They didn't call them the British Antilles to my knowledge.

Well they did'nt do so with their posessions in the Caribbean, they used the names West Indies and Leeward Islands there.
 
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As both island (groups) were "officially" discovered in the 15th century and probably were known much earlier, I can hardly think of a scenario where the English discovered them...

But if the English took them over later they might have named them for the conqueror ;)

Drake Island(s) for example...
 
Lots of places were named for the date they were discovered:
Natal (various), Christmas Island (at least two) named after Christmas

Easter Island and Florida named after Easter

Places named after saints, it's hard to tell without more research whether it was the Saint's day when the place was discovered, the discoverer liked that saint, or it was the first church there later.
 
An Açor is Portuguese for Northern Goshawk. Its etymology is however disputed. The name was featured in Medieval (pre-official discovery) maps along with some other real and phantom islands.
EDIT: I tried and failed to find a pre-discovery map that featured the Azores that I had seen. I think it was Genoese. If so, it makes sense that the etymology was indeed blue and a later Portuguese corruption upon discovery shifted the word to its current meaning. There are no Goshawks in the Azores so the traditional explanation was that the discoverers confused Kites with Goshawks.

It would be great to see such a map. Maybe the names of the fictional islands could apply to Cape Verde and/or Madeira?
 
It would be great to see such a map.
I mixed things up, I'm afraid. The Portuguese archipelago that features the modern name in pre-Portuguese maps is Madeira not Azores.
This wikipedia article lists how the Azorean islands were named in pre-Portuguese maps. Terceira island was "Brazil" :)

Maybe the names of the fictional islands could apply to Cape Verde and/or Madeira?
Unlike the other Macaronesian archipelagos, Cape Verde was largely unknown before the Portuguese discovery.
Anyway, Fortunate Islands is an old name that could apply to any Macaronesian archipelago... So it too is available for the English to use.
 
That was partial sarcasm as the English named their holdings after the seas, whatever the previous inhabitants called them, and nautical terms. They didn't call them the British Antilles to my knowledge.
It wasn't called british antilles, but common people just called them "the antilles" or west indies.
 
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