WI: Alternate Name for the United States

[ETGalaxy]

Well, I meant more after the actual Appalachian Mountains, but just call it Appalachia for short.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Mountains

I know, but it just doesn't seem like a significant enough part of the US to be the origin of the name. It feels like Mexico naming itself Rio Grande upon independence.

However, if the Revolution ends the same way it did IOTL the Appalachian Mountains would be in the middle of the nation so perhaps that could be used as a justification for a name change (maybe the name of the US is changed as a part of the new constitution that replaces the Articles?).

 

[CountDVB]

I know, but it just doesn't seem like a significant enough part of the US to be the origin of the name. It feels like Mexico naming itself Rio Grande upon independence.

However, if the Revolution ends the same way it did IOTL the Appalachian Mountains would be in the middle of the nation so perhaps that could be used as a justification for a name change (maybe the name of the US is changed as a part of the new constitution that replaces the Articles?).

Actually, based on the map, the range through most of the original 13 colonies here and is a large enough mountain range to be influencial.

I mean, names after the region makes sense or after ancestral tribes (hence why Mexico is still called it, after the Mexica.) Especially given the Native American presence before hand.

 

[ETGalaxy]

Actually, based on the map, the range through most of the original 13 colonies here and is a large enough mountain range to be influencial.

I mean, names after the region makes sense or after ancestral tribes (hence why Mexico is still called it, after the Mexica.) Especially given the Native American presence before hand.

Fair enough.

 

[state02]

Federation of American States

 

[ETGalaxy]

Is the Empire of America a possibility? Perhaps once the Articles are abolished the new America is viewed as a new nation altogether and therefore the name is changed. Not only could the term Empire imply that America views itself as a nation as powerful as the European empires as well as imply that America is a single nation and not just a union of states, but it could also draw parallels to Rome, with the US being the Roman Republic while the Empire of America is the Roman Empire. Maybe the head of state is called the Caesar?

 

[Mr.Wigglemunch]

How about Atlantia after the Atlantic ocean which borders the 13 colonies at the time?

 

[ETGalaxy]

How about Atlantia after the Atlantic ocean which borders the 13 colonies at the time?

Could Atlantis work? After all, Atlantis is a popular alternate name for the Americas in many scenarios.

 

[Thesaurus Rex]

Going off of @David T's comment that "States" implies division I'd suggest for the full name of Columbia to be either the United Columbian Republic or the Republic of Columbia. I like the latter a bit more, it feels a bit more "revolutionary" for lack off better terms.

Another potential name for the US could be Concordia. The name more or less means harmony and it would have a basis in the American Revolution, with Concord and Lexington being where the Revolution began. Perhaps the full name would be the Federation of Concordia?

Concordia actually sounds really, really good.

I can see some variant of Arcadia working as well, like New France did with Acadia.

Federation of American States

And then we take a page from science fiction and refer to ourselves by our government. Calling ourselves things like "the Federation" or "the Republic" feels as apt as it is slightly campy.

Is the Empire of America a possibility? Perhaps once the Articles are abolished the new America is viewed as a new nation altogether and therefore the name is changed. Not only could the term Empire imply that America views itself as a nation as powerful as the European empires as well as imply that America is a single nation and not just a union of states, but it could also draw parallels to Rome, with the US being the Roman Republic while the Empire of America is the Roman Empire. Maybe the head of state is called the Caesar?

Good luck convincing a bunch of small government anti-monarchists to create a monarchy on steroids. We had a hard enough time forming a federal government as it is.

 

[ETGalaxy]

Good luck convincing a bunch of small government anti-monarchists to create a monarchy on steroids. We had a hard enough time forming a federal government as it is.

An empire doesn't necessarily have to be a monarchy. Heck, the United States of OTL was more or less an empire to an extent.

 

[Thesaurus Rex]

An empire doesn't necessarily have to be a monarchy. Heck, the United States of OTL was more or less an empire to an extent.

That's true, but to actually call itself an 'empire' would leave a foul taste in many peoples' mouths. Unless you're going for a more poetic 'empire of republics' thing.

 

[ModusViv]

Implausible or not, I always kind of wished that the founding fathers had maybe picked something mythological. Hesperia/Vesperia? Zephyria? Favonia?

Completely implausible, but more interesting - it would have been neat if the issue was still undecided when William Blake published his works, and then people were so taken with them they decided to call the land "Orc" or "Orcsland" or the "United Orcish Republic" or something. I wouldn't mind being an Orc.

Although, I suppose, if that happened - no one would use "orc" for a humanoid monster the way Mr. Tolkien did. Unless they REALLY didn't like Americans.

 

[David T]

Virginia

Obviously, a name already taken by a state won't do; and anyway, the Revolution was not fought to name the new nation after any British monarch, including the Virgin Queen.

 

[Dom Pedro III]

I think it would be hard because I think US citizens referring to themselves as "American" predates the country. I think they called themselves "American" in the context of the British Empire to distinguish themselves from European-born subjects. It was not a word intended to distinguish themselves from the rest of the world as a unique name but rather one that identified them as a subgroup within a larger identity. But being the first European colony in the Americas to break away gave them first dibs.

 

[FleetMac]

I think it would be hard because I think US citizens referring to themselves as "American" predates the country. I think they called themselves "American" in the context of the British Empire to distinguish themselves from European-born subjects. It was not a word intended to distinguish themselves from the rest of the world as a unique name but rather one that identified them as a subgroup within a larger identity. But being the first European colony in the Americas to break away gave them first dibs.

My thoughts exactly and put quite succinctly. I even said as such some time ago HERE.

In said thread I proffered the name "Arcadia" due to both its poetic imagery and tangential connection to Eastern North America.

 

[Kaze]

My list:

1. Lief's Land.
2. Georgia - after George Washington
3. Columbia.
3. The Confederate States of America. (Used, but ended badly)
4. Federation of American States

 

[Oliveia]

Interesting fact that may contribute to this thread! On the Waldseemüller map (which was the first map to use the name "America" for a continent - modern-day South America), what we now know as "North America" was labeled as "Parias," which originated from one of Vespucci's travels (I cannot find which he discovered the people who named their lands that, so it could be part of Vespucci's fabrications. Regardless, it was used as a name for North America). The map shows North America both as a disconnected island (on the main map), and as directly connected to "America" (on an inset map), so the name doesn't specifically have to fall out of use.

 

[Thesaurus Rex]

Interesting fact that may contribute to this thread! On the Waldseemüller map (which was the first map to use the name "America" for a continent - modern-day South America), what we now know as "North America" was labeled as "Parias," which originated from one of Vespucci's travels (I cannot find which he discovered the people who named their lands that, so it could be part of Vespucci's fabrications. Regardless, it was used as a name for North America). The map shows North America both as a disconnected island (on the main map), and as directly connected to "America" (on an inset map), so the name doesn't specifically have to fall out of use.

Hey, that's right! Do we know if the colonial Americans would have known about this label?

I have a feeling an English speaker may pronounce it close to 'pariah', though.

 

[FleetMac]

@Thesaurus Rex meh, I pronounced it "Parry-us" in my head, so as a potential ATL "Parian" I don't see much issue (if you meant it from someone in England's perspective, well that's that fictional person's problem ).

 

[herkles]

I kind of like the name Liberia and Columbia as alternatives to America.

 

[Wendell]

Arcadia.