Odd names of cities & towns after amalgamating

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by le calmar

There is still a old GATINEAU sign referring to the old city of Gatineau. You see it at the Maisonneuve/Laurier exit coming out of the MacDonald-Cartier bridge. Perhaps it would have been strange to say Gatineau (Gatineau) so they decided to leave it.

Yes, I know the one you mean. It says GATINEAU with an arrow (for straight ahead) or maybe "2 km" or maybe both.

But at that point you're already in Gatineau.

[YannickTO]

Originally Posted by lio45

Sorel-Tracy might be the only example of that in the province. It would make sense for it to revert to just 'Sorel' one day (much older name and the true city core) but it's been almost two decades and the hyphenated name seems very well accepted (even though it doesn't get used much in speech, obviously).

Yeah, it seems Sorel-Tracy is the name we're all used to by now. Sorel & Tracy were two entities back in the days, but Sorel was the most important core.

I'd say the same example goes with these as well:

Rouyn-Noranda (Rouyn & Noranda)
Dolbeau-Mistassini (Dolbeau & much smaller Mistassini)

[Laceoflight]

Originally Posted by YannickTO

Yeah, it seems Sorel-Tracy is the name we're all used to by now. Sorel & Tracy were two entities back in the days, but Sorel was the most important core.

I'd say the same example goes with these as well:

Rouyn-Noranda (Rouyn & Noranda)
Dolbeau-Mistassini (Dolbeau & much smaller Mistassini)

What's different for Sorel-Tracy, though, is that Tracy historically was a part of Sorel since 1642. It seperated from Sorel only in 1875, when it became the municipalité de paroisse of "St-Joseph-de-Sorel". The parish changed its name and regime to Town of Tracy only in 1954. The new city of Sorel-Tracy really should be Sorel, and it also should absorb the nearby town of St-Joseph-de-Sorel and the municipality of Ste-Anne-de-Sorel...

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Laceoflight

What's different for Sorel-Tracy, though, is that Tracy historically was a part of Sorel since 1642. It seperated from Sorel only in 1875, when it became the municipalité de paroisse of "St-Joseph-de-Sorel". The parish changed its name and regime to Town of Tracy only in 1954. The new city of Sorel-Tracy really should be Sorel, and it also should absorb the nearby town of St-Joseph-de-Sorel and the municipality of Ste-Anne-de-Sorel...

They should also start making Sorel boots there. (They don't, BTW.)

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Acajack

They should also start making Sorel boots there. (They don't, BTW.)

Originally (1959) from Kaufman Rubber (later Kaufman Footwear) of Kitchener, ON.

[megadude]

Another example of consolidating a name (from wikipedia):

On January 30, 1998, the provincial government amalgamated Southampton, Port Elgin and Saugeen Township, all along the shores of Lake Huron, to form the Town of Port Elgin-Saugeen-Southampton. On December 17, 1998, the Province renamed the entity as the Town of Saugeen Shores.

I was there last month. I assumed they were their own municipalities. There probably was a sign saying Saugeen Shores along the road but didn't pay it any attention.

Was also in Sauble Beach (which has a cool overhead sign) and stayed in Wiarton, home of Wiarton Willie. Also assumed they were separate but are now South Bruce Peninsula. That sounds more of a geographic description than a town name.


In this thread we've determined a few reasons why certain names were chosen:

- Marketing or emphasizing geographic features (Shores, Lakes, Mills, Valley, etc.)
- Going with the bigger or older town's name
- Choosing a sentimental or historic name relevant to the area
- Combining names to appease everyone, though it can be awkward.
- Using directional names, which is boring. Worst cases being South Bruce and South Bruce Peninsula, both in the same county.

[YannickTO]

Originally Posted by Laceoflight

What's different for Sorel-Tracy, though, is that Tracy historically was a part of Sorel since 1642. It seperated from Sorel only in 1875, when it became the municipalité de paroisse of "St-Joseph-de-Sorel". The parish changed its name and regime to Town of Tracy only in 1954. The new city of Sorel-Tracy really should be Sorel, and it also should absorb the nearby town of St-Joseph-de-Sorel and the municipality of Ste-Anne-de-Sorel...

Thanks, I didn't know that. And yes, Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel & Saint-Joseph-de-Sorel should definitely be amalgamated into actual Sorel-Tracy and becoming just Sorel ... I agree. Just imagine changing all the new flashy signs on highway 30 back to Sorel only. Sorel-Tracy & Vaudreuil-Dorion are written everywhere, all over the place.

What I meant was the naming of the areas. We're all used to say Sorel-Tracy by now, same goes with Rouyn-Noranda, Dolbeau-Mistassini, Chatham-Kent, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Saint-Lin-Laurentides, Vaudreuil-Dorion, etc etc. It's all names that we all seem to slowly incorporate in our daily lives... But I would go back to the historical name and change them, but that's just me.

I would personally amalgamate other ones, like both L'Épiphanie municipalities, or both Plessisville municipalities, or both Disraeli municipalities...

I would also create 2 municipalities on the north shore of Laval absorbing all these cities that are physically joined together (Boisbriand and company).

I would also amalgamate the 4 cities on south shore (Saint-Constant, Delson, Sainte-Catherine and Candiac), they are really one big entity (Roussillon).

Saint-Rémi and Saint-Michel also, south of Roussillon.

Beloeil and Joliette are 2 other infamous cities that each should amalgamate their neighbors.

So many possibilities. They made questionable mega mergers 15 years ago, but some obvious ones were never merged together.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by megadude

- Combining names to appease everyone, though it's awkward.
-.

Those are generally awful.

Who wants to say they're from New-Wes-Valley, Newfoundland?

Here there was a merger of Aylmer, Deschênes and Lucerne decades ago. One of the names suggested was Aydelu but in the end they chose Aylmer for the new city. The name Aydelu lives on in the name of an arena and a few other things though.

[megadude]

Someone in this thread pointed out that a vote took place to choose a town's new name. Out of curiosity I'd love to know what other towns did this. Even better, I'd love to see new votes take place now, 15 to 20 years after most of these places went through amalgamation.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Yes, I know the one you mean. It says GATINEAU with an arrow (for straight ahead) or maybe "2 km" or maybe both.

But at that point you're already in Gatineau.

Hull has all but been erased.

"Hull" sounded pretty awful in French ("Ewwll"). It sounds pretty awful in English too.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Hull has all but been erased.

"Hull" sounded pretty awful in French ("Ewwll"). It sounds pretty awful in English too.

A surprising number of people were sad to see it go and still miss it.

[YannickTO]

Originally Posted by Acajack

A surprising number of people were sad to see it go and still miss it.

But it didn't disappear though. Might not be written in the official stats book anymore, but the area itself didn't magically disappear. Hull still exists. It's a district of the City of Gatineau. People won't stop saying the word Hull in their daily lives.

That's interesting. Maybe 50 years from now, it could disappear from the pop culture itself, and slowly becoming a thing of the past... but as long as the City of Gatineau keep its district names, it should be fine.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by YannickTO

But it didn't disappear though. Might not be written in the official stats book anymore, but the area itself didn't magically disappear. Hull still exists. It's a district of the City of Gatineau. People won't stop saying the word Hull in their daily lives.

That's interesting. Maybe 50 years from now, it could disappear from the pop culture itself, and slowly becoming a thing of the past... but as long as the City of Gatineau keep its district names, it should be fine.

I still use the word every day in order to identify that specific part of the city.

[megadude]

Couple weekends ago I was bored so I rented a car for $35 for the weekend and drove to towns I had never been to.

Went down to Port Dover, Turkey Point, Port Rowan, Long Point, Port Burwell, Tillsonburg and then downtown Cambridge, aka Galt.

I hadn't actually been to Cambridge in 20 years. Downtown is definitely still nice and has a surprisingly high number of churches. I had forgotten about their use of that stone for building material. Seems like half their buildings and houses are made out of that cool looking stone.

However, despite all the people and cars I saw, there were a surprising number of vacancies. The city is thinking of getting rid of the 30% tax rebates for that to light a fire under the feet of the owners to get those units leased. They think owners are just waiting till the two new condo buildings go up and property values rise so they can cash out then.

Anyway, I know downtown Cambridge is known as Galt, and it says that on buildings all over the place. But I read up on it and didn't realize Cambridge was a name chosen when the towns of Galt, Hespeler and Preston were merged.

[megadude]

On my little road trip I also passed through Middlesex County. Now here's a place full of directional, hyphenated and double names:

Strathroy-Caradoc, Township of

Middlesex Centre, Municipality of

Thames Centre, Municipality of (township)

North Middlesex, Municipality of (township)

Southwest Middlesex, Municipality of (township)

Lucan Biddulph, Township

Adelaide Metcalfe, Township

Newbury, Village

The county seat is the city of London, although the city is politically independent from the county.

[megadude]

From my own perspective, when these amalgamations were being done, I think it would have been better after all to choose a one word town name instead of combining, hyphenating or adding a direction.

Try and find a word that had some kind of meaning to the area. Not sure if Cambridge has a meaning, but I'm sure the new generation of people there acknowledge they live in Cambridge and I'm guessing many are proud to say they live in Cambridge. This as opposed to saying "I'm proud to live in Middlesex Centre" or "Southwest Middlesex".

Because those names sound awkward, I don't think anyone says they live there, but rather they say the actual community/former town they live in.

So if the provincial or local gov't at the time of amalgamation ever envisioned the new town being a universal name and home to all the residents and not just an administrative entity, then it would have been better to come up with a unique name.

Caledon would sound funny if it were called North Peel. Caledon is a nice word.

Brampton is not a nice sounding word when you say it now. But it's better than if it were called Peel Centre.

Mississauga sounds better than South Peel.

Halton Hills would be funny if it were called Town of Georgetown-Acton. Though Halton Hills is not a good name either as it's in Halton Region. Too much use of the word Halton.

Oakville could have been Southeast Halton. But the word Oakville is great. Anything with "oak" in it will sound nice and prestigious. Though Oakwood Ave. in Toronto is not a nice place at Oakwood and Vaughn.

Clarington is better than Bowmanville-Newcastle-Orono or Southeast Durham.

Georgina is better than Keswick-Sutton. And Brock Township is better than Beaverton-Cannington-Sunderland.

Not a fan East Gwillimbury. Name itself ain't that bad, but considering it's next door to Bradford-West Gwillimbury, it seems a little awkward. However, it's better than Holland Landing-Queensville-Sharon-Mount Albert.