Renaming London?

[Djeffery]

I guess I don't really care most of the time if anyone I meet in passing knows I mean Ontario, not England. If it's someone at a bar while on vacation, it just doesn't matter. Kitchener changed their name because of the first world war, and frankly, they aren't any more known as an Ontario city than London is. Certainly not on a worldwide basis. And I would say that outside of North America, most people would have no idea what Edmonton is either, even if you added the Alberta to it.

[Kitchissippi]

"Toronto" and "Ontario" come from Mohawk words, so maybe something indigenous and unique?

Tekahrhiónhwake / Tekahiónhake (Two rivers/streams) = London, ON
from the Decolonial Atlas

Tekahionwake Tekarionwake Tekareonwaukee Tekayonaki

[ue]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

I guess I don't really care most of the time if anyone I meet in passing knows I mean Ontario, not England. If it's someone at a bar while on vacation, it just doesn't matter. Kitchener changed their name because of the first world war, and frankly, they aren't any more known as an Ontario city than London is. Certainly not on a worldwide basis. And I would say that outside of North America, most people would have no idea what Edmonton is either, even if you added the Alberta to it.

Kitchener is a more distinctive name and although on the whole probably not any more known than London, Ontario, it needs no clarification. If you know a Kitchener, it's the city in Ontario.

I'm not going to get into a debate over how known Edmonton is or isn't. It doesn't really matter.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by ue

Frankly, I don't get why a place would like to basically exist as a reference to somewhere else, complete with same river and other place names (because may as well commit to the schtick). Maybe there's a different mentality in Southwestern Ontario, and I don't mean to come across as preachy, but I would think that a place like London would want to forge its own path rather than be in the shadow of the former colonial behemoth.

It's largely historical legacy, not the mentality of the region. I doubt most people even think about it too much.

The first wave of settlers (and especially the political and business leaders of the day) named things after places in their home countries... and since so many were English and Scottish, many places in Ontario bear names from England and Scotland.

[ue]

^ I understand the history, but it makes for very generic placemaking.

[ssiguy]

London got it's name because Simcoe hoped it would persuade the Queen to make it the Upper Canada capitol...........nothing more.

This conversation comes up in London every decade and New London was never really considered because there is already a New London in Conn. As I recall the only name that seemed to get some support was The Forest City and a lessser known option was Talbot City.

[Oliverfox]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

London got it's name because Simcoe hoped it would persuade the Queen to make it the Upper Canada capitol...........nothing more.

This conversation comes up in London every decade and New London was never really considered because there is already a New London in Conn. As I recall the only name that seemed to get some support was The Forest City and a lessser known option was Talbot City.

^This is the problem evertime this comes up

The alternative names all suck, New London doesn't fix the problem, Forest city doesn't make any sense anymore, and there's already a Tablotville outside of London (plus St. Thomas is already named after Colonel the Honourable Thomas Talbot).

If people want to change the name, they first should come up with a good name before proposing a name change.

[MolsonExport]

Call it DonLon.

[haljackey]

I think the best way to do it is to add a referendum vote to the next municipal election. If there's enough support to change the name, then next election there could be a short list of names to choose from (including keep London). The time between the two elections would be spent on finding the best names.

[ue]

An Indigenous name of some sort would probably make most sense, I think. Talbot would be ok too.

[Stevo26]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

It's largely historical legacy, not the mentality of the region. I doubt most people even think about it too much.

The first wave of settlers (and especially the political and business leaders of the day) named things after places in their home countries... and since so many were English and Scottish, many places in Ontario bear names from England and Scotland.

True, although this reminds me of what happened with my hometown of Sarnia.

Back in the early days, about 50-odd years before Sarnia actually became a city, there was much debate over what it should be called. The English community wanted to call it Buenos Aires, after the city of the same name in Argentina. The Scots wanted to call it Port Glasgow.

In the end, the name that was chosen was Sarnia; It was neither Scots nor English, but the ancient Latin name for the island of Guernsey in the English Channel.

[haljackey]

One of these cities does not appear like the others

We have to clarify our location



https://www.reddit.com/r/canada/comm.../poor_calgary/

[GreatTallNorth2]

The British came here and named the city London after London, England. It's not like a bunch of Canadians got together and randomly named us London for no reason. So I am ok with London being London. This isn't that unique as there is a Halifax, Windsor, Cambridge, Oxford, etc. all in the UK too.

[Dupcheck]

I think we as a city have bigger problems to solve at the moment such as vehicular traffic flow...

[haljackey]

Even Google Maps gets confused

[MolsonExport]

I haven't been downtown since Covid started...perhaps they built a replica of Westminster Palace?'

On a side note, it is a bit embarrassing that the "quick facts" mentions the Children's museum. The city is so bereft of worthy attractions it has to list this pathetic establishment?

[ssiguy]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

I haven't been downtown since Covid started...perhaps they built a replica of Westminster Palace?'

On a side note, it is a bit embarrassing that the "quick facts" mentions the Children's museum. The city is so bereft of worthy attractions it has to list this pathetic establishment?

While I somewhat agree be careful what you ask for.

I lived in Victoria for a year and would NEVER move back. By any standards a truly beautiful city but that is why it has consistently been a slow growing one. The entire city and it's planning revolves around getting more tourists and the needs of the actual people who live there are considered secondary at best. You can't escape the tourists and Victorians avoid the downtown area except for work.

This is also true for beautiful Quebec. I knew someone who lived there and he said that Quebecers themselves NEVER went to the Old City because it is a tourist trap. My friend said living in the Old City is like living in Niagara Falls and hence Quebecers avoid it.

You expect tourists in our larger cities but their tourist numbers aren't so great that they overwhelm the local populations. In cities like Quebec and Victoria {which are relatively the same population as London}, the tourists completely overwhelm the citizens themselves isolating them from their own city.