this may be a strange thread but I found myself wondering what city names come from? What do they mean? How do certain names come about? I'm speaking especially about large cities. The only city names' origins I know about and can think about at the moment are:

London: the Romans called it londonium, but why?
St. Petersburg: named after St. Peter of the bible in an effort to westernize russia.
Seattle: named partially after native chief seattle (anglo-cised)
Tokyo/Kyoto: both meaning/being capital cities

what else? what do city names mean? why name them so?

give me info, i'm curious....

"San Diego" = "A WHALES VAGINA"

On a more serious note, Athens is named after the goddess Athena. But alot of people know that already.
"Istanbul" is actually a Greek word, go figure. Or so my Greek teachers claimed. Cause Greeks didnt wanna Constantinopouli, so they said "stin poli", which means "the city". Add a Turkish accent = Istabul.

Dublin:
"The name Dublin is an Anglicism of Dubh Linn (Irish, meaning "Black Pool"), though some doubt this derivation. Historically, in the old script used for the Irish language, 'bh' was written with a dot placed over the 'b' — thus appearing to be Dub Linn or Dublinn. The Norman-speaking English who arrived in Old Irish-speaking Ireland starting in 1169 omitted the "dot" (or séimhiú in Irish), and spelled the town's name as 'Dublin'.
Meanwhile, the city's name in Modern Irish — Baile Átha Cliath ("The Town of the Ford of the Reed Hurdles") — actually refers to the settlement, founded in 988 by High King Mael Sechnaill II, which adjoined the town of Dubh Linn proper, at the Black Pool.

Some have suggested that "Dublin" is of Scandinavian origin, cf. Icelandic: "djúp lind" ("deep pond"). However, the name "Dubh Linn" pre-dates the arrival of the Vikings in Ireland, and the Old Norse (and modern Icelandic) name for Dublin is simply the words "Dubh Linn" re-spelled as if they were Old Norse: Dyflinn (correctly pronounced "DUEV-linn" - indeed, the letter 'y' is still pronounced like the vowel in "ewe" in Modern Norwegian, Swedish, etc., just as it was in Old Norse; Icelandic, while keeping the spelling, has changed this sound to /i/)."


Halifax:
"Originally named Jipugtug, or Chebucto - which means "biggest harbour" - by the Mi'kmaq people who lived there, the town of Halifax was founded as a British military outpost by General Edward Cornwallis and some 2500 settlers on July 9, 1749. It was named in honour of George Montague-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, who was at the time the President of the Board of Trade and Plantations. The town of Dartmouth was settled soon after on the opposite side of the harbour. To link the two communities, a ferry service was started between Halifax and Dartmouth that still operates today; it is the oldest sal****er ferry in North America."

Though not a city, I'm posting it anyway; Newfoundland:

"Irish: Talamh an Éisc; Latin: Terra Nova) is a large island off the northeast coast of North America, and the most populous part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Newfoundland is often referred as "The Middle of the North Atlantic", but it is actually more than 1000km away from it. The island of Newfoundland (originally called Terra Nova) was most likely first named by the Italian John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) in 1497. The province where this island is located was also called "Newfoundland" until 2001, when its name was changed to "Newfoundland and Labrador" (the postal abbreviation was simultaneously changed from NF to NL).

Newfoundland is the only place outside Europe with its own distinctive name in the Irish language, Talamh an Éisc, literally "Land of the Fish [singular]"."

Though, again not a city, (being a native Nova Scotian) I can tell you Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".


Braga, Portugal:
"A very important trading centre since recorded times and was given the name Bracara Augusta by the Romans in c.296 BC."


New York State & New York City
"The first settlers in the area now known as the State of New York were Dutch settlers in the colony known as New Amsterdam, beginning in 1613. The English traded the modern-day country of Suriname for New Amsterdam in 1664; they renamed it New York, after the Duke of York, the future King James II. On November 1, 1683, the government was reorganized. The colony, then called the Province of New York, was divided into twelve counties, each of which was subdivided into ****s. The territory of New York extended much farther than present-day New York State, having no official western boundary other than the Pacific Ocean. Two of New York's eastern coastal counties, Cornwall and Dukes, later became parts of Massachusetts and Maine. Counties were also ceded to Vermont before Vermont entered the Union in 1791. New York City was the capital of the newly-formed United States from 1788 to 1790."

A interesting bit about Wall Street: "The name of the street derives from the fact that during the 17th century, it formed the northern boundary of the New Amsterdam settlement where the Dutch had constructed a crude wall of timber and earthwork in 1652. The wall was ostensibly meant as a defense against attack from Lenape Indians, New England colonists, and the British, but it was never tested in battle. The wall was dismantled by the British in 1699."

yeah that's the one that i was gonna post.
doesnt "los angeles" mean "the city" in spanish?

I think it means "City of Angels".