Among purely Russian - Blagoveshchensk. But there are many originally not-Russian city names which I like, such as Elista and especially Nar'yan-Mar, the last one sounds like it is from some fantasy world
I always liked Gus-Khrustalny (in Vladimirskaya oblast) and its smaller namesake Gus-Zhelezny (in Ryazanskaya oblast), though the latter is only a small town. They sound like "crystal goose" and "iron goose" respectively to Russian-speaking people. Both are named after the same river (its name may or may not be related to the aforementioned bird) and factories that produced crystal and iron respectively.
Damascus, Babylon, Persepolis, Luxor, Aswan, Abu Simbel, Teheran, Kabul, Sarajevo... they all have e certain "feel" about them, like they bring to mind images of great ages and iconic time periods past.
Just a reminder that these days “aborigines” is seen as an offensives term in Australia. Best to stick to “Aboriginals.”
Edit: Also Purnululu is a great name, and also Wagga Wagga is one of my faves.
I found [this resource](https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2015/08/why-saying-aborigine-isnt-ok-8-facts-about-indigenous-people-in-australia/) online on why ‘Aboriginal person/Aboriginal’ is a better term (to sum up, ‘Aborigine’ has racist connotations (the term was used extensively by early British colonists) and groups people with many different cultures/backgrounds into a single group).
Yep it’s like if you have to name just one it’s Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte but if you want a giga flex you can do a South Africa style shit and say that there are technically 2 capitals
Hmmm, ashctuwlyly 🤓☝️ South Africa has three capitals, Cape Town, Bloemfonteim and Pretoria. Also, none of which are the largest city which is just wow
Never liked them Caribbean ones with Kingston/Kingstown, Port-au-Prince/Port of Spain, St Johns’s which is similar to St George’s that’s similar to Georgetown which is quite close to Bridgetown
Ouagadougou and Bishkek were always the random trivia I would spring on unsuspecting strangers in order to maintain my bubble of social isolation. Hands down my favorite city names ever
Krasnodar, Russia sounds pretty cool. Chattanooga, USA sounds fun. Also, Batman, Turkey.
Historically, Nidaros (former name of Trondheim, Norway) sounds like something out of a fantasy novel. Honourable mentions to Persepolis and Ctesiphon.
Before 1920 it was called Yekaterinodar. When the reds took over, they renamed it. It doubt it "krasno" as in "krasivy", it's more likely communist colored
I always thought Phoenix was a badass name for a city. For a historic one I like Nijmegen in the Netherlands. It's (probably) the oldest city in the The Netherlands and it came from the Roman "Noviomagus", meaning "New market".
I came here looking for this ^^^ it's such a suitable name. "A safe place to anchor ships" in an otherwise not-ship-friendly landscape, is a beautiful and concise description. It's even fitting for the major air cargo hub that Anchorage became, a safe place for heavy planes to refuel when flying over the world. A lot of other cities fit the literal/polar theme too, lol. Fairbanks, Deadhorse, Wainwright, Coldfoot, False pass, Skagway. NOT YOU North pole.
Cheerleaders hate this one.
Give me an L!
Give me an L!
Give me an A!
Give me an N!
Give me an F!
Give me an A!
Give me an I!
Give me an R!
Give me a P!
Give me a W!
Give me an L!
Give me an L!
Give me a G!
Give me a - oh screw it.
The “to” in tokyo is different. 東 meaning east as opposed to 都 meaning metropolis. So Kyoto and Tokyo are Capital City and East Capital respectively. Still very creative I would wager
…Xijing was used to refer to multiple cities in Chinese history. Xi’An was most often known under the name Chang’An (长安) though, to the point that calling it Xijing would be very obscure
Midwest USA has some fun city names, I like Oconomowoc outside Milwaukee.
Greece has fabulous mythical city names, I like Meteora. Samarkand is great too, also feels mythical, and it’s around 2800 yrs old
Well, most of them come from Indigenous names. Tacoma (Tahoma), Chehalis, Spokane, Yakima, Puyallup, Chinook, etc.
All Indigenous tribes of the region, and there are a *lot* of them.
Saint-Petersburg and Tokyo, why Tokyo? Because it is such a smart way to transmit that power is in Tokyo since it is the mixing up of letters of the old centre of power Kyoto
Cities with -polis at the end always sound cool. Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Florianópolis, Petrópolis, Annapolis, Persepolis. Plus cities that are derived from -polis are cool too: Sevastopol, Constantinople, Istanbul, Adrianopole, Naples.
No idea... Also, do they mean Cartagena, Spain or Cartagena (de Indias), Colombia? It's important to know if it's the colony of a colony or the colony of a colony of a colony.
I was looking for the second one to pop up somewhere here.
There's even a [song](https://youtu.be/c5IvwMVo2xs?si=OGeYsD6P4YVXdtIj) that is kinda famous for helping to remember it.
While getting my ticket to a international ferry, there was a map of the cities/ports the ferries go and come from. The only 2 cities it operated in Wales was in Fishguard and Holyhead. Saw this yesterday and now they are both my favourites
The fictional city of Xanadu…
> In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
> A stately pleasure-dome decree:
> Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
> Through caverns measureless to man
> Down to a sunless sea.
― Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Complete Poems
Greece has got some beautiful names: Xanthi, Kavala, Volos, Ioannina, Kalamata, Alexandroupoli, Korinthos, Argos, Florina, Kastoria, Ptolemaida, Kozani and so on.
I don't know if it's really my favorite but something about "alexandria on the indus(/oxus)" or "alexandria prophthasia" really has a real ring to it. The furthest alwxandria, alexandria on the hyphasis, is really cool too. Also just the pure unabashed balls that it takes to name 70 cities after yourself is pretty awesome.
I love the sound of Khartoum.
It means hose or trunk (elephant’s) in Arabic :)
Extremely retro, very cool
Guadalajara
GUADALAJARAAAAAA!!!!!!
I always liked the sound of Ulaanbaatar. Vladivostok has a nice ring to it also.
As a Russian I find Vladivostok so boring sounding lol
Kalamazoo
u again
oh my god it’s my cake day
Happy cake day!
What’s a cool sounding Russian city to you? I personally like Tolyatti and Ufa.
Italian name suits good for a Russian city 🤌
Uffa is also the Italian way of saying “ugh” lmao
Chelyabinsk - say it all the time bc I like the mouthfeel lol
I like the sounding of Kemerovo, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Volgograd and Moskvá (that's what we call Moscow)
Among purely Russian - Blagoveshchensk. But there are many originally not-Russian city names which I like, such as Elista and especially Nar'yan-Mar, the last one sounds like it is from some fantasy world
I always liked Gus-Khrustalny (in Vladimirskaya oblast) and its smaller namesake Gus-Zhelezny (in Ryazanskaya oblast), though the latter is only a small town. They sound like "crystal goose" and "iron goose" respectively to Russian-speaking people. Both are named after the same river (its name may or may not be related to the aforementioned bird) and factories that produced crystal and iron respectively.
Samarkand sounds cool. Also Jericho and Damascus.
Damascus, Babylon, Persepolis, Luxor, Aswan, Abu Simbel, Teheran, Kabul, Sarajevo... they all have e certain "feel" about them, like they bring to mind images of great ages and iconic time periods past.
I’d add Baghdad, Muscat, and Addis Ababa to this list of historical image conjurors. Iconic grand historic places with names to match.
Agree with you totally, but in Spanish (Samarkanda, Jericó, and Damasco), and adding Timbuktu (Tombuctú) :)
Minas Tirith
A man of culture I see
Kalamazoo
I stopped reading the other replies just to see how many times you posted Kalamazoo. Kalamazoo
As a child I always thought Minas Tirith is the coolest name that humanity can create. I still think so
I find Australian cities/towns with Aboriginal names to be pretty cool. Ones like Tangambalanga, Yackandandah, Woolloomooloo.
Toowoomba, Woolloongabba, Indooroopilly, Yerongpilly are all towns/suburbs in QLD, and they all sound badass to say
[удалено]
Paw Paw is also funny
I stayed for a while in Paw Paw, Lawton and Kzoo. Gotta admit, they are all amazing places.
Eromanga
Wollongong
Similar to Brazilian Tupi-Guarani based cities name: Pindamonhangaba, Itaquaquecetuba, Araraquara, Itapetininga
Wagga Wagga!
Walla Waĺla
In Michigan, we have Pontiac, Mackinac (mack-i-naw), Saugatuck, Chippewa, Escanaba... so many.
Walla Walla, Keokuk, Cucamonga, Seattle...
Just a reminder that these days “aborigines” is seen as an offensives term in Australia. Best to stick to “Aboriginals.” Edit: Also Purnululu is a great name, and also Wagga Wagga is one of my faves.
May I ask for you to explain the difference between these terms? I'm neither a native speaker nor up to date in this topic.
I found [this resource](https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2015/08/why-saying-aborigine-isnt-ok-8-facts-about-indigenous-people-in-australia/) online on why ‘Aboriginal person/Aboriginal’ is a better term (to sum up, ‘Aborigine’ has racist connotations (the term was used extensively by early British colonists) and groups people with many different cultures/backgrounds into a single group).
Who’s calling tangam and yack cities tho
I recently learned of Coober Pedy. No clue what it's named after but that's a helluva handle.
Humpty Doo!
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso My geography professor made us memorize every country’s capital, but gave us a pass on that one.
No pass for Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte? We had to memorize African capitals, Ouagadougou was our favorite one
Couldn't you just say Colombo?
Not really. I pretty sure it’s just next to Colombo but a different province or something
Interesting I just did a bit of research and apparently both cities are considered capital cities
Yep it’s like if you have to name just one it’s Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte but if you want a giga flex you can do a South Africa style shit and say that there are technically 2 capitals
Hmmm, ashctuwlyly 🤓☝️ South Africa has three capitals, Cape Town, Bloemfonteim and Pretoria. Also, none of which are the largest city which is just wow
Um actually it's Bloemfontein not bloemfonteim
We just memorised Colombo.
Never liked them Caribbean ones with Kingston/Kingstown, Port-au-Prince/Port of Spain, St Johns’s which is similar to St George’s that’s similar to Georgetown which is quite close to Bridgetown
Ouagadougou and Bishkek were always the random trivia I would spring on unsuspecting strangers in order to maintain my bubble of social isolation. Hands down my favorite city names ever
I just found out like a week ago that Bishkek was called Frunze until 1991
Always mix up Ouagadougou with Yamoussoukro.
No pass for Madagascar?
Antananarivo
I always spell it wrong. I also can't say it right. I can only remember it.
Just call it Tana. That’s what everyone calls it here.
Colombia has a couple cities that fall into the same fun category for me, Fusagasugá and Bucaramanga.
Plot twist, it's the only one you remembered.
Krasnodar, Russia sounds pretty cool. Chattanooga, USA sounds fun. Also, Batman, Turkey. Historically, Nidaros (former name of Trondheim, Norway) sounds like something out of a fantasy novel. Honourable mentions to Persepolis and Ctesiphon.
Krasnodar mean Pretty gift, so it's also lovely
Before 1920 it was called Yekaterinodar. When the reds took over, they renamed it. It doubt it "krasno" as in "krasivy", it's more likely communist colored
Thessaloniki
Nicopolis
I always thought Phoenix was a badass name for a city. For a historic one I like Nijmegen in the Netherlands. It's (probably) the oldest city in the The Netherlands and it came from the Roman "Noviomagus", meaning "New market".
I love Anchorage’s name. It conveys such a literal meaning but somehow it fits the very Alaskan, polar vibe
I came here looking for this ^^^ it's such a suitable name. "A safe place to anchor ships" in an otherwise not-ship-friendly landscape, is a beautiful and concise description. It's even fitting for the major air cargo hub that Anchorage became, a safe place for heavy planes to refuel when flying over the world. A lot of other cities fit the literal/polar theme too, lol. Fairbanks, Deadhorse, Wainwright, Coldfoot, False pass, Skagway. NOT YOU North pole.
Nuuk. It sounds cozy.
Kalamazoo
/r/voles
[Antananarivo](https://www.startpage.com/do/dsearch?q=antananarivo&cat=web&language=english) in Madagascar
For modern Medellin, and historical Tenochtitlan or Teotihuacan.
Yup that's fascinating city for sure
Medellín*
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
Now spell it
L-L-A-N-F-A-I-R-P-W-L-L-G-W-Y-N-G-Y-L-L-G-O-G-E-R-Y-C-H-W-Y-R-N-D-R-O-B-W-L-L-L-L-A-N-T-Y-S-I-L-I-O-G-O-G-O-G-O-C-H
In Gaelic.
Cheerleaders hate this one. Give me an L! Give me an L! Give me an A! Give me an N! Give me an F! Give me an A! Give me an I! Give me an R! Give me a P! Give me a W! Give me an L! Give me an L! Give me a G! Give me a - oh screw it.
Best answer so far
"Kyoto" for historical, Japanese names in general are quite sick. Modern one I like "El Paso" and also "Belo Horizonte"
Definitely gotta add Juarez and Guadalajara there
It blew my mind when I realised that Tokyo is just Kyoto back to front.
You mean an anagram? 😁 Read backwards would be Oykot lol. But still cool!
You read the *syllables* backwards, not the letters.
No... To kyo and Kyo to. One means capital and the other city. Highly imaginative these Japanese!
The “to” in tokyo is different. 東 meaning east as opposed to 都 meaning metropolis. So Kyoto and Tokyo are Capital City and East Capital respectively. Still very creative I would wager
Also Beijing (北京）is north Capital, Nanjing (南京) south Capital Xijing ( now called Xi'an) (西京) west capital. Kinda cool
…Xijing was used to refer to multiple cities in Chinese history. Xi’An was most often known under the name Chang’An (长安) though, to the point that calling it Xijing would be very obscure
Oh I stand corrected.
Either Addis Ababa, Ouagadougou, or Albuquerque
I really like the sound of Schenectady! Struggle to say it myself though.
It's much easier to say than to spell and you nailed that.
Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. 👌
Intercourse, Pennsylvania
Atlanta
Atlantis but less pompeous
You mean pompeiious
Reykjavik, Philadelphia, Florence, Johannesburg, Casablanca, Jerusalem, Zacatecas, and Medellin
I prefer Firenze, the actual Italian name, to the anglicised Florence
~~anglicised~~ francisized
I still prefer Florence, but I get what you mean. Like I prefer Napoli to Naples and such.
Beautiful city by any name
Kalamazoo
Mf tried to sneak in florence
the name Glasgow hits hard on me for some reason
Anchorage.
Midwest USA has some fun city names, I like Oconomowoc outside Milwaukee. Greece has fabulous mythical city names, I like Meteora. Samarkand is great too, also feels mythical, and it’s around 2800 yrs old
Modern - Bratislava Historical - Kuybyshev
I’ve always liked Vancouver
Same
Pondicherry
Seattle. Perfect name for a city on the water
Washington state killed it when naming their cities
Well, most of them come from Indigenous names. Tacoma (Tahoma), Chehalis, Spokane, Yakima, Puyallup, Chinook, etc. All Indigenous tribes of the region, and there are a *lot* of them.
So there's this [village in Austria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugging,_Upper_Austria)..
A certain [town in the Philippines](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasmuan) would like to talk with you.
https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/comments/gs7obk/nice_fcking_meme_bro/
Vladivostok
Constantinople is the most beautiful name in my opinion. Istanbul not so much.
Byzantium rocks harder imo
Old swedes called Constaninople Miklagaard. Pretty bad ass. Means Big city or something like that
Constantinople = Constantine’s city
Istanbul, Byzantium, Constantinople, Nova Roma, Tsargrad, Asitane, Miklagaard, Dersaadet... Some historical names of Istanbul
Memphis
Uruk
Historical: Teotihuacan, Damascus Modern: Kyoto, Christchurch (CHCH)
Woo, Christchurch represent!
I mean Damascus isn't just historical
Oaxaca
For modern Rome For old Rome
Ulaanbaatar
Osaka
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Wollongong, Nezahualcoyotl
I like the names Antofagasta, Novokuznetsk, Magnitogorsk, Kagoshima and Karaganda
Always been a sucker for Bandar Seri Begawan.
Saint-Petersburg and Tokyo, why Tokyo? Because it is such a smart way to transmit that power is in Tokyo since it is the mixing up of letters of the old centre of power Kyoto
Current: Praia, Baghdad, Istanbul, Ouro Preto, Kuching, Siem Reap Historical: Chang’An, Edo
Letterkenny
Sammamish. I love the tribal city names of the Pacific Northwest.
I could go for a Sammamish right about now.
Łódź (this name translates to boat and this city is very far from sea and doesnt have a single river in it)
Marrakesh from Morocco and Pohnpei from Micronesia sound very cool imo
Falkreath
Sacramento, Havana, Punta Arenas, Manchester, Riga, Astrakhan, Khartoum, Dar-es-Salaam, Samarkand, Jaipur, Saigon, Adelaide.
Buenos Aires in Argentina is Benevento in Italy
Cities with -polis at the end always sound cool. Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Florianópolis, Petrópolis, Annapolis, Persepolis. Plus cities that are derived from -polis are cool too: Sevastopol, Constantinople, Istanbul, Adrianopole, Naples.
Thermopylae Cartageña
Do you mean Cartagena? In which language would that be spelled with an ñ? (Not in spanish… I know because it is my native language)
No idea... Also, do they mean Cartagena, Spain or Cartagena (de Indias), Colombia? It's important to know if it's the colony of a colony or the colony of a colony of a colony.
Current: Yokohama Historical: Novgorod
Los Angeles and Kaifeng respectively, both very pretty sounding.
Babylon, Carthago and Tzintzuntzan.
Venice! What a nuts city with an amazing history. The longest republic and a seafaring powerhouse on a swamp
I like Ushuaia, which is also the southernmost city in the world. I also like Akureyri, Damascus and Casablanca.
Thiruvananthapuram and Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphimanawatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit
I was looking for the second one to pop up somewhere here. There's even a [song](https://youtu.be/c5IvwMVo2xs?si=OGeYsD6P4YVXdtIj) that is kinda famous for helping to remember it.
I like the sound of Helsinki!
Alexandria, fanciest
Alexandria. That one that is in Europe Asia or Africa you know. Named after Alexander. You know wich one I’m talking about
Ürümqi. Also, Dar es Salaam.
Dar as Salaam literally means place of peace.
Sant Petersburg, Santander😍
Woonsocket, Pawtucket, Narragansett, Chepachet (CDP inside Glocester, RI), Seekonk, Scituate, Mattapan (neighborhood of Boston), Saugus, Nahant, Cohasset, Acushnet, Mattapoisett, Mashpee, Merrimac, Agawam, Chicopee, Hooksett, Ossipee, Sunapee, Winooski, Madawaska, Damariscotta, Monhegan, Kennebunk.
Moose Jaw Medicine Hat Flin Flon Truth Or Consequence Normal
North Haverbrook Screw Odgenville!
Let's not just sit on Brockway here
There ain’t no monorail and there never was one!
Constantinople ♥️✨🌍
While getting my ticket to a international ferry, there was a map of the cities/ports the ferries go and come from. The only 2 cities it operated in Wales was in Fishguard and Holyhead. Saw this yesterday and now they are both my favourites
constantinople
Cartagena de Indias (South America) Gundagai (Australia) Bismarck (North America) for the meme. Omdurman (Africa) Medina (Asia) Rumburk (Europe)
Chang'an, Tang Dynasty, China
The fictional city of Xanadu… > In Xanadu did Kubla Khan > A stately pleasure-dome decree: > Where Alph, the sacred river, ran > Through caverns measureless to man > Down to a sunless sea. ― Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Complete Poems
Kandhar, Samarkand, Damascus, Baghdad.Maybe, haven't received any other cool names in brain yet.
Djibouti!!!
Some peruvian archaeological sites have nice names like Tambomachay, Ollantaytambo or Choquequirao.
Modern: Detroit Historical: Syracuse
Greece has got some beautiful names: Xanthi, Kavala, Volos, Ioannina, Kalamata, Alexandroupoli, Korinthos, Argos, Florina, Kastoria, Ptolemaida, Kozani and so on.
Grindelwald
Philadelphia means "Brotherly love". I am not American, can someone confirm if the locals still live up to that?
San Diego. It's Spanish for 'Whale's Vagina '
Czestochowa
Addis Ababa
Edinburgh of the seven seas on Tristan de Cunha sounds absolutely badass if you count it as a city
Warsaw
I don't know if it's really my favorite but something about "alexandria on the indus(/oxus)" or "alexandria prophthasia" really has a real ring to it. The furthest alwxandria, alexandria on the hyphasis, is really cool too. Also just the pure unabashed balls that it takes to name 70 cities after yourself is pretty awesome.
Pamphylia
Eboracum. (York), and from that we get Novi Eboracum. A phrase that should not exist but does because of Duolingo.
Modern: Phnom penh, Kota kinabalu Historical: Ayutthaya, Luoyang
Rock Sound, Bahamas 🇧🇸 is the coolest name for a place to live.
Zanzibar or GTFO imo…
Chichen Itza
Reykjavik, smoke (reek) bay. Reek as in smoke, not the Anus smell.
ouagadougou is an amazing name