Names travel. Across oceans, through languages, into new landscapes. Follow their journeys.
This is a curated collection of places whose names refer to another place. Each connection includes a source and context, drawing on local histories, official records and secondary references. It is a starting point for exploration, not a complete global inventory.
Filled dots mark namesakes; open circles mark original places. Tap or click either kind of marker to explore it; original-place details list its related namesakes. Marker sizes adapt to the current zoom and nearby points; a place chooser keeps crowded or coincident markers reachable. Colors refer to the original place’s continent, with a separate Oceans group for ocean-wide origins. Lines point from original to namesake along illustrative great-circle routes, not migration paths. Drag the globe to rotate it, and pinch or scroll to zoom up to 200×. Only the near hemisphere is shown. Select a result to bring a hidden destination into view. The basemap is simplified world geography, not street-level mapping.
The New filter matches names beginning with the English word “New.” The optional checkbox also includes translated equivalents such as Nova, Nueva, and Nieuw. Other translated or adapted names appear under Not New unless that option is enabled.
This atlas is selective, not an inventory of every namesake. The collection covers cities, towns, villages, townships and smaller settlements, plus states, provinces, geographic regions, islands, territories and countries. Connections based solely on a river name are excluded. Use Place type to explore these larger areas separately. Regional points are representative locations, not boundary polygons; regions may overlap other entries. Disputed naming accounts are hidden by default and clearly labeled when enabled. Same spelling alone is not evidence: sources must identify a geographic namesake. An origin may itself be a namesake. Most connections show a direct source; connections through a bay, county, estate, institution, battle or earlier settlement are labeled in their notes. The atlas does not assume that a shown origin is the earliest ancestor of a name.
Population filters apply to the namesake destination. Figures are dated snapshots, not live estimates. Each known value includes its year, geographic boundary and source in the place details. City, township, census-designated place and metropolitan boundaries are not interchangeable. Unknown populations are retained by default and are never treated as zero. Uncheck “Include unknown population” to compare only places with figures. Historical names and uncertain naming accounts are described in the notes.
Names can carry colonial histories and displaced Indigenous names. Local names and nuances are included where the sources support them. Names bestowed solely for a person are excluded as direct place-to-place connections. A documented connection through a geographic dynastic title, such as New Brunswick, may be included but is explicitly labeled indirect.
Coordinates are approximate representative points, especially for regions and islands. Continental categories use present-day geography; transcontinental origins are explained individually. Basemap: Natural Earth via the D3 Graph Gallery. Research curated October 2026.