A is for Alphabet
“We now go to Atlantis for live coverage of the Olympic Games,” said the sports commentator. “Where the underwater sprint event is just getting underway,” I remember thinking to myself, as I imagined athletes wearing goggles, aqualungs and flippers racing in slow motion over the ocean floor.
I have no proof that the commentator really mistook Atlanta for Atlantis, but I myself have often struggled to tell cities apart – Atlantis, Atlanta, Atlantic City – and I find it difficult to suppress the urge to make weak jokes about their names – Calgary (Call Gary), Helsinki (Hell’s Sinking) and Bangkok (Bangkok).
Having milked most of these atrocious puns in previous blogs, I have decided to help you by helping myself with a handy list of city names and their origins. Why, you may well ask. Because I discovered that by learning more about the origins of a name, the city becomes more firmly located on my mind’s map, as if its drawing pin has been pushed further into my brain. Ouch.
Of course the information I am about to give is freely available online, but I don’t think anyone has ever come up with the outrageously brilliant idea to bring it all together on one page. Or perhaps they have and I just haven’t looked hard enough.
Let’s take things one letter at a time, shall we? I’ll restrict myself to KLM destinations, but if you live in some other city starting with the letter A, I’d love to hear about the origins of its name.
Aalborg (Denmark) means “Eel Castle”, which is logical for a fishing port with a castle.
Aberdeen (Scotland) means “at the confluence of the Dee and Don”; i.e. where the two local rivers flow together.
Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) means “Father of Deer”, because deer (antelope?) were once plentiful in the area.
Abuja (Nigeria) took its name from a fortified settlement founded by Abu Ja (“Abu the Red”).
Accra (Ghana) is thought to derive from the word “nkran”, meaning “ants” in Akan, possibly referring to the many anthills in the area.
Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) means “New Flower” in Amharic.
Almaty (Kazakhstan) means “Place of Apples”, a reference to the many different species of wild apple trees that grow here.
Amsterdam (Netherlands) means “Dam on the Amstel (river)”, which it once was. Dam Square marks the spot, approximately.
Aruba (Antilles) possibly derives from the Arawak “oruba”, meaning “well placed”, or from “ora” and “oubao”, meaning “shell” and “island”. (I prefer the latter.)
Athens (Greece) is named after Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, to whom the Acropolis is dedicated.
Atlanta (USA), previously called Terminus and Marthasville, the city apparently took its name from the fleet-footed goddess Atalanta, which was also the middle name of the daughter of the governor of, well, you get the picture. It’s complicated.
Again, it would be great if people living in other places starting with A could tell us more about the origin of their city’s name. Also, I’m sure the above cities have nicknames. If so, please let us know. Amsterdam, for example, is also known as Mokum, which stems from the Hebrew word for “place” or “city”.
Richard de Nooy
