List of Latin names of cities explained

Users of Neo-Latin have needed to construct Latin city names for contemporary use. For instance, places may not have existed during the Roman period, or may not been given a Latin name, or it may have been forgotten.

Strategies for constructing Latin names

Little is known about how Romans adapted foreign place names to Latin form, but there is evidence of the practices of Bible translators. They reworked some names into Latin or Greek shapes; in one version, Yerushalem (tentative reconstruction of a more ancient Hebrew version of the name) becomes Hierosolyma, doubtlessly influenced by Greek ἱερος (hieros), "holy". Others were adopted directly, often treating the new place names as indeclinable nouns; here Yerushalem is brought over as Jerusalem, with the Latin J being pronounced as an English Y sound and the /sh/ being transliterated to the closest Latin sound, /s/.

Similar strategies are used for places beyond those known to the Roman Empire:

• A classical ending such as -um or -a is added or substituted on the end of the source word. Hence Baltimorum for "Baltimore," Albania for "Albany."
• The word may already be in Latin or Greek form: Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Atlanta.
• Calques are resorted to if the New World name is based on an Old World name; the various Parises in the United States are likely to become Lutetia, and Novum Eboracum or Neo-Eboracum represents New York, because Eboracum is the city of York in England.
• The words are adjusted to fit Latin declensions: Kansas appears as either Cansas, Cansatis or Cansa, Cansae; Chicago, Ohio, and Idaho become consonant stems, with genitives Chicagonis, Ohionis, Idahonis, &c., by analogy with many Latin nouns whose nominative form ends in o.
• The words are re-interpreted to fit Latin declensions; Illinois is treated as a third-declension noun.
• If the city is named for a specific thing, and especially if its name is a Romance language word or phrase, it may be directly translated into Latin. For example, the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles is called Diocesis Angelorum in Latin, "Diocese of (the) angels".
• On the other hand, in some dioceses the church chose to simply apply a Latin locational suffix to the existing name; the diocese of Des Moines, Iowa is simply Dioecesis Desmoinensis.
• The words are treated as indeclinable, like some Biblical names; Connecticut is sometimes treated this way.

In many cases, there is no consensus as to how to treat any given names, and variants exist. A town which is the site of a university or an episcopal see is more likely to have a standard form hallowed by usage. Note that names of cities are usually feminine in gender in Latin, even if they end in –us. This rule is not always strictly observed in the New World.

Note on word endings

Latin being an inflected language, names in a Latin context may have different word-endings to those shown here, which are given in the nominative case. For instance Roma (Rome) may appear as Romae meaning "at Rome" (locative), "of Rome" (genitive) or "to/for Rome" (dative), as Romam meaning "Rome" as a direct object (accusative), or indeed as Romā with a long a, probably not indicated in the orthography, meaning "by, with or from Rome" (ablative). Similarly names ending in -um or -us may occur with -i or -o, and names ending in -us may occur with -um. The words urbs and civitas may occur as urbis, urbi, or urbe, and civitatis, civitati or civitate.

List of names

Latin Name	English Name, [other name(s)], [older name(s)], [province], [state]
Aarhusium	Århus, Denmark
Aboa	Turku (Åbo), Finland
Aemona	Ljubljana, Slovenia
Alexandria (Aegyptus) (1)	Alexandria (Al-Iskandriyah), Egypt
Alexandria (Columbia Britannica)	Alexandria, British Columbia
Alexandria (Ontario)	Alexandria, Ontario
Alexandria (Virginia)	Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria Statiellorum	Alessandria, Piedmont, Italy
Algeris	Algiers, Algeria
Antunnacum	Andernach, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Aquae Sextiae	Aix-en-Provence, France
Arae Flaviae	Rottweil, Germany
Arbela, Arbila	Erbil, Iraq
Arctopolis	Pori (Björneborg), Finland
Ascalon	Ashkelon, Israel
Athenae	Athens, Greece
Atlanta	Atlanta, Georgia
Augusta	Augusta, Maine
Augusta Treverorum	Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Augusta Vindelicorum	Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany
Austinopolis	Austin, Texas
Baltimorum, Baltimori	Baltimore, Maryland
	Beirut, Lebanon
Belli Horizontis	Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Bona Aera	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Bostonia	Boston, Massachusetts
Botrus	Batroun, Lebanon
Brasiliopolis	Brasilia, Brazil
Byblos	Byblos, Lebanon
	Colchester, England
Cansae, Civitas	Kansas City
Carnium	Kranj, Slovenia
Carolopolis	Charleston, South Carolina
Carolinapolis	Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Cantabrigia	Cambridge, England Cambridge, Massachusetts; Cambridge, Ontario
Celeia	Celje, Slovenia
Civitas Capitis	Cape Town
Civitas Cincinnatas	Cincinnati, Ohio
Civitas Alphabetica	Alphabet City, Manhattan, New York
Civitas California	California City, California
Civitas Florida	Florida City, Florida
Civitas Oklahoma	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Civitas Panama	Panama City, Florida
	Cologne (Köln), North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Columbus	Columbus, Ohio
Constantia	Constance (Konstanz), Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Corcagia, Hibernia	Cork, Ireland
Corpus Christi	Corpus Christi, Texas
Cultellus Flavus	Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada
Dallasium	Dallas, Texas
Damascus	Damascus (Dimashq), Syria
Dublinum/ Eblana, Hibernia (2)	Dublin, Ireland
Durbanum	Durban
Eboracum	York, England
Edessa	Sanli Urfa
Equus Albus	Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada
Florentia	Florence, Italy
Flumen Januarii	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Fortalexia	Fortaleza, Brazil
Francofurti ad Viadrum	Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany
Fredericopolis	Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
Georgiopolis	Georgetown, Guyana
Gevalia	Gävle (Gefle), Sweden
Hafnia	Copenhagen, Denmark
Halifacium	Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Heliopolis	Baalbeck, Lebanon
Hippo Regius	Bone, Algeria
Hierosolyma (3)	Jerusalem, Israel/Palestinian territories
Hongcongum	Hong Kong
Hustonia	Houston, Texas
Iacarta	Jakarta, Indonesia
Indianapolis (7)	Indianapolis, Indiana
Ioannesburgum	Johannesburg
Iria	Voghera, Italy
Iuliacum	Juliers (Jülich), North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Jericho (3)	Jericho, West Bank (Palestinian territories)
Jonesopolis	Jonestown, Guyana
Leptis Magna, Lepcis Magna	near Tripoli, Libya
Londinium, Africa Australis	London, South Africa
Londinium, Britannia (4)	London, United Kingdom
Londinium (Ontario)	London, Ontario
Ludovicopolis	Louisville, Kentucky
Lutetia Parisiorum	Paris, France
Marathon (Ontario)	Marathon, Ontario
Massalia	Marseille, France
Medaba	Mecca (Makkah), Saudi Arabia
Medina, Arabia	Medina, Saudi Arabia
Medina, Nova Eburaca	Medina, New York
Mediolanum	Milan, Italy
Megalopolis	Mecklenburg, Germany
Melburnium, Victoria (Regna)	Melbourne, Australia
Mons Regius, Marianopolis, Villa Maria	Montreal, Quebec
Minneapolis (1)	Minneapolis, Minnesota
Neapolis	Naples, Italy
Nova Aurelia, Novum Aurelium	New Orleans, Louisiana
Nova Helvetia	Nueva Helvecia (New Switzerland), Uruguay
Novum Baltimorum	New Baltimore, Michigan
Nova Bedfordia	New Bedford, Massachusetts
Novum Hamburgium	New Hamburg, Ontario
Urbs Novum Eboracum	New York City, New York
Novum Glasgovium	New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, Canada
Novum Londinium*	New London, Connecticut
Novus Portus	New Haven, Connecticut
Olympia (Vasingtonia)	Olympia, Washington
Oxonia	Oxford, England
Urbs Panamensis	Panama City, Panama
Pechinum	Beijing, China
Philadelphia (1)	Amman, Jordan; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Phoenix (1), Arizona	Phoenix, Arizona
Praetoria	Pretoria
Providentia	Providence, Rhode Island
Urbs Quebecis	Quebec City, Quebec
Urbs Reginae	Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Rubricobacilensis, Ludoviciana	Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Regiopolis	Kingston, Jamaica Kingston, Ontario
Sancti Iacobi	Santiago
Sancti Spiriti	Sancti Spiriti, Argentina
Sanctus Johannes	Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada; San Juan, Puerto Rico
Sanctus Johannes Terrae Novae	St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Sanctus Josephus, Iosephopolis	San Jose, California, San José, Costa Rica
Sanctus Paulus, Paulopolis	São Paulo, Brazil, Saint Paul, Minnesota
Sarnia	Sarnia, Ontario
Sciamhaevum	Shanghai, China
Sicagum	Chicago, Illinois
Sidon (1)	Sidon, Lebanon
Sinus Tonitralis	Thunder Bay, Ontario
Soteropolis	Salvador, Brazil
Tempe (Arizona)	Tempe, Arizona
Tiberias	Tiberias (Teverya), Israel
Tingis	Tangier, Morocco
Torontinum, Torontinus	Toronto, Ontario
Tripolis (1)	Tripoli, Lebanon Tripoli, Libya
Tunis	Tunis, Tunisia
	Zürich, Switzerland
Tyrus	Tyre, Lebanon
Vasingtonium, Dioecesis Columbiae	Washington, DC
Victoria (Regna), Columbia Britannica	Victoria, British Columbia
Vigornia	Worcester, England Worcester, Massachusetts
	Vienna, Austria

1. Latinized form of a Greek name. Naples/Neapolis is a rare exception to the rule of Latinization of foreign city names as it was established by the Greeks and predates Rome by many centuries. There was no need to change it as the name was too deeply entrenched.
2. Claudius Ptolemy mentions "Eblana" in his texts and scholars believe this is a name for Dublin. The Latinized name is more common in medieval texts.
3. Latinized form of a Hebrew name.
4. London was founded directly by the Romans as a fort, approximately where Westminster stands today. Classical texts written by Tacitus generally label this area of the frontier as "Britannia" with others later differentiating "Caledonia" or "Scotia" for Scotland. England didn't quite exist as a concept yet as the entire island was largely inhabited by Celts; the Angles were centuries away.
5. Latinized form of a name derived from Amerindian languages.
6. Cincinnatus was a real figure in Roman history who died in 430 BC. The city in Ohio is named for the Society of the Cincinnati, which in turned is named for him.
7. -polis is a suffix from Greek; it belongs to the third declension.

See also

• Names of European cities in different languages
• List of city name changes

External links

• Dr. J. G. Th. Grässe, Orbis Latinus: Lexikon lateinischer geographischer Namen des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit, online at the Bavarian State Library
• Grässe, Orbis Latinus, online at Columbia University
• Hofmann: Lexicon Universale
• GCatholic - Curiate Latin names of Catholic jurisdictions (usually the sees: cities)