I'd like the names of all "French" sounding American cities....

[shoopnyc123]

...that they obviously ALL hate, (since they sound French)!
I need this information for an argument...thanks in advance!

[Ediacara]

1. Detroit, Des Moines, the states of Maine and Vermont, the Ozarks

[shoopnyc123]

5. Thanks Dino...but are you sure of the "Ozarks"

[Dogmudgeon]

"Montaines Aux Arkansas"

But that may be a pseudo-etymology.

--bkl

[Bossy Monkey]

39. That's one explanation

but it looks like nobody knows for sure:
http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/faq/files/moozarks.cfm

[Ediacara]

60. When I was at the Lake of the Ozarks

They were proud of the French etymology (and quick English bastardization). Supposedly it's roots are aux arcs, which means, IIRC, "with bows (and arrows)".

[neuvocat]

2. FREmont, CA.

Those first three letters are suspisciously identical to "French".

Same thing for FREe republic.

[Fenris]

6. Actual spelling is even worse...

Frémont!

[shoopnyc123]

10. LOL........................

[JohnKleeb]

8. John Fremont was French American

[unblock]

3. st. louis, home to the next debate!

[catzies]

4. Dubuque, Des Moines, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Duquesne, Lafayette

Hell, isn't Louisiana named after a French king?

[Fenris]

13. Of course it is.

[yankeeinlouisiana]

28. I think Louisiana was named after

King Louis XVI (or some number around 16). Most of Louisiana has French names. Cajun is a French influenced language. When our Governor was sworn in she took the oath in English and Cajun. It was really interesting.

[shoopnyc123]

7. WOW Y'ALL...keep going!!!!

[Philostopher]

9. Versailles, Indiana.

Though, in truth, it is pronounced 'ver-sales.'

Terre Haute.

There probably are some in Ohio, too, but my brain is fried tonight.

[shoopnyc123]

14. Oh my God....okay you guys have just undone me...

[shoopnyc123]

17. "ver-sales".....................LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Philostopher]

30. I'm serious --

it's in the southeast corner of the state, and I remember hearing it on Cincinnati radio 'school closing' lists when I was a kid. Don't know how they pronounce the one in Ohio.

There is a city in Ohio called Rio Grande. It's pronounced 'Rye-oh' down there. I've had people tell me it's 'Rye-oh Grandee' but I've never heard anybody from down that way say 'grandee' so I think the Rio part is all they mutilate.

[yardwork]

43. There is also Marseilles, OH - pronounced Mar-sales

I kid you not.

The best though - the absolute best - is Fayetteville.

Every state has a Fayetteville, and the biggest army base in the world is in Fayetteville, NC. And every single one of them is named after ---

Lafayette, French hero to the American revolution.

[gmoney]

11. French Lick?

Eau Claire
Baton Rouge
La Crosse
Versailles OH
Charlevoix
Vermont
Montpeilier
Crawford

[bobthedrummer]

12. Marquette, MI.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. Lots of 'em.

Off the top of my head: Duluth, Lacrosse, Eau Claire, Prairie Du Chien, Dubuque, Des Moines, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Des Plaines, Coeur D'Alene.

[Fenris]

16. The closest city to my hometown, Beaumont!

[Bjornsdotter]

18. Bourbonnais, IL n/t

[Rabrrrrrr]

19. Fon du Lac, Eau Claire, Prairie du Chien, Lafollete, Marquette,

ah, hell, that's all I think of in WI right now. I know there are many more.

[shoopnyc123]

27. WISCONSIN!!!!!!!!!! I need to get up on my american history!!!!

[Rabrrrrrr]

34. Like much of the uppermidwest, Wisconsin was first entered,

in terms of white people, by the French in the form of the explorers and then later as the lumberjacks.

Which reminds me, there's also LaCrosse (WI) and Pierre (SD), though it's pronounce "pier" there, not the proper way.

[shoopnyc123]

42. Wow thank you!

[jeff30997]

20. Baton Rouge Louisiana !

[Eye and Monkey]

21. Paris, Texas

[shoopnyc123]

22. Wait, I thought that was just a movie...

[Eye and Monkey]

31. Northeast of Dallas

[Maddy McCall]

32. Paris, Mississippi too

[Eye and Monkey]

35. And Paris in Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennesse, & Arkansas

seems like Americans like that Paris-thing.

[Eye and Monkey]

37. And Paris in Maine, Missouri, Michigan, and Idaho

[shoopnyc123]

45. WOW

[Eye and Monkey]

57. Yeah, looks like 11 of 50 states have a town called Paris.

[catzies]

23. Beaufort (but not when pronounced "byew-fert")

:silly:

[SoCalDem]

24. There's one of them Frenchie towns in IDAHO..

Coeur d'Alene ...of course the manly men up there probably call it.. Cordylane:)

[Bossy Monkey]

49. Or for that matter Boise

Who knew? http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Boise,%20Idaho

[Bossy Monkey]

50. Ignore; I'm an idiot n/t

[rwenos]

25. Bellevue, Deschutes, Willamette

All towns and rivers in Oregon and Washington.

[Maddy McCall]

26. D' Iberville, MS; Fayette, MS; Terre Haute, IN; Montpelier; New Orleans;

New Alsace...god, too many to list.

[flamingyouth]

29. Beaux Arts

Tiny little municipality in Bellevue, Wash.

[SoCalDem]

33. ......French Influence Facts in the United States

How Dixieland Got Its Name and Other French Influence Facts in the United States
http://www.geocities.com/old_time_time/dixieland.htm

How the southern states got to be known as Dixieland is just another example of the French influence in the United States. If you go back in history from the 16th Century through the 19th, you will see that every major region in our nation was explored and settled by Frenchmen and French Canadians.

Let's look at Dixie first. The name was born and coined before the Civil War. Money was pouring out of the port of New Orleans like crazy. Boats of every description lined the levee on the riverfront waiting for cargoes to be loaded down the Mississippi and up the river to America's heartland or even overseas.

The city was divided at Canal Street. On one side were the French, and on the other were les Americains. Kentucky and Tennessee boatmen, with lots of cash after selling their cargoes, flocked the street. Mais, they had to use de l'argent Francais on the downriver side of the street, and American money on the upriver side.

But the officials of Citizen's Bank of New Orleans met and said 'On vas arranger ca." So to the satisfaction of all, the bank began issuing bilingual $10 bank notes. On the face of the note was the English word "ten" and the French word 'dix', and the boatmen corrupted the word dix (which is French for ten) by saying they were going to New Orleans "to get those old dixies.' So that is how the word dixie became an adjective to describe things of Southern origin, and from there it became a noun to describe the South itself. And I'm just crazy about the Dixie Chicks!

The United States has over 5,000 communities with French names. How did these places acquire French names? They were named by French refugees settling here and Huguenots, or, even earlier, by French explorers who opened up the central United States. The map of the United States is full of such names, sometimes transformed and Anglicized (the Ozarks were named Aux Arcs).

Other places are named after prominent Frenchmen, such as Hugoton, Kansas, named after Victor Hugo, author of LES Miserables; Louisville, Kentucky, named after King Louis XVI; Talleyrand, Indiana, named for the Talleyrand/Perignard family and the forty two cities named Layayette, named after the Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834) who, at the age of 19 and a very rich man, came to join General George Washington in 1776 to help win the Revolutionary War. Invited by the U.S. Congress in 1825, he returned on a triumph voyage to where he had helped liberate a people. The grateful new nation bestowed upon him the special title "Citizen of the United States," transmissible to all his direct descendants. The law is still valid today. George Washington said that without Lafayette's help the war could not have been won.

Other municipalities in the U.S. are named after French cities and towns such as Brest, Michigan; Fountainbleu, Montana; Montpelier, capital of Vermont; Abbeville, Louisiana; and Paris, of which there are fifty in the United States. Some names were taken from the natural environment like Caribou, Colorado; L'Anguille (eel), Arkansas; Pomme de terre, Minnesota; Papillon, Arkansas; Terre Haute, Indiana; Ville Platte, Louisiana; and how about L'Anse Aux Pailles; L'Anse Bleu; L'Anse Megre; and La Pointe Aux Pins. And, sorry but Patasa is not a French name; it's a Choctaw Indian name meaning "flat fish."

We learned in history about how the Mayflower arrived at Plymouth Rock in 1604.<correct date is 1620...SCD> But we were not taught that one of the pilgrims was a Frenchman. His name was Guillaume Mullins (probably of the French family Molines) and he arrived at Plymouth with his wife, two children, son Joseph and daughter Priscilla, and his two servants, George Saule and Robert-Carte (Cartier). The American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), a descendant on his mother's side, immortalized his ancestor's story in his novel, The Courtship of Miles Standish. (Longfellow also immortalized our parish namesake in his epic poem Evangeline). And the first white child born in New York is believed to be by most historians Jean Vigne, the son of a French Protestant.

We were taught in high school history about the midnight ride of Paul Revere, but what we were not taught is that Paul Revere's real name was Paul Rivoire, the son of Appolos Rivoire, a gold and silversmith. Paul Rivoire played an important part in the struggle for American independence when he rode his horse from Charleston to Lexington to warn the Americans of an attack by the British. He was immortalized in "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere." He worked as a bellmaker and furnished Fulton with copper sheeting for the construction of the first steamship.

You probably remember studying about John C. Fremont (1813-1890) in high school history. Actually his name was Jean-Charles Fremont and he was the son of a Quebecois. Fremont arrived in California in the middle of the 19th century when he was already well known as an explorer. At Sonora de Los Angeles in 1846 he commanded one of the armies which vanquished the Mexicans in the struggle for the country. He was governor of a free California until its annexation to the U.S. in 1850. The electors of the new state chose him as their senator.

Jean-Charles Fremont was the Republican Party's first candidate for president of the United States. Part of his platform was halting the advance of slavery into the free state, bringing Kansas into the Union, changing the policy of President Franklin Pierce, and building the Pacific railroad. He was defeated by James Buchanan. He later served as a Union general in the War Between the States (1861-1865) and after the war he became president of the Memphis, El Paso and Pacific Railroad. He was governor of the territory of Arizona in 1878, and he was a major general in the American army.

William Gilet, count de Foix, a French Huguenot, was the ancestor of the Gillette family in Connecticut. And chew on this a while: one of the best investments in history was made by twenty individuals, who, in 1901 paid $250 each for 500 shares in a new company organized by an erstwhile sidewalk vendor named King C. Gillette - the company manufactured safety razors. Only fifty-three razors were made in the U.S. in 1903. If someone had made the original investment, and held onto his/her stock until 1975, his worth would have been in the neighborhood of 50 million dollars!

Other prominent Americans of French ancestry include the Tiffanys, who came from Champagne, France (Louis Tiffany founded the internationally known company in New York in 1837); John Jay, a French Huguenot, who was the first chief justice of New York and secretary for foreign affairs. He later became the first chief justice of the U.S. and in 1794, signed a treaty with Lord Grenville, which became known as Jay's Treaty, ending the military dispute between the United States and England. He later became governor of New York. John Audubon (1785-1857), American ornithologist, painter and naturalist was of French descent and he painted many of the birds in his classic collection of "Birds of North America" while living in the Felicianas in south Louisiana.

In the early 1960s, Charles DeGaulle, president of France, visited New Orleans. After meeting the general, the colorful sheriff of St. Landry Parish, D.J. "Cat" Doucet told his friends, "Tu connais, lui il parle beaucoup bien en Francais." (You know him, he speaks very good French.)

I bet you were not taught any of this in high school history. Jusqu'a une autre fois, que le bon Dieu vous benisse mes amis .......

[JohnKleeb]

36. Pilgrims came in 1620 but great history.

[SoCalDem]

40. I did not read the whole piece

Shame on me :)

[JohnKleeb]

54. it's ok, it was an excellent piece

[shoopnyc123]

47. This is it!!!!! ONLY ON DU!!!!!!!

[TaleWgnDg]

51. excellent. quite.

however, it's Charlestown, Massachusetts not Charleston re Paul Revere. Charleston is in South Carolina, not Massachusetts.

edited to add: and, oh yeah, Paul Revere (who was French Huguenot) was a silversmith. all of this including the diversity of so-called "Pilgrims" (they all were not Pilgrims btw) is taught in Massachusetts public schools.

[SoCalDem]

55. Napierville, IL.. but they say nape-ur-vil

:eyes:

[shoopnyc123]

This is incredible...

...what your're not taught...

[winga222]

38. Bellefountaine OH

Of course they pronouce it "Bell-Fountain", just like Versaille IN is "Ver-Sales" and Lima OH is said "Lye-ma", not "Lee-ma", like as in Peru.

[Maddy McCall]

41. St. Louis; Gautier; The Dalles; Vermont; Laramie; Detroit; Dauphin Island;

[LDS Jock]

44. Little Rock originally La Petite Roche

does that count? at least half count?

[shoopnyc123]

46. LOL...

[Nevernose]

48. Nevermind

Been drinking

[Bossy Monkey]

52. Havre de Grace, MD n/t

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

53. Des Planes, IL Cape Gireadeau, MO, Joilet, IL, Marquis De

Cynes, KS, Brevard County, FL

Detroit, MI

EuClare, WI

and lots, lots more

[Rabrrrrrr]

56. And don't forget the states Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Michigan,

Minnesota, Illinois, and, i think, Wisconsin. Some of which are obvious French names, some of which were named and first spelled by the French based on Indian names (Michigan, Mississippi, and I'm pertty sure Wisconsin fits that category as well)

[Rabrrrrrr]

58. And probably even the cities Chicago and Milwaukee,

though don't quote me on those, as being named by the Indians but transliterated by the French.

[LDS Jock]

59. Sault St. Marie, MI Calais, ME, Eau Claire, WI Pierre SD

just a few more

[Swede]

61. Louisiana and Delaware (States I know),Miami

Belle Fouche,Pierre,New Orleans

[Bluebear]

62. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

[fudge stripe cookays]

63. A few

DePere, Wisconsin
Shopiere, Wisconsin
Bellefontaine Neighbors, Missouri (St. Louis suburb)
Belleville, Illinois
St. Genevieve, Missouri
DuPage, Illinois

off the top of my head.
FSC

[TankLV]

64. Buffalo! Who woulda thought!

Altho the origin of the namesake for my hometown city, more famous for wings and things Polish, on the eastern edge of Lake Erie at the mouth of the Niagara River is still murky, research has provided evidence that it is a Native American mispronounciation of the French for "beautiful river" or "Beau Fleu" "bu-flo" and eventually picked up by english speaking as "buffalo". There once was no evidence of any bison found in the area, altho more recent research has suggested that bison may have found their way that far north.

The area was first explored and settled by the French, who established forts at Fort Niagara at the confluence of the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, as well as other posts, including Detroit.

The English won control after the French and Indian Wars, where General George Washington got his initial successes and fame thru his successful battles during that conflict.

Just thought all you non-Buffalonians would like to know!

[baldguy]

66. I knew that!

But then, I live in Kenmore.

[TankLV]

69. I did too! Hampton Parkway!

Went to Kenmore West.

Condrell's Candies - ummmmmmmmmmmmm!

I miss my hometown - but I love Las Vegas!

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

65. Montpelier, Vermont

There's a city in France with the same name.

[SmileyBoy]

67. Cloquet, MN, Vincennes, IN, Thibodeaux, LA.

There's more.

[Crunchy Frog]

68. Lafayette in Colorado,

and every single other state in the country as far as I know.

[Obamarama]

70. Au Gres, MI

[Obamarama]

71. Here's 30 in Michigan that have not been mentioned yet:

Charlevoix
La Salle
Pointe aux Pins
Grosse Ile
Presque Ile
Lachine
Laporte
Orleans
Trufant
Gros Cap
Barbeau
Grand Marais
Manistique
Fayette
Marlette
Omer
Montague
De Tour
Bellaire
Nadeau
Au Train
L'Anse
Lac La Belle
Bete Grise
Almont
Au Sable
Bertrand
Grand Blanc
Manitou Beach
Napoleon

[displacedyankeedem]

72. Beaufort, SC

[Ellen Forradalom]

73. DuPage County and DuPage River n/t

n/t

[Ellen Forradalom]

74. Anything named in honor of Nicolet, Marquette, DuSable, DeLaSalle, Joliet

Nicolet Avenue/High School/ etc.
Marquette University/Park/Boulevard etc.
DuSable Museum etc.
DeLaSalle High School/LaSalle Street, etc.
Joliet, IL