{"id":14526,"date":"2014-01-09T19:31:29","date_gmt":"2014-01-10T00:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=14526"},"modified":"2021-11-22T16:29:48","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T21:29:48","slug":"upstart-eclipses-namesake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/upstart-eclipses-namesake\/","title":{"rendered":"Upstart Eclipses Namesake"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When I think of “New” places I tend to fuse together the full placenames mentally into a single phrase and begin to overlook the separate elements. I don’t forget completely that earlier entities inspired newer ones, although I mostly overlook the original namesake within the larger string.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"View<\/a>
St. Louis Cathedral; New Orleans, Louisiana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, if I considered Orl\u00e9ans in France it would have meaning to me and conjure a specific image, as would the city of New Orleans in Louisiana. However, France’s Orl\u00e9ans wouldn’t come to mind when I thought of New Orleans USA, even it it provided the bulk of the latter’s placename.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oftentimes settlers tacked New onto very significant placenames, bestowing a little piece from their homeland onto frontier backwaters. London was and continues to be an extremely important city. Nobody would try to argue rationally that London in the UK doesn’t dwarf in size, reputation and importance the city of New London in Connecticut, USA. I’m not disparaging New London, of course. I merely want to point out the obvious, that New London, well, it doesn’t have the same worldwide recognition or relevance of London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other times, however, the New location managed to grow in significance over decades or centuries to a point where it actually began to overshadow and eventually surpassed the original namesake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Biases<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I recognize that this so-called eclipsing might be culturally, geographically or individually biased. Going back to the New Orleans example I mentioned a moment ago, in my mind New Orleans has eclipsed Orl\u00e9ans. However I’ve spent a lifetime in the United States, I’ve been to New Orleans numerous times both for family and business reasons, and Hurricane Katrina had a direct impact<\/a> on some of my immediate family. Thus, New Orleans figures quite prominently in my consciousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would a Frenchman concede that La Nouvelle-Orl\u00e9ans had eclipsed Orl\u00e9ans? Probably not. Let’s bear that in mind as I offer a few examples. All of them are subjective. Some may even seem ridiculous to those with different perspectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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New Zealand<\/h2>\n\n\n\n