[richlevy]

I was reading Elspodes post and I noticed his location of Raytown, Missouri. It just got me thinking about place names and their origins.

Philadelphia - Greek for City of Brotherly Love

From here. (BTW, the lecture here could equally be interpreted as pro- and anti- Gay marriage)

The Greeks are more definitely expressive. They use three words which define love more accurately.
(snip)
Second, is philia, or philadelphia, two related forms. This is the love of friendship—brotherly love—love of parent, or child.

Pennsylvania - Latin for Penn's Woods

I just learned something new here, I remember being taught in grade scholl that Pennsylvania was named for William Penn. This is wrong. Pennsylvania was granted to William Penn but named in honor of his father.

now I read this.

King Charles II of England had a large loan from Penn's father, after whose death, King Charles settled by granting Penn a large area west and south of New Jersey on March 4, 1681. Penn called the area Sylvania (Latin for woods), which Charles changed to Pennsylvania in honor of the elder Penn. Perhaps the king was glad to have a place where religious and political outsiders (like the Quakers, or the Whigs, who wanted more influence for the people's representatives) could have their own place, far away from England. One of the first counties of Pennsylvania was called Bucks County, named after Buckinghamshire (Bucks) in England, where the Penn's family seat was, and from whence many of the first settlers came.

Wynnewood - Named for Dr. Thomas Wynne

From here. This information is posted on a lot of 'historical' signs around town.

Wynnewood was named in 1691 for Dr. Thomas Wynne, William Penn's physician and the first Speaker of the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

Basically, many Pennsyvlania towns are names taken from English, Greek, Latin, Native American (Delaware, aka Lenape, Lenni Lenape), and even Welsh. If you see a Pennsyvlania town name with no vowels, it's probably Welsh.

(the name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh (not "high hill," Bryn Uchel, as is often mistakenly given as the translation).