ToponymicaUS City Name Origins
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Classical/Biblical

Cincinnati

Ohio (OH)est. 1788pop. 311,097/sin-suh-NAT-ee/

The meaning

“Curly-haired (Latin cincinnus)”

How it got the name

The town was platted as Losantiville — a manufactured word meaning 'the town opposite the mouth of the Licking.' Governor Arthur St. Clair found this ridiculous and renamed it in 1790 for the Society of the Cincinnati, the veterans' order that took its name from Cincinnatus, the Roman who left his plow to save Rome and then went home again.

Former names

  1. Losantiville
  2. Cincinnati