ToponymicaUS City Name Origins
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Classical/Biblical

Providence

Rhode Island (RI)est. 1636pop. 190,934/PROV-ih-duhns/

The meaning

“Divine providence”

How it got the name

Roger Williams, banished from Massachusetts for insisting on separation of church and state, was sheltered by the Narragansett. He named his refuge Providence 'in a sense of God's merciful providence unto me in my distress' — and then founded the first colony in America with genuine religious liberty written in.

Former names

  1. Providence Plantations
  2. Providence