Are the maps of other countries than the U.S. dotted with the names of their former leaders?

Something I’ve found very interesting as an American in the European countries I’ve visited: they honor their historical figures at the street level rather than the city level (since the cities are long-established, as you observe, but the smaller streets and city grids can be quite recent). It feels great to walk down street after street named for a poet, composer, philosopher or painter (cultural figures are just as common as political figures, if not more so).

Yes, I agree. And we do have much honoring of history and culture in our street names, too. What I’m especially curious about, though, is whether political figures in other countries have entire cities and states or provinces named after them (including the relatively young countries of Canada and Australia) or if this is a peculiarly American trait.

Stalingrad
St. Petersburg

I can only think of the countless Alexandrias (or Alexandropol, Alexandroupolis etc) and of course Constantinople. In most countries I have lived, even in Greece, there were very few leader names, though there were plenty of saint names. But I guess that’s the same everywhere.

And of course there is also Victoria and Virginia and so on.

I guess there haven’t been that many new towns/cities settled in the last 1–200 years in Europe as there have in the US – also, it’s bad form to name after someone still living and by the time they’ve passed away, they may or may not be considered worth naming after (I guess).
However, the Nordic countries are full of towns and places named after old Kings:
Christianshavn
Kristiania (now Oslo)
Trondheim
Albertslund
...to name but a few

@wildflower: Funny, I live in a town that was ‘created’ by a man who is now so poor from having done so that he can’t afford to live in it, he lives a few towns over. Good guy though. Just sad story.

Honoring political figures has has always been popular, the United States just has quite a few more leaders than countries with monarchies, oligarchies, and dictatorships.

The USA also has many more places to name, and far too many repetitive place names.

In Australia there are very few streets, towns, etc. named for previous Prime Ministers. Most names here influenced by being a colony of England, thus states are named New South Wales, Queensland, Adelaide or the names have Aboriginal origins, such as Uluru. Wasn’t until 1901 that Australia had its own Prime Minister. Technically even today, the Queen is still the head of the country, but she has very little to do with the actually running of the country and a lot of Aussies get very upset when reminded they are still “colonial boys!”

Alexandria, Egypt
St. Petersberg, Russia
Stalingrad, Russia
Many Greek islands are named after the gods

In Canada, especially in Quebec, street names and metro stations are named after politicians. Some examples are Lionel-Groulx metro station and Champlain boulevard.

Thanks for all responses. Alexander-based names are excellent examples, as are the Nordic ones. Saints and gods don’t count unless they are former leaders of the country, and Stalingrad is a case of renaming.

I was especially interested in countries like Australia (thanks, @rooeytoo) and Canada, which are young like the U.S. My hypothesis is that this common U.S. practice, where many cities were born long after the early leaders, is exceptional in older countries, and I was looking for examples to corroborate or refute the idea. Because new streets are built and named or renamed all the time, they don’t have the kind of history I was wondering about.

I guess old cities that already have names would not really be renamed, no matter what. But even new ones don’t get people’s names, even if those people built them. Seems it is a purely american trend.

(think of Milton Keynes for example. Or is that some old prime minister? hmmm…I wonder…)

Oh and I forgot to mention KarlMarxStadt, which is now called Chemnitz of course.

@Jack79, where are you speaking of? Europe generally? a specific country?

I meant generally places that have been around for centuries would already have a name. Which is why you only really get human names when someone (usually a king) builds a new city. So to answer your question, it seems a purely American trend. I have lived in many countries and even though most of them will name streets after former leaders, national heroes etc, they never tend to name an entire city. But as I said, it’s probably because they don’t have cities to name.

Milton Keynes is the only new city that I know of in England (build in the 60s or so). Karlmarxstadt was in the former DDR, but was renamed after the Wall fell.