Globalization of the United States, 1789-1861

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Bartlett, John Russell. Dictionary of Americanisms: A Glossary of Words and Phrases Usually Regarded as Peculiar to the United States. New York: Bartlett and Welford, 1848.

John Russell Bartlett. Dictionary of Americanisms: A Glossary of Words and Phrases Usually Regarded as Peculiar to the United States. New York: Bartlett and Welford, 1848. Title page.

Beyond the formal vocabulary and grammar highlighted by Noah Webster, Bartlett spent years collecting American colloquialisms — and its distinctive naming practices.

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The Indian names seem to have prevailed till the revolution. Then came a burst of patriotism among the settlers, many of whom doubtless had served in the war, and every new place was christened with the names of the warriors and statesmen of the day. Thus arose Washington county, Washington village, and Washington hollow; Jefferson county, village, lake, &c. The State of New York has thus perpetuated, in her towns and villages, the names of Adams, Jay, La Fayette, Hamilton, Madison, Pinckney, Putnam, Pulaski, Schuyler, De Kalb, Steuben, Sullivan, Gates, Wayne, &c. This may well be styled the Patriotic period. But New York appreciated also the military and naval geniuses of other countries, for we find a Nelson, a Moreau, a Waterloo, &c. within her borders. The names of statesmen and generals did not suffice for the patriotism of our early pioneers, for we find interspersed among them the names of Freedom, Freetown, Freeport, Independence, Liberty, Victory, Hopewell, Harmony, Concord, &c.

Next comes the Classical period; for by what other term could we designate a period when towns were christened by the names of such men as Homer, Virgil, Solon, Ovid, Cato, Brutus, Pompey, Tully, Cicero, Aurelius, Scipio, Ulysses, Seneca, Hannibal, Hector, Romulus, Lysander, Manlius, Camillus, and Marcellus; or of such places as Athens, Sparta, Troy, Corinth, Pharsalia, Palmyra, Utica, Smyrna, Rome, and Carthage.

Testimony to the piety (to say nothing of the good taste) of our forefathers is also afforded by the occurrence of such names as Eden, Babylon, Sodom, Jerusalem, Jericho, Hebron, Goshen, Bethany, Bethpage, Bethlehem, Sharon, &c. There are towns named after nearly every country in Europe, as Norway, Sweden, Denmark (with a Copenhagen adjoining), Russia, Greece, Italy, Sardinia, Holland, Wales, as well as after their principal cities. There is a town of Mexico, Canton, Peru, Delhi, Cairo, China, Cuba. Distinguished men in English history, as Milton, Addison, Dryden, Scott, Byron, Chesterfield, Marlborough, Junius, have towns christened with their names. But little fondness is exhibited for dramatic authors, as the name of the greatest of them all has been forgotten. Not even a pond, a hollow, or a swamp has been honored with the name of Shakspeare [sic]. If we were to classify all the names of places in the State of New York, we should be puzzled for a place to put the names of Painted Post, Oxbow, Halfmoon, Owl Pond, Oyster Bay, Mud Creek, Cow Neck, Mosquito Cove, and the like. The name of Pennyan is said to have been manufactured by the first settlers, part of whom were from Pennsylvania and the rest from New England, by taking the first syllable from “Pennsylvania,” and the last from “Yankee.”

Now the Mexican war is over, we shall doubtless have a large fund of names to use in our newly acquired territories, and the new States at the West. The old generals of the revolution will be passed by, and the span-new heroes of this war will be handed down to the admiration of posterity in the metamorphosed shape of cities, towns, and villages, yet to come into existence. As the simplicity of the revolutionary period no longer remains, the plain surname will not answer now a days; but the love of glory and the love of magniloquence may both be gratified in such euphonious compounds as Quitmanville, Pillowtown, and Polkopolis!