Eponymous Cities Trivia Quiz

Answer: Rome

While there are several versions of Rome's origin story, all agree that the city was named after Romulus. His brother, Remus, has only the tale itself as his claim to immortality.

Answer: Pittsburgh

William Pitt the Elder was known as the "Great Commoner" for declining elevation to the peerage until he neared retirement from an illustrious career than included a stint as Prime Minister. He eventually became the first Earl of Chatham.

Answer: Monrovia, Liberia

In the years before the American Civil War, one of the solutions proposed to the "Negro Question", was resettlement in Africa of freed slaves and other free people of color. One of those who endorsed the idea was James Monroe. Liberia was founded in 1822 by one of the settlement societies, and given that Monroe was President at the time it was considered propitious to name the capital of the new settlement after him.

Answer: The Society of the Cincinnati

The "Society of the Cincinnati" is an hereditary society founded by officers of the American Revolution. George Washington was its first President (he seems to have done that a lot). The Society was named for the Roman Dictator Cincinnatus, who was held in high regard by the revolutionaries, for his willingness to assume power in an emergency (which was what the office of Dictator was for) and his steadfast refusal to cling to power when the emergency was past.

The image of Cincinnatus returning to his plow is immortalized in a goodly number of New World sculptures. Noting Washington's insistence on returning to private life after both his military career and his presidency, Washington has been called the "American Cincinnatus".

Answer: George Vancouver

After an expedition to Australia and New Zealand, George Vancouver explored the North American Pacific Coast from northern California to southern Alaska. Among the features Vancouver named are Puget Sound, the Discovery Passage and Mounts Rainier, Baker and St. Helens.

Answer: Quezon City

Manuel Luis Quezon Molina (to use his full Spanish form name) is still revered in the Philippines. His relationship with the United States was complex. In his youth he fought against the United States in the Philippine-American War. Later, he became the second President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, and laid the groundwork for Philippine independence, largely while operating a government in exile from within the United States during the Japanese occupation in World War II. Quezon died in Saranac, New York on 1 August 1944, less than three months before the liberation of the Philippines began.

Answer: Saint Louis, Missouri

Louis IX of France was the only French king canonized (declared a saint) by the Roman Catholic Church. His elevation was due largely to his vigorous participation in both the 7th and 8th Crusades. His resume was enhanced by the fact that he died a prisoner during the 8th Crusade.

He also had a golden reputation as an arbiter of international disputes and his personal lifestyle was sufficiently modest that other European royals called him "the Monk King". The "overarching city" remark was intended to reinforce the identification of the "Gateway to the West" with St. Louis, as the city's most notable landmark is the Gateway Arch.

Answer: Hobart

Robert Hobart donated his name to Hobart, Tasmania. Other Australian cities named for noblemen drew their names from the namesake's titular fief or seat. Examples include Sydney, named for Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney, and Melbourne, named for William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne.

Answer: Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo or Saint Dominic is the only actual saint on the list. In Spanish, his name is rendered as Domingo de Guzman, which was the city's original name. Santo Domingo's colonial district is worth a trip to the Dominican Republic all by itself. It is a remarkable fusion of the Old and New Worlds.

Answer: Galveston

Bernardo Galvez y Madrid, Conde de Galvez was a Spanish colonial governor, and eventually, Viceroy of New Spain. He is one of only eight persons granted Honorary United States citizenship. His connection to the US is his action during the American Revolution, as part of the French and Spanish efforts to support the nascent United States. Galvez mounted a successful campaign against British West Florida, being wounded during the Siege of Pensacola. For those who haven't encountered it, Juneteenth is the celebration of the arrival of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in the last state of the southern confederacy to have it applied when it was enunciated by military order on 19 June 1865.