https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland,_Oregon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland,_Maine
it's roughly 3000 miles from portland to portland
TUL that cities in different states can be named the same. This is very common.
this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2026
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New England is the worst with this. They just each stole British city names, but as long as they were in different states it worked out. There's a million Burlingtons in the US alone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlington
This frequently occurred when settlers named their new settlements after the regions or cities they emigrated from.
Yup. There are two cities named Frankfurt in Germany for example,
But only one of them is named after a fortress built from sausages.
Where does the cement come from?
I'm still salty about the Geoguessr game where I found the city name on the street sign and still missed by 3000 miles.
But speaking of the wrong Portland, just wait until you learn about Springfield.
Portland Or is named after Portland Maine
The infamous coin flip! We could have been Boston!
TIL
Bostonia just doesn't work as well as Portlandia.
Spelling it out made me wonder: theres a Portland, Iowa (Portland, IA) too!
I do really love this town.
Huh, TIL!
Named after the Isle of Portland in Dorset
There is also a New York, Texas:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York,_Texas
That was a brainfuck to me as well, I had no idea until Louis Rossmann moved from New York to Texas...
I have something bigger:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York,_Ukraine
Was quite unsettled to hear that Russian troops have entered New York
Or Georgia
Classic
about 11 miles east of Athens.
I'm sorry, what?
Damn yo, I didn't even know that much about it.
I guess Texas is just that big, that it includes New York and Athens, Greece..
WTF indeed...
Don’t forget Paris!
We went there during a trip to the US and I made hilarious Facebook posts about "oh no, we accidentally flew to the wrong Paris" with the little Eiffel Tower with a cowboy hat on it in the background.
Got like 7 likes. Shit was so cash.
You're on 6 likes here now. You might get to relive your dream.
I giggled
Fantastic movie and even better soundtrack.
Love it. It's a shame that Wim Wenders is a douche tho.
Edit: I had forgotten about the soundtrack. Just gave it a listen. It reminds me a lot of another of my favorites, Cat Sticks.
If we're listing weird town names taken from other states, may I present the town of Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania?
Which, as it happens, is over 2 hours away from New Jersey and its only shores are on rivers.
The story on the Wikipedia page is that the men who planned out the settlement (originally called Waynesburg) had moved there from New Jersey. There was a rivalry with the town on the opposite side of the river, so the people in that town started calling Waynesburg the "Jersey Shore." The nickname held on, and the town officially adopted the name in 1826.
Though I can only imagine how the residents felt about the name during the dark times of 2009-2012.
Random fact: it's because of a rich entrepreneur from Portland that my small native town in Québec got a railway in 1850. The first international railway was between Portland and Montréal. It still exists.