A lot of areas of the Spanish Empire in America had a name in the pattern of "New XXX" where XXX is usually a Spanish province or city. Some examples are: Nueva Andalucía, Nueva Castilla, Nueva España, Nueva Extremadura, Nuevas Filipinas, Nueva Granada, Nueva León, Nueva Navarra, Nuevo Santander, Nueva Toledo, Nueva Vizcaya. I'm not able to recognize any pattern or obvious motivation for them to select precisely these names. Why call some place New Extremadura and not, for example, New Catalonia? Where they chosen randomly? Is there any reason behind them? Thank you? 195.62.160.60 (talk) 10:10, 14 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know the answer, but Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor would probably have been the one who decided, or at least approved, some of these names. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 94.8.29.20 (talk) 10:22, 14 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It's not just the Spanish. An early name for the British part of Australia, and now one of its states, is New South Wales. Apparently Captain Cook thought it looked like South Wales. Then just across the ocean is New Zealand. That one came from the Dutch. HiLo48 (talk) 10:31, 14 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Not to forget New Amsterdam/New York and New Orleans. However, these things aren't consistent as the Spanish also copied names without the Nuevo/Nueva in front, like Córdoba and Valencia. Would be interesting to see if this was a time-dependent pattern. As to the choice of names, this could well have to do with the individuals involved. E.g. a lot of the Conquistadores came from Extremadura, including Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro, and Castilia, Granada etc. aren't far from that area either. -- 79.91.113.116 (talk) 11:18, 14 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

They decided to follow the rule, "Nuevo say neuvo again." Clarityfiend (talk) 21:04, 15 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The English were in a habit of omitting 'new' too. In the US there's Durham, Manchester, Washington. In Australia there's Newcastle. What's notable is all of these are distinctly English names, very old ones with meanings that make sense only to historians. It's highly unlikely they arose the same way in AUS and the US. ~~----

Indeed. In 1940, the Royal Navy was able to rename fifty old US destroyers after British and American towns that share a common name. Alansplodge (talk) 12:12, 16 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The whole Australian mainland was previously known as New Holland. Anything less like Holland it would be impossible to find, but there you go. But at least this recognises that the Dutch were the first Europeans definitely known to have landed on Australia, in 1606. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 19:12, 14 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

They probably weren't chosen randomly. Possible reasons include:

• Naming after the namer's homeland. Nueva Extremadura (Chile) was named by Pedro de Valdivia, who was from Extremadura
• Naming to honour a patron, e.g. New York was named after the Duke of York
• Naming after a resemblance (New South Wales, as stated above).

AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 11:15, 15 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Nuevo say nuevo again. Clarityfiend (talk) 21:04, 15 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

A variation - Within the town of Moe, Victoria, Australia, is what is effectively now the suburb of Newborough. It apparently gained that name because when it was established, Moe had just become a borough. HiLo48 (talk) 22:53, 15 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Also the London Borough of Newham, a 1965 merger of East Ham and West Ham. It was originally intended to be pronounced "New-ham" but is now universally called "Newum". Alansplodge (talk) 12:04, 16 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It's not obvious to me how "Newum" would be pronounced. It could be "Nee-wum". HiLo48 (talk) 23:04, 16 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

/ˈnju(w)əm/ ColinFine (talk) 23:25, 16 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Ni! Peng! —Tamfang (talk) 21:39, 18 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

They could have called it Hams Ambo ('both' in Latin), like some other merged parishes; Hambo for short. —Tamfang (talk) 07:45, 20 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Curious that there was a Nueva Castilla in the New World when there was already one in Old Spain. They could have called it Tercera Castilla. —Tamfang (talk) 21:42, 18 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Or Nueva Nueva Castilla.  --Lambiam 00:24, 20 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Or Más Nueva Castilla. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 07:45, 20 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]