Wikipedia

Cross-border town naming

Cross-border town naming occurs where towns or villages with the same or equivalent names are divided between two different countries. This does not necessarily imply that those towns or villages are located in geographic proximity or that they are located near a current border (divided cities). Reasons for this taking place may include the following:

  • The town or village existed before the border or even before the modern concept of a border. The border was added later (sometimes by war), dividing a community.
  • A community on one side of a border grows up to service the border and then takes the name of the adjacent community on the other side of the border.
  • Communities grow up on both sides of the border to service the border, taking the name of the border crossing.

Most places are in Europe, but there are also some examples in North America and Asia. In Europe, until the first half of the 20th century and again since the Schengen Agreement in the late 20th century, such divisions could be mostly ignored by the inhabitants.

Examples edit

Note that this list includes only places with similar names that are in someway connected (by history, geography or otherwise) across modern-day international borders. Towns that have the same name but bear no relationship to each other are also very common but not particularly notable.

Europe edit

Denmark–Sweden edit

Netherlands–Germany edit

Netherlands–Belgium edit

Belgium–Germany edit

Luxembourg–Germany edit

Belgium–France edit

Luxembourg–France edit

France–Germany edit

France–Switzerland edit

France–Spain edit

Germany–Switzerland edit

Germany–Austria edit

Germany–Poland edit

(*) In some cases there have been added exonyms to show the relationship between the towns more clearly for people not familiar with the respective languages.

Germany–Czech Republic edit

(*) In some cases there have been added exonyms to show the relationship between the towns more clearly for people not familiar with the respective languages.

Czech Republic–Poland edit

(*) In some cases there have been added exonyms to show the relationship between the towns more clearly for people not familiar with the respective languages.

Poland-Ukraine edit

Poland-Belarus edit

Czech Republic–Austria edit

Austria–Slovenia edit

Italy–France edit

Italy–Slovenia edit

Italy–Switzerland edit

Hungary–Slovakia edit

Hungary–Romania edit

Hungary-Serbia edit

Portugal–Spain edit

Sweden–Finland edit

Estonia–Latvia edit

Croatia–Bosnia and Herzegovina edit

Bosnia and Herzegovina–Serbia edit

Bosnia and Herzegovina–Montenegro edit

Serbia–Romania edit

Romania–Ukraine edit

Romania–Moldova edit

North America edit

Towns and cities listed have names of a common origin across an international boundary; matching pairs across provincial or state boundaries (such as Kansas City or Lloydminster) are common but are not listed here.

Canada–United States edit

United States–Mexico edit

South America edit

Argentina–Chile edit

Brazil–Argentina edit

Brazil–Bolivia edit

Brazil–French Guiana edit

Brazil–Uruguay edit

Africa edit

Ethiopia–Kenya edit

Central African Republic–Democratic Republic of the Congo edit

Gabon–Equatorial Guinea edit

Republic of the Congo–Democratic Republic of the Congo edit

Malawi–Mozambique edit

Zambia–Zimbabwe edit

Zimbabwe–Mozambique edit

Asia edit

Azerbaijan–Iran edit

China–Hong Kong SAR edit

China–Kazakhstan edit

Georgia–Turkey edit

Malaysia–Thailand edit

Oman–UAE edit

Oman–Yemen edit

Tajikistan–Afghanistan edit

Turkmenistan–Iran edit

Uzbekistan–Kyrgyzstan edit

See also edit

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