Why couldn't our country have been named something more creative than "United States"?

Most other countries on Earth have very unique and unusual names ... even ones founded around the time our country was (Mexico, Canada, etc.)

So why the generic name for our country?

Australia essentially just means "south", Canada as far as I know means nothing, and the United Kingdom is much older and still called something woefully generic.

Because that's what we were. United states. We are states (some even a separate country for a time, not just Texas) each with their own creative or adopted name. Mexico is also called the United States of Mexico.

Canada is an Amerindian word for village as far I know which is pretty lame as far as places named after Native American words go. They should have lots of repeating confusing syllables and the nastier they sound the better. Canada could have had a great name.

Because Vesupucciland sounds silly.

The United States are, in a sense, many nations in one.... every state is its own country with it´s own law and independent to the rest... just like the United Kingdom wich is many nations in one (wales, scotland, northern Ireland und so weiter)...

The United States is the name of the federal government that stands above each independent state... In Europe there is an equal development right now with the European Union and the votings for a federal law that will be a foundation for all members of the union... some states have already started using the Euro instead of their national currency, just like the US....

So if you feel that USA is to generic, start using the term "Texan" or whatchamacallit.... ;)


me, for myself use the term "väshgöte" because I am from swedens "front" with gothenburg as the main city.... we jokingly says that all south of the city of Kungsbacka is Denmark... all east of the hill Kinnekulle is the baltic countries (yes, that means Stockholm too), and everything north of Trollhättan is Lappland.... :p

Because Vesupucciland sounds silly.

:lol::lol:

"In other news, Vespucciland have declared war again...." ;)


*wonders how many now who Vespucci was* :D

The United States are, in a sense, many nations in one.... every state is its own country with it´s own law and independent to the rest... just like the United Kingdom wich is many nations in one (wales, scotland, northern Ireland und so weiter)...

The United States is the name of the federal government that stands above each independent state... In Europe there is an equal development right now with the European Union and the votings for a federal law that will be a foundation for all members of the union... some states have already started using the Euro instead of their national currency, just like the US....

So if you feel that USA is to generic, start using the term "Texan" or whatchamacallit.... ;)


me, for myself use the term "väshgöte" because I am from swedens "front" with gothenburg as the main city.... we jokingly says that all south of the city of Kungsbacka is Denmark... all east of the hill Kinnekulle is the baltic countries (yes, that means Stockholm too), and everything north of Trollhättan is Lappland.... :p

Well, Australia and Canada are federations with better names. So that doesn't really wash. The real problem is that "America" is a generic name for a continent as well so it gets confusing... the Commonwealth of Australia or the Dominion of Canada don't need their prefixes to differentiate.

You're complaining? We're one of the oldest civilizations in the world and we're still called 中国 - the middle kingdom/county/state/nation/whatever. :p

Jeesh, we're just a geographic location on a map. :lol:

So if you feel that USA is to generic, start using the term "Texan" or whatchamacallit.... ;)
hehe, reminds of when I was in Michigan - it took my a long to find someone who actually knew what an inhabitant of Michigan is called :)

And who would like to be called an "Ohioan"? Nobody can pronounce it... :D

Why do you call it "our country", as if everyone here lives there?

"New" countries do tend to have rather boring names, something which Mitchell and Webb had fun with recently ("You know, this reminds me of nothing more than Wales." "What, you arrive on this amazing continent with all these exotic animals and you think of Cardiff?" "No, not north Wales! This is like south Wales!" etc). The number of places called "New" something beggars belief; there are so many that sometimes they had to do it in other languages ("Nova Scotia"?) just for variety. Generally the "new" place bears no relation to the old one (New Zealand isn't a whole lot like the old one). To my mind, however, the most boring name of any such place is Newfoundland, which people surely ought to have realised is not only completely uninformative but quickly outdated.

Why do you call it "our country", as if everyone here lives there?

"New" countries do tend to have rather boring names, something which Mitchell and Webb had fun with recently ("You know, this reminds me of nothing more than Wales." "What, you arrive on this amazing continent with all these exotic animals and you think of Cardiff?" "No, not north Wales! This is like south Wales!" etc). The number of places called "New" something beggars belief; there are so many that sometimes they had to do it in other languages ("Nova Scotia"?) just for variety. Generally the "new" place bears no relation to the old one (New Zealand isn't a whole lot like the old one). To my mind, however, the most boring name of any such place is Newfoundland, which people surely ought to have realised is not only completely uninformative but quickly outdated.

Central African Republic is ther least imaginative IMO. SA being a close second.

Why couldn't our country have been named something more creative than "United States"?

Most other countries on Earth have very unique and unusual names ... even ones founded around the time our country was (Mexico, Canada, etc.)

So why the generic name for our country?

It is the "United States of America" to start off with. Next, it was named at a time when human habitation of area was relatively new, so there was not as much time to create original names for places as there was in England or France or China or wherever.

Mexico isn't too good an example of a country with an original or creative name - it is merely the name of the largest city in the region.

On a side note, compare "United States of America" with "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". If the "United Kingdom of" bit was taken out of the latter one would still know what place one is talking about. Do the same with the former, and that is not so possible.

You're complaining? We're one of the oldest civilizations in the world and we're still called 中国 - the middle kingdom/county/state/nation/whatever. :p

Jeesh, we're just a geographic location on a map. :lol:
Don't fret. No one thinks otherwise, here anyway.

hehe, reminds of when I was in Michigan - it took my a long to find someone who actually knew what an inhabitant of Michigan is called :)

I had to look this up myself to figure that out :lol:
Why do you call it "our country", as if everyone here lives there?

"New" countries do tend to have rather boring names, something which Mitchell and Webb had fun with recently ("You know, this reminds me of nothing more than Wales." "What, you arrive on this amazing continent with all these exotic animals and you think of Cardiff?" "No, not north Wales! This is like south Wales!" etc). The number of places called "New" something beggars belief; there are so many that sometimes they had to do it in other languages ("Nova Scotia"?) just for variety. Generally the "new" place bears no relation to the old one (New Zealand isn't a whole lot like the old one). To my mind, however, the most boring name of any such place is Newfoundland, which people surely ought to have realised is not only completely uninformative but quickly outdated.

:lol:Good post
Cheers to me for seeing that same episode. You have good points though, I'll be damned if we had been called "New England." Wait...
I've found that New Britain and New Ireland being 2 islands close to each other a rather poor attempt to find a mirror image of the British Isles, and that New South Wales is immense by comparison to both of them and Wales itself, let alone whatever south Wales is, just shows how bad naming can go. Seriously. Why South Wales?

On topic, the colonies were a group of entities that joined together to join a union first against Britain and then for their own good, they were united colonies, in North America. Well when they wouldn't be very revolutionary if they still called themselves colonies as that implies they are subservient to someone else, and I'm not sure what kind of distinction there was between North and South America at the time, so the United States of America seems to be the logical choice of a name. They weren't really looking for pretty names that day, I guess.

There actually were many people who wanted to have the country named "Columbia" in the early years of the country, but when the "Republic of Colombia" was founded 1819, the name was considered taken.

Don't fret. No one thinks otherwise, here anyway.
But it's not fair. :sad: Since antiquity all the neighbors get cool-sounding names like Annam, Dali, Goguryeo, Nippon - "land of the rising sun", 美国 ("the beautiful country" - our name for the USA) etc. But ourselves? We're still just "that blob in the middle of it all". :crazyeye:

Is there not some implication that your more important because your in the "middle of it all"?

Shh... :nono:

;)

My country was named after a Celtic tribe that used to live more or less in the area almost two thousand years ago... :rolleyes:

To be honnest, already in the 16th century it was common practice to use "Belgica" in Latin texts as translation of "The Netherlands" (which included both the Northern and Southern Netherlands at that time: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Belgicus ). I'm not sure when this practice started (I couldn't find any sources about it)

In 1789-1790 there was a brief revolt in the Southern Netherlands (= current Belgium) against the rule of the Austrian Habsburgers. The indepedence was declared and the country was then called the "United States of Belgium" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brabant_revolution ), with a constitution modelled after that of the USA

The US should be named something after an Indian word. That would be pwnage.

But it's not fair. :sad: Since antiquity all the neighbors get cool-sounding names like Annam, Dali, Goguryeo, Nippon - "land of the rising sun", 美国 ("the beautiful country" - our name for the USA) etc. But ourselves? We're still just "that blob in the middle of it all". :crazyeye:

USA is "beautiful country?" Do our PR people stop at nothing? Name yourself beautiful country, or after a river or a people or rice. I'll be just fine with that if you do.:)

美国 ("the beautiful country" - our name for the USA)

I have to wonder how that name came about. I guess the first impression of the USA was a good one. But I just have to ask; is there a country called "the ugly country" or a one called "the smelly country" in Chinese?

Well the character for beautiful, "mei," sounds like America.

Germany is called "Moral Country" because the character meaning moral, "de," sounds like Deutschland.

England is called "Heroic Country" because the character maning hero, "ying," sounds like England.

Well the character for beautiful, "mei," sounds like America.

Germany is called "Moral Country" because the character meaning moral, "de," sounds like Deutschland.

England is called "Heroic Country" because the character maning hero, "ying," sounds like England.

That would make for awesome news stories. Heroic country and moral country are against us !!

The Chinese are so poetic.

What's chinese for Poland?

It's "Bolan" meaning "Wave Orchid." I don't get it....I think it's more phonetic than poetic...

Because that's what we were. United states. We are states (some even a separate country for a time, not just Texas) each with their own creative or adopted name. Mexico is also called the United States of Mexico.

Canada is an Amerindian word for village as far I know which is pretty lame as far as places named after Native American words go. They should have lots of repeating confusing syllables and the nastier they sound the better. Canada could have had a great name.
Canada DOES have a great name, thankyouverymuch! :D

Besides, we save the really confusing names to scare American tourists who get lost and, when they ask where they are, get even more freaked out when the answer is "Saskatoon, Saskatchewan." :lol:

:lol::lol:

"In other news, Vespucciland have declared war again...." ;)


*wonders how many now who Vespucci was* :D
Why, the guy you named your country after... :p

Why do you call it "our country", as if everyone here lives there?

"New" countries do tend to have rather boring names, something which Mitchell and Webb had fun with recently ("You know, this reminds me of nothing more than Wales." "What, you arrive on this amazing continent with all these exotic animals and you think of Cardiff?" "No, not north Wales! This is like south Wales!" etc). The number of places called "New" something beggars belief; there are so many that sometimes they had to do it in other languages ("Nova Scotia"?) just for variety. Generally the "new" place bears no relation to the old one (New Zealand isn't a whole lot like the old one). To my mind, however, the most boring name of any such place is Newfoundland, which people surely ought to have realised is not only completely uninformative but quickly outdated.
Ha! Finally, I can explain something to Plotinus! :lol:

First of all, there was no "Foundland" to warrant tacking on the prefix "New." That's not what the name means. What it means is that the land is "new-found" or "newly-found" -- in other words, land that was recently found after spending a long time at sea.

It isn't even pronounced like "new-found-land." It's hard to describe how to say it... as a Westerner, I'd been saying it wrong for most of my life, but finally managed to wrap my tongue around the proper pronunciation. The emphasis is on the first syllable, and you don't really pronounce the "ou" in the second syllable. The closest I can describe it is "NEW-f'nd-land." The third syllable is emphasized almost as much as the first, but not quite. And I'm sure somebody who actually lives there would correct me further.

And why do you say "Newfoundland" is outdated, anyway? Unless you mean that because the name has recently been changed to "Newfoundland and Labrador." :crazyeye:

What's Australia called in Chinese?

What's Australia called in Chinese?
澳大利亚 pronounced Ao-tah-li-yah.

For once it's just a meaningless jumble of sounds. :ack:

More often the newer countries get these kind of names. No more poetry. :(

It isn't even pronounced like "new-found-land." It's hard to describe how to say it... as a Westerner, I'd been saying it wrong for most of my life, but finally managed to wrap my tongue around the proper pronunciation. The emphasis is on the first syllable, and you don't really pronounce the "ou" in the second syllable. The closest I can describe it is "NEW-f'nd-land." The third syllable is emphasized almost as much as the first, but not quite. And I'm sure somebody who actually lives there would correct me further.

"Newfundlund" is how I've always heard it said.

And why do you say "Newfoundland" is outdated, anyway? Unless you mean that because the name has recently been changed to "Newfoundland and Labrador." :crazyeye:

They could always be referring to the island...

Question:
And why do you say "Newfoundland" is outdated, anyway?

Answer:
What it means is that the land is "new-found" or "newly-found" -- in other words, land that was recently found after spending a long time at sea.

First of all, there was no "Foundland" to warrant tacking on the prefix "New." That's not what the name means. What it means is that the land is "new-found" or "newly-found" -- in other words, land that was recently found after spending a long time at sea.

I know! That's exactly my point - they didn't even bother naming the place after somewhere else, they just named it "place we've just found", which is as uninformative as you could possibly get. How boring is that?

And why do you say "Newfoundland" is outdated, anyway?

Because it's not newly found any more, is it?

Well the character for beautiful, "mei," sounds like America.

Germany is called "Moral Country" because the character meaning moral, "de," sounds like Deutschland.

England is called "Heroic Country" because the character maning hero, "ying," sounds like England.
Very interesting. What about Spain?

Spain is "Xibanya," which is simply phonetic. The characters mean roughly "Western Group of Teeth." :lol:

Why couldn't our country have been named something more creative than "United States"?


Well, when you think about it, most places actually had generic names that did mean something originally- its just that after a couple of centuries the name or language changes. They didn't just go, " 'O-stray-lee-aa' sounds pretty, but lets spell it as 'Australia' instead of those random sounds."

For all we know, 'The United States of America' might be called 'Yanidesteyit' or 'Usa' in 1000 years.

I guess George Washington didn't have much creativity.


hehe, reminds of when I was in Michigan - it took my a long to find someone who actually knew what an inhabitant of Michigan is called :)

And who would like to be called an "Ohioan"? Nobody can pronounce it... :D

Got to feel sorry for the people in Luxembourg; for a long time they were called Luxembourgers.

Spain is "Xibanya," which is simply phonetic. The characters mean roughly "Western Group of Teeth." :lol:

What about Romania? Or Canada? :D

Canada, iirc, is called Canada because: when some explorer landed in Canada, and got an interpreter to ask where he was, the Native Americans replied "Kanata".

Mexico is what the Aztecs called themselves.

And Czech Republic is republic of what, then? And do I really want to know this?

And why do you say "Newfoundland" is outdated, anyway? Unless you mean that because the name has recently been changed to "Newfoundland and Labrador." :crazyeye:
Because it's not newly found any more, is it?
So we should therefore change it to "Oldfoundland?" :p

No, they shouldn't have named it "Newfoundland" in the first place.

Huayna, Dann... what's Chinese for Italy?

Hunny Cap needs to move to Minnesota or Wisconsin. We name god-damned everything with Native American names.

The United States gets a generic name because we are a generic country.

Huayna, Dann... what's Chinese for Italy?
Personally, I don't know, but zhongwen.com says "Yidali" meaning roughly "An intention thats benefits greatly."

BTW, another "poetic" name is France, "Faguo" with "Fa" meaning order, way, method, path, law.

No, they shouldn't have named it "Newfoundland" in the first place.
Well, it's a bit late to fix that...

Newfoundland must be filled with penguins at once and called....Tuxland!

How do the Chinese call Greenland and how do they call Iceland ?

They call Iceland "Bingdao," meaning "Ice Island."

I couldn't find what they call Greenland. One assumes "Qingdao," or "Green Island." However, this is already the name of a city (aka Tsingtao, of beer fame).

Why do you call it "our country", as if everyone here lives there?



:rolleyes:

That's where I and my countrymen are from. Hence "our"

The "United States" is purposely a generic name. it symbolised that it wasn't one state rising up and ruling over the others, but many states willingly joining together.
BTW: this is a bit off-topic, but does anyone know what 'New Zealand' is named after? the only Zealand i know of is in Denmark, and we never laid claim to anything east of the Baltic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeeland#New_Zealand

the Commonwealth of Australia or the Dominion of Canada don't need their prefixes to differentiate.
Quick note: It is "Canada" not "Dominion of Canada". That would be the same as "Republic of the United States of America". It may have been used as the name in the past, but the name is simply Canada. THis is backed by both the BNA and teh Canadian constitution.
Canada itself comes from improper translations. Kanata was the word for village (or other similar things), but was applied by someone to mean a specific village, and then the lands of the Saint Lawrence and Great Lakes, which became the largest colony involved in confederation.
You should see come of the other names (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Canada) considered.

Also note that initially (Articles of Confederation) the United States of America, were far more decentralized. I am not sure how much power Congress held, but I believe the states were effectively independent countries.

But yeah, if you go back, most countries have similar types of names.
Mexico was simply named after the biggest city (which was in turn named after the people that lived there when the Spanish arrive).
England is comes from the land of the Angles. Many European countries are named like this (i.e. Scotland, France). Many of these aren't obvious since the people are no longer referred to as such, or the people moved on.
Austria is Eastern Empire.

Some ones I find great:
Newfoundland: was out of date pretty quickly :)
Algeria: comes from the Island or something like that.
East Timor: simply means East East.

The way USAmericans love Colombo, I imagine that SOMEONE was pretty angry when another country was named after him first. They could've callend themselves, say, Vespuccia.
What is the chinese name for Brazil, by the way?

It's "Baxi" meaning, roughly, "Await the West." It's phonetic.

Huayna, you never answered about Italy, Canada and Romania... :(

I answered Italy! Canada is "Jianada." Not sure what it means. Don't know/couldn't find what Romania is.

Do you speak chinese or do you use a website?
What website is it, if applicable(always wanted to use that word!!)?

I know quite a few on my own "US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Russia, Brazil, and Iceland" but I also use a website to fact check and get a couple others. It is http://www.zhongwen.com. It's really good, but it doesn't have some things like Romania. I don't speak Chinese though (used to speak a little, but I forgot, which is really the worst thing I ever did)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeeland#New_Zealand

Yep, it's name was derived from the Dutch province of Zeeland, which is south of Rotterdam (in the province of Holland) and North of the Belgian border. In English, Zeeland would be translated as "Sea land"...

I know quite a few on my own "US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Russia, Brazil, and Iceland" but I also use a website to fact check and get a couple others. It is http://www.zhongwen.com. It's really good, but it doesn't have some things like Romania. I don't speak Chinese though (used to speak a little, but I forgot, which is really the worst thing I ever did)
Nice page. So the Czech Repulic is jié ké..a hand-shoulder?

Zhongwen.com is an excellent site. I use it for all my Chinese needs :love: Absolutely one of the best sites out there!

Newfoundland: was out of date pretty quickly :)
To be fair, it is still the newest province. ;)

East Timor: simply means East East.
To differentiate it from West East, no doubt... otherwise, people might get lost! :lol:

To be fair, it is still the newest province.
Yet was the first British territory in the Americas.
And was probably the second place settled by Europeans in North America (after Greenland).

Nigeria is just Niger + Area. That name needs to be changed fast.

I rather Hate the name Singapore which is the anglised version of Singapura which means Lion City.

The story of an Indonesian prince landing on the island and seeing a lion and so called it Lion City. I rather hate it.

Chinese Names for most country have not actual meaning or even sounding to their english version.

America is Mei Guo which directly translated means Beautiful Country
However, England is Ying Guo which does means English Country
But UK also is Ying Guo which is rather ignorant
Greece is Xi La
and Turkey is Tu Er Qi

Greece is Xi La What does it mean ? (I guess it must mean something strange like Iones ....)

RE: Newfoundland.
Seems to me that almost any place the Europeans went about that time was new found land.

I rather Hate the name Singapore which is the anglised version of Singapura which means Lion City.

The story of an Indonesian prince landing on the island and seeing a lion and so called it Lion City. I rather hate it.

Chinese Names for most country have not actual meaning or even sounding to their english version.

America is Mei Guo which directly translated means Beautiful Country
However, England is Ying Guo which does means English Country
But UK also is Ying Guo which is rather ignorant
Greece is Xi La
and Turkey is Tu Er Qi

come on singapura aint that bad.. or u want it still to be called Temasek? Republic of Temasek?

What does it mean ? (I guess it must mean something strange like Iones ....)

It really means nothing, but directly translated its something like "Rare Preserved (meat)" Sounds nothing like it, means nothing like it

come on singapura aint that bad.. or u want it still to be called Temasek? Republic of Temasek?

Singapore and Singapura is rather cruddy to say.

Preferably, I would like a Chinese name or one with a better meaning. Like Syonan was nice caused, it meant Light at the South. Too bad Japanese imperialism sorta killed it.

There actually were many people who wanted to have the country named "Columbia" in the early years of the country, but when the "Republic of Colombia" was founded 1819, the name was considered taken.

it makes sense that we could have been called Columbia
After all, the District of Columbia or DC..or Washington DC..which is just a city, nothing more, is our capital, yet it has its own region:)

Wait, i speak chinese and ummmm, i dont think the words really mean anything. They just kinda sound like the country's name in english, or sometimes they dont make much sense at all such as YingGuo ( not sure if i got the first one right...) or Britian means eagle country i think, but other than a few special contries the others are just what i like to call Chinglish. Chinese+English.

(PS, Russia is really weird in Chinese)

sure the characters together don't mean things, but they do still have meanings separately which you can put together to get literal meanings.

Russia is Eguo, is I always thought meant "hungry nation," but actually means "Russian nation."

I dont think russia is called Hungary nation. I seem to remember that it had 3 letters (É luó sī) and no guo in it, but my memory is flawed:cry:

I dont think russia is called Hungary nation. I seem to remember that it had 3 letters (É luó sī) and no guo in it, but my memory is flawed:cry:
俄罗斯（e-luo-si）is the modern name for modern day Russia.
苏联（su-lian）is the former Soviet Union.
俄国（e-guo）is a generic name for Russia, but is usually reserved for the historic tsarist Russian Empire.

Thxs Dann, May be Chinese but living in USA really kills your Chinese language skills.

Thxs Dann, May be Chinese but living in USA really kills your Chinese language skills.

I heard thats called assimilation :P

What about Israel in Chinese? I think it's just called "Yisrail" or something from the Olympics, but what does it means?

Again, it's just phonetic, but the characters in "Yiselie" mean roughly "By means of color in a line."

hehe, reminds of when I was in Michigan - it took my a long to find someone who actually knew what an inhabitant of Michigan is called :)



Think it's Michigander....

We dont care. The only thing we know is that the Red Wings Rule.

And how to pronunce Mackinac and Ypisilanti.

Everyone here has gotten the origins of the name Mexico mixed up
(Rather than a drawn out explanation I'll use wiki)
Often the term "Aztec" refers exclusively to the people of Tenochtitlan, situated on an island in Lake Texcoco, who called themselves Mexica Tenochca or Colhua-Mexica.


The term Mexico in Spanish literally means land of Mexica. Which later became the generic name after long being called simply New Spain. The term Mexican only came back into common usage as a way to rally all types of people against Spain. "We are not meztizos, Spainish or Indian- but Mexican!" etc etc The exact name of the country is Estados Unidos Mexicanos. "The United States of Mexico"

And how to pronunce Mackinac and Ypisilanti.
Shouldn't that be "Ypsilanti"? :lol:

We could always change it to Freedomland.

:bday:[party]Happy Birthday Huayna Capac357[party]:bday:
And thanks for suppying us with all those country names!

Happy Birthday Huayna! :D

And, by the way:

http://www.meateatingleftist.com/mt/archives/jesusland.gif

USA is not a really creative name but at least a unique name, not confusing, and it doesn't sound too bad. This way you can be glad with this name. In contrast to this the name for Germany is somekind weird as depending on where you live the name for germany comes from many different basis. The french call it L'Allemagne, Germany is the english name, and Deutschland (i'm glad that the older version "Teutschland" became extinct Oo) is the german name. I mean compare it with other countrys: L'Italie, Italy and Italien, or L'Espagne, Spain and Spanien, when you know the name in one language you somehow now know it in many languages.
The only thing i really don't like about the name USA is that many people tend to short it with "America", which somehow reduces the whole double-continent to being representet by one single country.

at least a unique name
Not really (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_(disambiguation)#Countries).

Not really (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_(disambiguation)#Countries).

Notice how the current, historical and proposed list only includes countries founded after the United States of America.

So yeah just because everyone copied our name after the fact doesn't mean our name wasn't original.:p

Shouldn't that be "Ypsilanti"? :lol:

I said pronounce....not spell....

:goodjob:

at least a unique nameSo yeah just because everyone copied our name after the fact doesn't mean our name wasn't original.:p
"Unique (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/unique)" and "original (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/original)" aren't the same things.

Just in case there was any confusion there.

Also, it is quite similar to the United Provinces. And probably others that I can't think of off the top of my head.

Not really (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_(disambiguation)#Countries).

At the risk of perpetuating an already stupid discussion, why does any of the listed names make "USA" not unique? Or is there some other country that is actually called "the United States of America" that I haven't heard of?

Oh alright you win definitions definitions *grumble grumble grumble*

Also: your definition of "unique" sucks donkeys' backsides real bad, Plotinus. It's people like you that become the headlines by standing naked in the middle of the streets with nothing but a stick up the ass--a stick of dynamite--screaming something about God before sending innocent bystanders to Kingdom Come with an explosion of flesh, blood, and bone.

Think it's Michigander....

We dont care. The only thing we know is that the Red Wings Rule.

And how to pronunce Mackinac and Ypisilanti.

It's Michigander.

Mackinac: It depends. IIRC if you refer to the city, it's Macki-NAC, but if it's the island, it's Macki-NAW. Ypsilanti is pronounced Ip-sil-anti, but can be abbreviated as Yip-si.

I'd rather a generic name than "canada".

the history of canada is Kanata means village. there is a village called Kanata near ottawa. so these explorers went to the natives, and asked what the place was. it was 'kanata'. and they though that was the whole land, and now i live in canada.

To be fair, it is still the newest province. ;)
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As opposed to the newest territory, Nunavit?

Which is an arbitrary split of what has been Canadian territory for 130 some years (I think). Unlike Newfoundland which was the last place to join Canada

Don't complain man. Portugal is named after a city that still exists today. Actually, I've been there today.