Lets make a list of the city names

[iRule]

Yeah, lets do it.

Brazil:

Cidadela
Manoel.

Cidadela is Portuguese for citadel, Manoel is... Manoel.

This is an old "cidadela" in Portugal.



It kind of makes sense for what Brazil supposedly is in Beyond Earth.

This is a Manoel.







I want to know which Manoel are they talking about.

Who the hell is behind these names? Have you found (unfortunately) hilarious things like this in other factions?

 

[WhiteKnight0311]

LOL you couldn't resist!

 

[HipNozY]

I really don't understand this. 'Manoel', seriously Firaxys?
C'mon, It's not that hard to come up with decent city names. 'Cidadela' is pretty cool, for instance.

 

[SupremacyKing]

I really don't get what the big deal is. There are lots of cities that were named after people. Here is a list of every city in the world that has a name based on a person:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_places_named_after_people

 

[m15a]

About Manoel, isn't that like naming a city Victoria? Not being Brazilian, that doesn't sound that strange to me. Possibly, in the future, there's someone named Manoel, like a ruler, that is important enough that it wouldn't be strange to name a city that.

Maybe the designers don't want names that all sound so predictable or reasonable to point to the unknown history occurring between now and then. Also, sometimes places are just named weird things in real life.

 

[El Caballerion]

Manoel is the new Alexandria.

 

[bhavv]

I want this to happen:

Will there be full faction customization?

Sponsor - Most Glorious Leader Bhav
UA - Bavtopia - +50% science, gold, culture, food, production in capital city.

Cities:

Bavtopia
Baville
Bavtown
Bavcity
Bavtopolis
Bavaria
Bavistan
Bavland
Bavllanyclanglearywithyrswys

... And more.

Plox.

 

[defiler]

About Manoel, isn't that like naming a city Victoria? Not being Brazilian, that doesn't sound that strange to me. Possibly, in the future, there's someone named Manoel, like a ruler, that is important enough that it wouldn't be strange to name a city that.

Maybe the designers don't want names that all sound so predictable or reasonable to point to the unknown history occurring between now and then. Also, sometimes places are just named weird things in real life.

Being Brazilian I can answer that easily, not only its not strange but we actually have one of the capitals of one of our states named Vitoria, that means exact the same thing.
Problem with Manoel is that its such a common name that it would be like name one of Susan colonies John.
The idea of that being named of a famous Manoel would be only good, if there are some lore pointing at that Manoel on some video or the civilopedia, and I doubt that will be worth such effort.
Also the constrat is screaming, Cidadela, not only is a portuguese word but its equivalent to Fortaleza, another real life brazilian capital that once was capital of the colony back on the beginin of the colonization, but it also has a militar vibe, what suits the faction. Manoel its just a dude's name, and here on Brazil we use more the way Manuel, Manoel is used more on Portugal

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Being Brazilian I can answer that easily, not only its not strange but we actually have one of the capitals of one of our states named Vitoria, that means exact the same thing.
Problem with Manoel is that its such a common name that it would be like name one of Susan colonies John.
The idea of that being named of a famous Manoel would be only good, if there are some lore pointing at that Manoel on some video or the civilopedia, and I doubt that will be worth such effort.
Also the constrat is screaming, Cidadela, not only is a portuguese word but its equivalent to Fortaleza, another real life brazilian capital that once was capital of the colony back on the beginin of the colonization, but it also has a militar vibe, what suits the faction. Manoel its just a dude's name, and here on Brazil we use more the way Manuel, Manoel is used more on Portugal

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a city somewhere in the US called John.

Also it is a common Name in South America, Now... in 200 years, maybe not so much.

 

[defiler]

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a city somewhere in the US called John.

Also it is a common Name in South America, Now... in 200 years, maybe not so much.

Agree, but even so, the lore behind it doesn't exists at this point, that's what make it such a strange choice.
I can only make heads and tails of this city if its pointed that Manoel is Rejinaldo's father or his capitan from the time when he was a soildier.
Apart that, its an odd name, I even looked for people on wikipedia named Manoel and only found one that have some militar background, and that one is from Portugal and not Brazil or South America.
We have to wait and see

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Agree, but even so, the lore behind it doesn't exists at this point, that's what make it such a strange choice.
I can only make heads and tails of this city if its pointed that Manoel is Rejinaldo's father or his capitan from the time when he was a soildier.
Apart that, its an odd name, I even looked for people on wikipedia named Manoel and only found one that have some militar background, and that one is from Portugal and not Brazil or South America.
We have to wait and see

Well a Lot of the lore is for the player to make up.. I think we already have almost all the official lore that there will be for Earth.

 

[Smith of Lie]

Well... There is a place called Manuel already http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel,_Valencia

 

[iRule]

Being Brazilian I can answer that easily, not only its not strange but we actually have one of the capitals of one of our states named Vitoria, that means exact the same thing.
Problem with Manoel is that its such a common name that it would be like name one of Susan colonies John.
The idea of that being named of a famous Manoel would be only good, if there are some lore pointing at that Manoel on some video or the civilopedia, and I doubt that will be worth such effort.

Exactly. You actually have a few cities named after people (Olinda, Rondon, Vitória, São Paulo, Santa Catarina), but Manuel is different - just imagine ARC had a city called "John". How ridiculous would that look?

Unless, that is, like it has been mentioned, there's a Manuel at some point in the lore.

Manoel its just a dude's name, and here on Brazil we use more the way Manuel, Manoel is used more on Portugal

In Portugal it's also Manuel. That's one of those stereotypes you guys have of us

Manoel was how you wrote Manuel some 100 years ago - that's why it's such a stereotype in Brazil, that Portuguese men are named "Manoel": it was very common back then and that was how you wrote it. Massive emigration ceased and hence the stereotype was stuck but refers to something that only happened in the past.

Which only makes it weirder - Manoel was how you wrote Manuel a century ago in the Portuguese-speaking world.

P.S - Muitos brasileiros por aqui! Estou surpreendido!

 

[Liex]

About Manoel, isn't that like naming a city Victoria? Not being Brazilian, that doesn't sound that strange to me. Possibly, in the future, there's someone named Manoel, like a ruler, that is important enough that it wouldn't be strange to name a city that.

Being Brazilian I can answer that easily, not only its not strange but we actually have one of the capitals of one of our states named Vitoria, that means exact the same thing.

I agree with defiler and the OP, but here are some thoughts:

I may be wrong, but I believe Vitória was named so after the Portuguese won a battle against the indigenous of Espírito Santo, so it'd mean "Victory", not "Victoria".

This only proves, however, that cities named after given names aren't common (or famous) in Brazil (maybe in other countries as well), and thus they sound weird to Portuguese speakers. Even Dom Pedro II or Getúlio Vargas didn't inspire city names such as "Pedro" or "Getúlio". "Petrópolis", "Pedro II" or "Pedro de Alcântara" is another history, though.

So even if there was an important Manuel in Civ BE lore, I don't think the colonists would name a city simply after his given name. It'd be something like "Brigadeiro Manuel" or "Manuel Ferreira" or even "Manuelópolis".

Well... There is a place called Manuel already http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel,_Valencia

Maybe that's common in Spain, I don't know. Actually, I'm sure one can find a town with a simple given name in Brazil, but the point is that it isn't common and don't sound natural - unlike "Cidadela".

Anyway, not much of a problem.

 

[iRule]

I agree with defiler and the OP, but here are some thoughts:

I may be wrong, but I believe Vitória was named so after the Portuguese won a battle against the indigenous of Espírito Santo, so it'd mean "Victory", not "Victoria".

Indeed.

Posteriormente, a cidade teve seu nome mudado para o nome atual, Vitória, em memória da vitória em uma grande batalha comandada pelo donatário da capitania, Vasco Fernandes Coutinho, contra os goitacás.

This only proves, however, that cities named after given names aren't common (or famous) in Brazil (maybe in other countries as well), and thus they sound weird to Portuguese speakers. Even Dom Pedro II or Getúlio Vargas didn't inspire city names such as "Pedro" or "Getúlio". "Petrópolis", "Pedro II" or "Pedro de Alcântara" is another history, though.

Petrópolis is a very special case. But it's the norm, not the exception - and it's not a simple given name. It's adapted, like you've mentioned. "City of Pedro". It also comes from Greek.

Every other single major European city, or state, which has a given name, is intrinsically religious: São Paulo, Santa Catarina, São Luis do Maranhão (named after a saint - even if he was a French king), and so on.

In Portugal, regardless of how far the country may be from Brazil by then (I guess it will be one of Elodie's pawns), there are no named cities, as far as I can recall, that are named after people.

Some cities down South may be named after someone, and I think there's one that is named after a man (Beja), but it doesn't sound weird in Portuguese - because the root is Arabic, not Portuguese, like pretty much every city south of Coimbra.

Maybe that's common in Spain, I don't know. Actually, I'm sure one can find a town with a simple given name in Brazil, but the point is that it isn't common and don't sound natural - unlike "Cidadela".

No, it isn't common in Spain, that I assure you of. At least no city I know of has a given name - some of them mix them up (the region of Andalucia - Lucia is a female given name) because, like in Portugal, they usually have an Arabic root and there's no real connection to a real person.

 

[GeoModder]

Let's include the Portugese name for Ulysses in the Brasilian colony.

 

[m15a]

The spelling I can't comment on, but as for more common names, Victoria isn't so uncommon a name, but maybe a better example would Charlotte because probably most people in the US don't know who that city is named after. (I had to look it up.) Probably the most common association is a spider from a children's book. That seems pretty ridiculous, but really no one thinks "that city is named after a spider."

As for not having any lore, of course, it's fine if you don't like it because of that. But it doesn't mean that the designers were at fault for choosing the name. In fantasy and sci-fi novels, it's pretty common to have names that are used but are never explained - it suggests that there's more to the world than the story and encourages the reader to think beyond the story . . . Like, what is a nerf herder anyway?

EDIT: Reading some of the posts made in the meantime, it sounds more like naming cities after people is probably just more odd in Brazil than in English speaking countries. So a city like "Charlotte" is not really weird in the US, but the equivalent in Brazil would be strange. My second point still stands, although if the name "Manoel" would really bother everyone that's Brazilian or Portuguese it's kind of irrelevant anyway.

 

[iRule]

Let's include the Portugese name for Ulysses in the Brasilian colony.

That would be really cool. Ulisses. That would be an unique name and fitting - an explorer, who's going beyond human reach, discovering a new world: maybe a few cyclops.

Unless you're referring to the whole "Lisbon is named after Uysses" thing - while that would be sweet for a Brazilian space colony, I'd even feel pretty emotional over it, just so you know that's kind of not that true: Lisbon's Latin name, during Lusitania's ocupation by the Roman Empire, is after Ulisses (Olissipo).

BUT, like pretty much every Southern Portuguese city, today it rocks an Arabic name. The Moors called it "Al-Lishbuna", and while the L comes from Ulysses/Olissipo, it means something else in Arabic too. Lisbon comes from Arabic, not Latin: although Al-Lishbuna was inspired by its Latin name.

Algarve, Alentejo, Alcácer, Aljustrel, Albufeira, Almograve, Alcântara, Almeirim, Alcoutim, Almada, [Al]-Lisboa, every single one of those regions and cities is named after Arabic.

 

[GeoModder]

I was refering to the whole "Lisbon named after Ulysses" thingie.

Who knows, perhaps "Manoel" was a hero of the Great Mistake for Brasilia.

 

[ggmoyang]

Um... a space Ulysses?


Link to video.