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Two years ago, I was studying an online atlas of the world and I happened to notice that there are three cities located in North America which have a geographical similarity with three cities located in Europe.

The three cities in North America are London, Ontario, Port Dover, Ontario, and Dunkirk, New York. The three cities in Europe are London, England, Dover, England, and Dunkirk, France.

If you study the two maps shown below, you will notice the geographical similarities between these six cities.

enter image description here London, Ontario, Port Dover, Ontario, and Dunkirk, New York.

enter image description here London, England, Dover, England, and Dunkirk, France.

I think it is also interesting that according to Google Maps, the flying distance from London, Ontario to Dunkirk, New York is approximately 103 miles and the flying distance from London, England to Dunkirk, France is approximately 109 miles.

I am very curious to find out if someone else, perhaps a historian or a map maker, had also noticed the geographical similarities of these six cities and if he/she had written an article about it. I am hoping that if there is such an article, that this article will have an explanation as to why these North American cities had been named after those cities in Europe.

I have spent many hours searching the Internet over the past two years for such an article, but I have not found it yet. I am hoping that someone on History.SE will be able to answer this for me.

Has anyone ever written about the geographical similarities of these three cities in North America with three cities in Europe?

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    This would only be interesting if there were any source, or even reason to believe, that this is intentional, and not just a coincidence. Perhaps supported by cities in those regions settled / named by people from Britain / France.
    – DevSolar
    Commented Dec 30, 2023 at 13:55
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    I've a strong feeling of deja vu, I'm sure there's been a question about these locations posted here before. Commented Dec 30, 2023 at 16:39
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    @KillingTime Yes, I too recall this being asked and was soon deleted due to the downvotes. Commented Dec 30, 2023 at 16:48
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    I'm not sure why this question is considered to be in the realm of social sciences. I think why people in the past named their cities they way they did should be considered to be in the realm of history. For example, if I were to have asked the question, "Why did the French people name their largest city 'Paris'?", this question would be considered by most people to be a history-related question and one that most likely has an answer.
    – user50539
    Commented Dec 30, 2023 at 23:16
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    IMHO if there's an historical reason for this (and it seems quite possible), this is perfectly on-topic.
    – T.E.D.
    Commented Dec 31, 2023 at 2:54

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