Since this website page is about Cincinnati naming, it seems appropriate to talk about the naming of Cincinnati, Ohio itself.
Naming Cincinnati wasn’t an assignment that somehow magically landed on this professional namer’s desk. Of course not! (Had it been, I’d have to say it certainly breaks my own naming and marketing rules when it comes to ease of spelling. Regardless, I’d probably have gone with one “n” and two “t’s” but maybe that’s just me.) No, as with most city names, Cincinnati naming has everything to do with the city’s history and its founding.
Cincinatti’s original name, Losantiville, is an example of a created name, with the area’s surveyor drawing from multiple languages and combining four terms, that literally meant “the town opposite the mouth of the Licking (river).” In 1790, the Northwestern Territory Governor, Arthur Sinclair, decided a new name was in order. (His presumed thinking, that a name should capture more than geography or literalism and will work to inspire if it gets to the heart of what the object being named is about, is a great reminder for any entrepreneur trying to find a name for his or her business or product.) Cincinattus was the Roman general who saved his city from invaders and then, accepting no reward, simply retired back to his family farm. By naming the city after him, that sense of patriotism, service and self-sacrifice then became part of the city’s identity and reinforced America’s democratic ideals.
