[pj3000]

Originally Posted by BnaBreaker

I think it just had to do with the fact that during the era directly after the Revolutionary War when admiration for the French was high this region just happened to be the area the country was expanding into and towns were being established there as a result, as opposed to regions like New England, which was already fairly settled.

For example, Louisville as already stated was founded in 1778, but also...

Clarksville in 1784
Nashville in 1779
Knoxville in 1791
Asheville in 1797

etc.

Yeah, maybe post-Revolutionary War, the idea of naming anything with a British ending was far out of fashion.

Originally Posted by BEER

I think it was because before the Revolutionary War, this area was pretty much unsettled frontier lands in comparison to established New England and the other English colonies. It could be that these areas are/were influenced by Louisiana (Purchase) French colony?

Louisville was more connected to New Orleans than it was New York City.

Louisiana Purchase was lands west of the Mississippi River though. The Ohio Valley was certainly explored early in claimed by the French, which the British fought for control over.

Originally Posted by north 42

I wouldn’t really consider any part of South Carolina the upper south.

Well, maybe not, and the “Upper South” really isn’t even an often-used term. But Greenville SC is in the general area that is not Deep South and it’s not coastal south either. Mid-South and southern Appalachia? Doesn’t really matter to me... it’s just that many of the prominent cities in this interior region south of the Ohio Valley and east of the Mississippi are -villes.

Originally Posted by eschaton

To me the more uniquely southern thing is cities ending in "boro" rather than "burg" or "bury."

There are definitely a lot of -ville cities and towns everywhere in the US, so I don’t think it’s necessarily a southern thing. But it is somewhat unique how many of the prominent cities in this relatively small area of the country use the -ville ending... Nash, Louis, Evans, Knox, Ashe, Hunts... all within a few hundred miles of each other.

And yes, I do notice a lot of “boros” in the south.

I’m sure there are many plenty more, but I can only think of two in PA: Edinboro in Erie County and Birdsboro In Berks County.