​Paul McElhinney: Fourteen Belfasts, 17 Derry or Londonderrys, and nine Coleraines ... placenames with an Ulster origin abound throughout US

A one-time comfortable and predictable relationship based on mutual interests and concerns has now been cast into doubt and uncertainty, if not downright hostility.

Looking back at the relationship between Britain and Ireland and the US over the longer term, however, a closer and more positive image is evident. It has been part of the ‘common culture’, securely established over time and thus, likely to be resistant to the current turbulent waves.

The influence of Ulster on the fledgling United States has been well-documented. The Ulster-Scots were among the first European settlers in the original British colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries. They left a significant footprint, politically and culturally.

No other country, region or ethnic group can claim to have had more US presidents than Ulster – 18 out of 46. Certain states like Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Kentucky and the Carolinas have populations which reflect the long historical links with the province. Ulster surnames and placenames abound throughout the United States. At a time when the United States looms larger in our lives than at almost any time in history, these connections are worth exploring.

This piece focuses, in particular, on US placenames with an Ulster origin. There is a strong ‘sense of place’ in Ulster (and Ireland generally). Your ‘homeplace’ means and says a lot about you. Places have strong and often divided identities, as is well-known. The very naming of towns in the US after those in the ‘old country’ reflects this important sense of attachment to place.

Giving a place a name, in a very visible and concrete sense, is a form of ‘branding’. While some of their links with Ulster may have faded with the passage of time, those that remain still mark a time when their Ulster connections held meaning. An interesting feature of many of these placenames is that they are not isolated to those states with traditionally high concentrations of Ulster inward migration. Even some of the more remote parts of the country have Ulster placenames. Let’s have a look at them.

With 14 towns named Belfast, Northern Ireland’s first city is well-represented, There is a Belfast in California, Ohio, Georgia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Nebraska, Maine, New York and Missouri. Some states have more than one.

Northern Ireland’s second city is also well-represented. There are 17 places called Derry or Londonderry stretching through Pennsylvania (seven), New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Ohio, Illinois and Louisiana. Pennsylvania alone has an impressive seven towns called Derry or Londonderry. This owes to the pivotal role of Pennsylvania as a major destination for emigrants from the city and county from the 17th century onwards and where those migrants left their mark.

Derry in New Hampshire with a population of over 34,000, is the largest Derry in the US. It was founded by Derry man, James McGregor, an Ulster Presbyterian in 1718, first with the name Nuffield and then incorporated as Derry soon after. It is three miles from Londonderry in New Hampshire.

There are towns or townships with the name of Antrim in seven states and a Bangor in nine states. Coleraine or Colerain appears nine times across six states. The most highly-represented is Tyrone with a town across 21 states – significantly more than both Belfast and Derry/Londonderry. It is rare in that most places are named after towns or cities and not counties. That said, there are a few Antrims. Fermanaghs and Armaghs in the US.

Given its strong historical connections with Ulster, Pennsylvania has a large number of Ulster placenames. These include: Derry, Londonderry, Armagh, Fermanagh, Lisburn, Greencastle, Strangford, Newry and Strabane. Links with Derry/Londonderry were amplified further in the late 20th century with the establishment of a manufacturing plant by a unit of the Du Pont corporation (based in Philadelphia) which provided significant employment for many years in the city and county.

Other names like Lisburn, Lurgan, Armagh, Newcastle (and no doubt others) exist across the United States. Places as remote and distant from the eastern seaboard (the traditional point of arrival for Ulster migrants) as New Mexico, Nebraska and Nevada also have Ulster placenames. There is a Pomeroy in Ohio and in Washington state, a Dungannon in Ohio and Virginia and a Cookstown in Virginia and New Jersey. It is not a surprise that there is a heavy concentration of Ulster placenames in states along the eastern seaboard as it was the main port of call.

Ulster takes its place among all the major immigrant groups in the United States in its planting of placenames from the ‘old country’. Germany has its Berlins, Hamburgs and Frankfurts; the Netherlands its Yonkers, Brooklyn, the Bronx and New Amsterdam (now New York). After the Spanish and the English, Ulster placenames are among the oldest.

The places so named stand as an indelible link with the ‘old country’ and reflect the wide diaspora spawned by Ulster and its people.

• Paul McElhinney, from Wexford, has written for Irish, British and American journals, with interests in politics, culture and sport. He wrote Lion of the RAF, a biography of Air Marshal Sir George Beamish. He worked in the Department of the Taoiseach in the 1980s and later for British Gas in London and Washington