Norwich, Lebanon, Montpelier: What’s In a Name? And How Many Are There?

A subreddit about Norwich? I had to look up what that means. Subreddit, that is.

A subreddit is an online forum. Recently, a post appeared on the Upper Valley (VT/NH) Facebook page from someone in Norwich, UK, who has created a subreddit (NorwichToTheWorld) for everyone who lives in a place called Norwich. The person posting was trying to ascertain the existence of Norwich, Vermont; s/he wants all Norwich folks to share and learn about all of the the world’s Norwiches. Click here to see the page, where someone from Norwich, Vermont has already answered the call by posting a photo of King Arthur Baking Company.

In a somewhat related vein, a photographer named Fadi BouKaram from the country of Lebanon engaged in a project a few years ago in which he traveled the United States in search of towns named Lebanon. In each town he visited, he planted a cedar tree. Several local papers showed photographs of BouKaram at tree-planting ceremonies with local officials. Alas, while there was mention of Lebanon NH on BouKaram’s website, I was not able to find any evidence of a tree planting here. My attempts to learn more yielded a few vague memories from Lebanon residents that maybe BouKaram had been here in the Upper Valley, and maybe there was a tree that maybe has since died. (I have contacted BouKaram and will let you know.)

Then there is the never-gets-old story of Montpelier and Montpellier, in Vermont and France, respectively. During a short stay in the French city a few years ago, my husband and I delighted in telling the locals that we lived near the “one-L” Montpelier in the United States. (We thought ourselves clever, but soon learned that two-L Montpellier residents had heard that many times.) Shortly after our return to the Upper Valley, we read about a Montpellier soccer team. Their order for team jerseys had been delivered with the wrong spelling: only one L instead of two. Their response? They contacted the city manager of the one-L Montpelier, Vermont and offered to donate the jerseys, which were gladly scooped up by Vermont’s capital city with an eye toward routing them to Montpelier High School. (Click here to read the story in the Burlington Free Press; tweet below from the Montpellier Hérault Sport Club announcing its decision.)

Finally, if you want to know how many places in the world share a name, here is your go-to. Enter the name and voilà, up pops a complete listing. “Norwich” logs in at 15, Lebanon at 30. And incredibly, there are 27 Montpeliers with one-L. Only 2 two-L versions.

(Photo of downtown Lebanon, top, by Jon Platek, Wikimedia Commons)

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And in case you are wondering . . . Susan B. Apel shuttered a lifelong career as a law professor to continue an interest (since kindergarten) in writing. Her freelance business, The Next Word, includes literary and feature writing; her work has appeared in a variety of lit mags and other publications including Art New England, The Woven Tale Press, The Arts Fuse, and Persimmon Tree. She connects with her neighbors through Artful, her blog about arts and culture in the Upper Valley. She’s in love with the written word.