If I was really rich, and really vain, I would like a town named after me. Not like a city or anything - just a quaint little town in the middle of nowhere.

Here in South Africa they are changing a lot of the town names to be more politically correct (because a lot of them were named after apartheid villains). So if they're renaming the town anyway…

Basically, it could be like a form of philanthropy. You're rich, so now you pay a large amount to have a town renamed after you. The money you spend will go straight into an account, which will be used by the town council to do some good in the town. You also have a say in that. So if the town needs a school, and you agree, that's where the money will go. Or it could go to upgrading public facilities, putting books in the library or helping to fund a free clinic.

It will become the 'fashionable' thing for the rich to do. They'll compare towns.

You can choose to rename a town in the country where you live, or go further a field to countries that really need the help like those in Africa.

You can find a profile on each town on the website www.buyatown.com
-- Flux, Feb 23 2005

(?) Got Milk? California. http://www.sfgate.c...2.DTL&type=business
Almost baked here. Likely baked in Hershey, PA. [Worldgineer, Feb 23 2005]

Flux http://maps.yahoo.c...us&new=1&name=&qty=
[Worldgineer, Feb 23 2005]

Town sold http://www.thestar....pageid=970599119419
mining town that was sold to some company [schematics, Feb 24 2005]

(?) [mojoangler]'s link... http://www.onthemapus.com
...as a link [angel, Jan 23 2007]

Kim Basinger bought a small town in Georgia (USA) http://answers.yaho...090116145226AA0S7XC
$20M, couldn't keep it [csea, Jan 09 2012]

This must have been baked at some point. I know alot of towns in Ireland bear the name of English Landowners or factory owners. So is the idea to set up a company that will act as an agent, selling town names?
-- etherman, Feb 23 2005


Yes, there'll be a company who runs the website and brokers the selling of towns. I'd like to think that they wouldn't take too much commision though - the money must go to the town.
-- Flux, Feb 23 2005


I live in 'the settlement of Deornoth's people'; does that count?
-- angel, Feb 23 2005


The city council could just vote to put the name of the town for sale on ebay.
-- darkboy115, Feb 23 2005


there's an island town in british columbia that's for sale. will post link if one is found.
-- schematics, Feb 24 2005


I say, [schematics] already posted the link I was looking for.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Feb 24 2005


There is a town for sale. It's the Blue Star Ranch near Kingman AZ. A whole 13 acre town with several buildings.
-- gfundl, Feb 24 2005


Thanks [Worldgineer], a town named after me, and I didn't pay a cent for it. But I like [darkboy]'s suggestion to just put the town up for sale on eBay.
-- Flux, Feb 25 2005


If there was a town called "Ling", could I pay to have it called something else?
<aside> There's a village near Peterborough, called 'Eye'. It has an 'Eye shop', an 'Eye library', and maybe soon, an 'Eye hospital'.</>
-- Ling, Feb 25 2005


I have Angel Falls in Venezuela, although it's actually named after an American pilot, Jimmy Angel.
Coincidentally, there's a road in my home town named after a Canadian pilot.
-- angel, Feb 25 2005


Is this the next best thing? It's new, and they let anyone buy a town. There is also a charitable aspect...but I don't think you can rename the town. Hope this links... http://www.onthemapus.com
-- mojoangler, Jan 23 2007


What if the rich guy goes bad ?
-- VJW, Jan 09 2012


So what? You still have the money, doncha?
-- mouseposture, Jan 09 2012


We've always found it far more economical to inherit a village and then leave it to grow for a few generations.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 09 2012


//leave it to grow// or shrink. How, to quote a lyric, are you gonna keep 'em down on the farm?
-- mouseposture, Jan 09 2012


Perhaps we've just been lucky. Not always, though. Our maternal great-great-great aunt Madelaine Cardiff is a counterexample.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 09 2012


This is a bit baked, in so far as founding the town can give you naming rights.

See, for example, Yuzovka in the Ukraine, named after John Hughes, later renamed Stalino after someone else. Nowadays, Donetsk.
-- pertinax, Jan 10 2012



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