History Main / IstanbulNotConstantinople

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* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': The geography of the world [[spoiler:corresponds to an upside-down and mirrored map of the real world, in which South Africa is known as Marley (which in this universe is a militaristic empire that dominates most of the African continent, part of Europe and South America), the island of Madagascar is named Paradis Island (and it's the place where the Three Walls are situated), a Mid-East Alliance exists and seems Turkish-Ottoman and an Asian nation {{Expy}} of Japan exists called Hizuru. For added bonus, "Hizuru" is pronounced identically as the phrase ''hizuru-kuni'' which means "land of the rising sun".]]

* ''Literature/TheFamiliarOfZero'' takes place in Tristain (Belgium), with other countries being called Gallia, Germania, Albion, and Romaly. Saito, the TrappedInAnotherWorld protagonist, is from our Japan, but doesn't seem to make the European connection. He does recognize the language being spoken at the school as French, however.
* In ''Literature/LogHorizon'', the five regions in the Japanese server of ''Elder Tale'' have their names derived from their corresponding regions in real life Japan. Ezzo Empire corresponds to Hokkaido (Ezo being the old name for Hokkaido), League of Freedom Cities Eastal corresponds to the Kanto region (lit. "east of the gate"), Holy Empire Westeland corresponds to the Kansai region (lit. "west of the gate"), Fourland Dukedom corresponds to Shikoku (lit. "four provinces") and Ninetail Dominions corresponds to Kyushu (lit. "nine provinces").
* ''Literature/InAnotherWorldWithMySmartphone'': Touya Lampshades this when he learns from Yae that the capital of Eashen is Oedo (Edo being the original name for Tokyo).

** Thermidor (UsefulNotes/{{France}}): After the UsefulNotes/FrenchRevolution, France adopted the "French Republican Calendar," which was decimal-based. All months and days had new names. One of these new months (between 19 or 20 July and 18 or 19 August) was called Thermidor. Furthermore, the overthrow of Maximillan Robespierre, which ended the ReignOfTerror, took place in the month of Thermidor and is today known as the Thermidorian Reaction, the Revolution of Thermidor, or just Thermidor.

** United States of Atlanta (UsefulNotes/UnitedStatesOfAmerica): Atlanta is the name of one of the USA's largest and most influential major cities. May also be an allusion to ''{{Atlantis}}'', one of the theories around it is that it was actually North America.
** [[UsefulNotes/NewOrleans Louisiana]]: A representative from the country of "Louisiana" was present in Episode 8 which strongly implies that the United States in this universe never really expanded beyond the Atlantic coast.
*** Alternatively, it's the alternative name for Canada, as a healthy proportion of French Colonial Louisiana was part of Canada in the early 18th Century.
** Volga Federation ([[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]]): The Volga Federation is noted to be a powerful country to the east of Germania which they have a non-aggression pact with. And just like in real life, Germania intends to break the pact. "Volga" comes from the name of the Volga River, which is the longest river in Europe and is considered to be Russia's national river that runs all the way from Central Russia to the Caspian Sea.
*** At the end of the series [[spoiler:Volga breaks its non-aggression pact with Germania after Atlanta launches a successful landing into occupied Thermidor, similarly to how Stalin was planning to break Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and invade Nazi Germany as soon as they would launch their ultimately cancelled [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sea_Lion#Chances_of_success Operation Sea Lion]]. The ending also heavily implies that Volga and Atlanta are now headed towards UsefulNotes/ColdWar.]]

* ''Literature/TrinityBlood'': Albion for England. The capital is called Londinium, the Latin name for London. Since this ''is'' England in the 31st century, it's unclear why they've reverted to old Greek and Latin names. Though given that [[OurVampiresAreDifferent the Methuselah]] essentially recreated the UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire in Eastern Europe (even renaming Istanbul back to Byzantium), perhaps the British wanted to highlight that they've been around longer than the vampires by adopting even older names?

[[folder:Board Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/{{Flintloque}}'', a wargame set in a FantasyCounterpartCulture of the Napoleonic Wars, gives the countries names of varying silliness, many of them based on mythical or ancient names (Avalon for England), and others based on mildly pejorative terms (Joccia for Scotland).
* ''TabletopGame/{{Risk}} 2210 A.D.'' makes a number of renamings, from the good (Republique du Quebec) to the gratuitous (New Avalon). Scandinavia is called Jotenheim. The classic name is the east Africa-encompassing 'Ministry of Djibouti.'
* ''TabletopGame/{{Scythe}}'' is set in an AlternateHistory 1920s Europe and uses different names for all the nations. Rusviet Union is the Russia/the Soviet Union, Republic of Polania is Poland, Saxony Empire is Germany, Crimean Khanate is Turkic Crimea, Nordic Kingdoms are Scandinavia, Clan Albion is the British Isles, and Togawa Shogunate is Japan.
[[/folder]]

** ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': Some of the Mega-Cities follow this naming convention, like Hondo City (Hondo is an ancient name for the main Japanese island, Honshu) and the Ruhr Conurb (named after the Ruhr Valley, the largest metropolitan area in Germany), while others are named after actual current cities, like Luxor (Egypt) and the now-defunct Brasilia (Brazil).
** The first arc of ''Kingdom'' takes place in the "cold place", Anarchticy -- that's Antarctica to you and me. Subsequent stories visit Tazzy Island and Auxtralia.

** ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': Gotham City, since Gotham is an old name for New York. There was a 19th-century book which, playing on American jealousy of European cities which liked to boast about their hundreds of years of history, was a fictional history of NYC, giving it the name "Gotham". Whether or not Gotham City ''is'' New York in the comics has varied through the years; currently, they're different cities in-universe, but writers still play with parallels.
*** As far as [[Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy Christopher Nolan]] is concerned, Gotham is actually UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} -- until ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', anyway.
*** In the novelization of ''No Man's Land'', New York is explicitly stated to be separate, incidentally, and implied to be slightly smaller and nearby.
** There's also [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Metropolis]]. DC eventually settled on Metropolis being in Delaware and Gotham in New Jersey, on opposite sides of the Delaware Bay. This conforms pretty well with everything that had been established beforehand (that [[ExpyCoexistence New York City exists]] and is located near Gotham, and that Gotham and Metropolis are also fairly close to each other but separated by a body of water). Both are representations of New York, though different views of it. Gotham is the seedy, dirty New York stereotype and Metropolis is the important melting pot of cultures major city of the world type.

* In ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached'', in their quest for the first piece of the Vasyn, the four are sent to the city of New Zork on an alternate Earth. Locations there include Crooklyn and Harvem, the latter being the ghetto for the harveys, human-sized intelligent rabbits. The US is called Ameriga; England is Angland. And much to their dismay, though it's 1954, the Beagles have just arrived....

* ''Film/WilliamShakespearesRomeoAndJuliet'' reimagines Verona as "Verona Beach," based on Venice Beach, California.

* ''Literature/AegyptCycle'', by John Crowley, approaches this obliquely: protagonist Pierce Moffett is obsessed as a child with the country of Aegypt--''not'' the historical Egypt, but its fantastic analogue in Western myth. "Aegypt" is the Egypt of imagination that was credited as the homeland of the Gypsies (the real-life Romani people are actually originally from India), of Hermetic mythology, and of the countless mystical doctrines that people supposed to have originated there.
* ''Literature/HouseOfTheScorpion'' and ''Literature/TheLordOfOpium'': Mexico has been renamed Aztlán at some point between the present day and the time of the novels.
* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': Panem is set in what was once called North America after an unexplained apocalypse. The characters are well aware of their history (for the most part) as Katniss knows that Panem was once called North America, and District 12 was in a place called Appalachia. The word "Panem" itself has two sources: As a modification of '''''Pan Am'''erica'' (Loosely, "All of America") and also the Latin ''panem et circenses'' (BreadAndCircuses) from the way the Capitol maintains control through the titular games.
* In the ''Literature/KushielsLegacy'' series by Jacqueline Carey, the maps at the beginnings of the book show that it is Europe. The UK is named Alba, Ireland is Eire, Spain is Aragonia, Germany and the northern lands are Skaldia, Italy is Caerdicca Unitas - Venice, or a suspiciously Venetian city, is [[CityOfCanals La Serenissima]] - the Balkans are Illyria, Greece is Hellas, Egypt and the Maghreb is Menekhet, India is Bhodistan, China is Ch'in, Japan is the Empire of the Sun, Jebe-Barkal is Ethiopia and a bit more, The Flatlands are The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, Vralia is Russia and Drujan and Khebel-im-Akkad are different parts of AncientPersia. France is called Terre d'Ange (literally Land of Angels) because of the alt-religious {{backstory}}.
* ''Literature/TheTalesOfAlvinMaker'' is set in an alternate North America. Many names remain familiar, but are in variant spellings, such as "Hio," "Irrakwa" and "Wobbish." All these are originally Native American words, and the familiar forms are transliterations by Francophone explorers. In this world, the Anglophones seemingly got there first, so the transliterations are a bit different. As for New Amsterdam, it never became New York.
* ''Literature/YoungWizards'': In ''So You Want To Be A Wizard'', the main character reads in her wizard's manual about "alternate earths where the capital of the United States was named Huictilopochtli or Lafayette City or Hrafnkell or New Washington". For that matter, it isn't specified whether all of these are actually UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC under different names. The capital could be located elsewhere.

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein:
** ''Literature/JobAComedyOfJustice'': Heinlein has a lot of fun with this as the two protagonists get shunted from alternative earth to alternative earth.
** In ''Literature/TheNumberOfTheBeast'', Hilda wonders if they crossed over into the universe where the fourth planet is named Barsoom instead of Mars.

* ''Literature/TalesOfTheBranionRealm'', by Fiona Patton, is set in an alternate Britain named Branion, with a similar map. Since the series focuses on nobility, many of the original names can be determined from the titles. For example, the heir to the throne is the Prince of Gwyneth (Wales) and Duke of Kraburn. If it wasn't obvious from the map that Kraburn is Cornwall, Kraburn has a major port named Halmouth (Falmouth). The second in line to the throne is the Duke of Yorbourne, which from the map clearly represents York. Other countries include Gallia, Danelind, and Tiberia (home to the Pontiff of a Catholic-analogue religion).
* ''Literature/{{Nation}}'' by Creator/TerryPratchett is set in a version of the South Pacific called the Great Southern Pelagic Ocean. "Pelagic" means "[[ShapedLikeItself open sea]]". The map at the front of the book also features the "Reunited States".
* In ''Literature/TheBigOne'' by Stuart Slade, Halifax Nova Scotia is renamed Churchill, in reaction to the Lord Halifax-led political coup that sues for peace with Germany and touches off the events of the series.
* The ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'' series executes this very impressively, using many alternate etymologies and extending to objects in addition to lands. This includes Anglia (England, although England, English and "Brytain" instead of Britain are also mentioned. Scotland also exists but it's not addressed whether it's part of the same country as England in that universe), Muscovy (Russia), Nippon (Japan), skraelings instead of Inuit, the Peaceable Ocean, and the country of Texas in New Denmark. This also applies to objects such bas atomcraft, naphtha lamps, gyrocopters, anbaric lights ("electric" comes from a word for "amber"), and chocolatl (which is closer to the original Aztec word). Scandinavia ''is not'' Jotunheim, (it's called the Scandinavian Empire instead!) and the Svalbard archipelago is still the Svalbard archipelago (but it's an independent kingdom controlled by [[BearsAreBadNews armoured bears]]). Lapland is also mentioned as possibly independent with a population of witches.

* ''Literature/{{Airborn}}'' is an AlternateHistory where the biggest change is the rise of [[ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld airships]] as the major form of long-distance transportation. The history only diverges from ours in the early 20th century or so, but one of the changes is the renaming of Vancouver (supposedly the airship capital of the world) as Lionsgate City. Several other places have very minor name changes, such as the Pacificus and Atlanticus oceans, Europa, and the Republic of Colorado.
* ''Literature/TheYearsOfRiceAndSalt'': The Plague killed off most of the Christian population of Europe, leading to Arabic/Chinese/Japanese/etc place names such as Yingzhou for North America, al-Alemand for Germany, Skandistan for Scandinavia, Nippon for Japan and so on.

* Creator/HarryTurtledove:
** ''Literature/TheCaseOfTheToxicSpellDump'': This MagiTek novel is set in Angels City, on the coast of the Peaceful Ocean, and just north of the Barony of Orange. On the East Coast of the Confederated Provinces are the District of St. Columba and the city of New Jorvik. Other countries mentioned include Alemania and Persia, as well as a Hanese restaurant.
** Some American States have different names in Literature/Timeline191. North and South Dakota are one state, called Dakota, Oklahoma is called Sequoyah, and when the Union captures part of Texas, they rename it Houston (though the actual city of Houston is still in Confederate Texas). And when the Mormons attempt to secede, they rename Utah "Deseret" (their original name for the state).
** His more traditional alternate history novels feature this too, mainly for objects -- nukes become "exploding-metal bombs" (in the ''Literature/WorldWar'' series) or "superbombs" and "sunbombs" (''Literature/Timeline191''), suicide bombers become "people bombs," the Molotov cocktail is the "Featherston Fizz," and the Army's heavily armored frontline combat vehicles are "barrels," not tanks. A laser is called "skelkwank" in the ''Literature/WorldWar'' series (having been borrowed, along with invention, from [[ReptilianConspiracy the Race]]).
** And when the superbombs go off, they produce a "toadstool cloud".
** Speaking of nukes, element 92 is still named uranium, but while the USA names the next two elements neptunium and plutonium as in RealLife, the Confederate States Of America goes the other direction and calls them saturnium and jovium. (Britain calls element 94 churchillium.)
** Roanoke, Virginia, is called Big Lick (justified in that that was the original name before the N&W Railroad renamed the town); and Hawaii is British-ruled and still called the Sandwich Islands.
** In OTL Berlin, Ontario, was renamed Kitchener (after Lord Kitchener) during World War I. In TL-191 it is renamed Empire. After the US and Imperial Germany win the Great War, the US occupies Canada and restores the name Berlin.
** His ''Literature/WarBetweenTheProvinces'' series is basically a retelling of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar in the West from Chickamauga on, only with the map reversed (the rebels are in the north), the colors reversed (because indigo is a major rebel product) and with names either given alternates or horrid puns. General Rosecrans is renamed "[[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} Guildenstern]]." Chickamauga is renamed "The River of Death," and Lookout Mountain, "Sentry Peak." Georgia becomes "Peachtree," and Selma, Alabama is renamed "[[Creator/SalmaHayek Hayek]]."
** Harry Turtledove and Richard Dreyfus do this in ''Literature/TheTwoGeorges'' with Boston, Oregon (rejected in real life by a coin flip; you probably know the city as Portland).

* The ''Literature/LordDarcy'' mysteries are set in the Angevin Empire, an Anglo-French superpower in a world where UsefulNotes/RichardTheLionHeart's heirs kept their royal status into the 20th century. The basic geography is the same, but many regions' names have evolved differently. For instance, New England is all of North America (with Nova Borkum in place of NYC), and Mechiceo is an Angevin duchy.

* ''Literature/AWizardInRhyme'', by Christopher Stasheff, stars a grad student from "our" world [[TrappedInAnotherWorld transplanted to an alternate medieval Europe]]. He lands in France, called "Merovence" after the Merovingian dynasty that once ruled there. Other nations are likewise renamed using historical influences: Spain is Ibile, Austria is Allustria, etc.
** And Rome is Reme because, in this universe, Remus won.
%%* Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Strata}}'' as well.
* The ''Literature/{{Chrestomanci}}'' books have a fair few. World 12A in ''Charmed Life'' has Atlantis (North America); in ''Conrad's Fate'' the Series 7 worlds have Ludwich instead of London, the Thames is the Little Rhine, the Low Countries are Frisia, and Moscow is Mosskva. Though in Series 7, Britain is part of continental Europe...
* Creator/TanithLee does this quite frequently in her work. ''The Secret Books of Paradys'' are set in an alternate Paris, while ''The Secret Books of Venus'' are set in an alternate Venice. She also refers to the "Remusan Empire" in ''Cyrion''.
* ''Literature/{{Illium}}'' and ''Olympos'' have a fair few. Thousands of years have changed Ulan Bator in Ulanbat, and a mishandled black hole has made Paris into the Paris Crater.
* In ''Literature/{{Eutopia}}'', bt Creator/PoulAnderson, the various names of North America are used as shorthand for their respective alternate universes. The home universe of the dimension hoppers is called Eutopia, since in their history the Ancient Greeks colonized North America.
* Creator/ArthurCClarke renamed Sri Lanka "Taprobane", (one of the island's many other names) and moved it 500 miles south to put it on the Equator for his novel "The Fountains of Paradise".
* ''Literature/TheLawsOfMagic'', by Michael Pryor, takes this approach to a faux-Victorian era Europe -- England is Albion, Germany is Holmland, France is Gallia (and its capital city is Lutetia) and so on.
* In ''Literature/ThirteenthChild'', by Creator/PatriciaCWrede, America is Columbia, and the three systems of magic are Avrupan (European), Aphrikan (African) and Hijero-Cathayan (Cathayan referring to Chinese, "Hijero" being unclear but possibly being equivalent to Hindu).
* Creator/MichaelMoorcock uses this trope a lot in his alternate-universe and time-travel stories. One in particular, the empire of Granbretan (Great Britain) in the [[Literature/TheHistoryOfTheRunestaff Hawkmoon]] books, is used as a TakeThat against certain aspects of his birthplace.
* Poul Anderson, in his essay "Uncleftish Beholding", played with this trope and produced a lengthy essay on atomic theory written in ''what English might be'' if it had never borrowed words or structures from non-Germanic linguistic sources.

* ''Literature/{{Cryptonomicon}}'', which takes place in a world just a little bit different from ours, calls Japan "Nippon", which is, more-or-less, the Japanese name.[[note]]A more accurate transliteration would be "Nihon." "Nippon" is an older version in that name, which is still used in some places, like Okinawa.[[/note]] ''Literature/SnowCrash'', by the same author, does the same.
* ''Literature/DickSimon'' uses a non-alternate history example. After the discovery of the Ramp, entire nations are moved off-world onto other habitable planets. The US and Canada end up on a world they call Columbia. Colombia is not mentioned by name (probably because it's spelled and sounds the same in Russian), but, presumably, it went with the other South American nations to planet Latmerica. The other settled planets aren't as creative. Russia ends up on planet Russia, while European countries simply call their new world Europe (or, possibly, Europa).
* In ''Literature/RangersApprentice'', by John Flanagan, this is used rather stylishly, for example: Araluen = England, Gallica = France, Celtica = Wales, Hibernia = Ireland, Picta = Scotland, Teutlandt = Germany, Arrida = North Africa (Tripoli or Egypt), Skandia = Scandinavia, Nihon-Ja = Japan, Iberion = Spain, Toscana = Rome/Italy, the unnamed Temujai country = Mongolia (Genghis Khan's name was Temijin), Indus (briefly mentioned in Book 10) probably = India, etc.
* ''Literature/{{Caliphate}}'', by Creator/TomKratman, has Europe morph into the European Caliphate in the 2100s. As a result, many places' names were corrupted if not outright changed. Like Baya for Bavaria, Grolanhei for Grosslangheim, Affrankon for Franconia, Slo for Oslo, among others.
* ''Literature/SeekersOfTheSky'', by Creator/SergeyLukyanenko, has, among other things, a still-thriving Roman Empire (now called simply the State). Thus, many city names hail from the days of Rome (e.g. Budapest is Aquincum, London is Londinium). God's Stepson (this world's version of the Pope) has his seat in a city called Urbis, which simply means "city" in Latin and is implied to be Vatican. The capital of the State has been moved to Lutetia (i.e. Paris). Russia was never able to throw off the Mongol yoke and its current capital is still Kazan' (Moscow is not mentioned). What is now Israel in our world is called Judea in the duology. Interestingly, the trope's name does not apply. Since the Ottoman Empire is still going strong, its capital is still called Istanbul. Languages are also called slightly differently: Latin is called Romanian, Hungarian is called Magyar, Turkish is called Ottoman, Spanish is called Iberian, French is called Gallic, Hebrew is called Judeic.
** Surprisingly, this is averted with Vienna (which should probably still be called Vindobona) and Lyon (which Romans called Lugdunum). Both of these are mentioned by their RealLife names.
** Despite the fact that Budapest is called Aquincum, it still has three main districts called Buda, Óbuda, and Pest.
* ''Literature/TheTreasureOfTheKapitana'', by Creator/VladimirVasilyev, takes place in DaysOfFuturePast. For some reason, many places have had their names reverted to their Greco-Roman variants. For example, Great Britain is known as Albion with the capital at Londinium and a rebelion brewing in Eboracum (York), while the Crimean Peninsula is known as Taurida (with Galeta [Yalta] as a major port city), Portugal is called Lusitania, and Germany is known as Almain (the English name for Germany until the 16th century). The Black Sea is referred to by the people of Albion as Euxine Sea (in RealLife, the British referred to it in this way until the 19th century). However, some places retain their modern names, such as Southampton (there was a Roman fortress settlement of Clausentum in the area). Surprisingly, Istanbul itself does not fit this trope, as it still retains its current name instead of an earlier one (e.g. Byzantium, Nova Roma, or Constantinople).
* ''Literature/CraftSequence'', by Creator/MaxGladstone, is implicitly set on a version of our Earth with a very different history. Many [[FantasyCounterpartCulture very similar places]] exist on it InSpiteOfANail (although many places are also NOT recognizable as counterparts to anything real.) A few do stand out as clear examples of this trope-- the city of [[{{UsefulNotes/Chicago}} Shikaw]], situated on a very large lake, is one obvious example.
* In Creator/StephenKing's work, we find the fictional metropolis of Harding, which is apparently a stand-in for either Chicago or Detroit. It appears in ''Literature/TheRunningMan'' and his unpublished novel ''Sword in the Darkness''.
* In the ''Literature/ScholarlyMagics'' series, set in a world like our own but with magic, many of the place names are the same (Paris is still Paris), but some are examples of this (Glasscastle, a site of great magical significance in England, is clearly Glastonbury).
* Partly subverted in ''[[Literature/{{Magic20}} Magic 2.0]]''. When Martin goes back to Medieval England, he is shocked to learn that the English people of this time refer to their capital as Camelot. However, a fellow time traveler named Phillip explains that another time traveler named Jimmy convinced King Stephen to rename London to Camelot and his son Eustace to Arthur, while preferring that people call him (Jimmy) "Merlin". Since Martin's own time is unaffected (he specifically jumps back to ask his parents what the capital of England is and is told it's London), Phillip posits several explanations: something will happen between that time period and modern day to change the city's name back and to wipe the name change itself from historical knowledge; alternatively, since the entire world is a computer simulation, "Medieval England" may simply exist in a separate stream from "modern era", so changes to one don't affect the other.
* In ''Literature/{{Destroyermen}}'', after encountering the Empire of New Britain Isles, they learn that the Empire has a number of colonies on the west coast of North America (the Empire itself is based on Hawaiian islands). One such colony is named Saint Francis and is located pretty much where San Francisco is in our world.
* In ''Literature/{{Julian}}'', by Creator/GoreVidal, Vidal uses modern names for many places that had different names in the late-4th century, such as for Mediolanum (modern-day Milan) and for Lutetia (modern-day Paris). One of the cities he does not do this for is Constantinople itself.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's
** ''Literature/FoundationSeries'': InUniverse in "Literature/TheMule", the ''[[EncyclopediaExposita Encyclopedia Galactica]]'' entry explains how planet Delicass is renamed Neotrantor after Old Trantor has been destroyed in the Great Sack.
** ''Literature/PebbleInTheSky'': Earth has changed in the tens of thousands of years since "present day". Washington has become "Washenn", Chicago has become "Chica", St Louis has become "Senloo", San Francisco has become "Senfran", and Buenos Aires has become "Bonair".
--->"Chica first stop, he thought. Largest collection of Earthmen on the planet. Washenn next; local capital. Senloo! Senfran! Bonair!...He had plotted an itinerary all over the western continents[.]"
--->"In my time," said Schwartz, "there was a city called St. Louis. It was at the junction of two great rivers...We found Senloo."
* In ''Literature/BeyondThirty'', the primitive inhabitants of AfterTheEnd Europe have lost all knowledge of their history. The inhabitants of Britain refer to their island as "Grubitten": a corruption of "Great Britain". Much of continental Europe has fallen to the Abyssinian Empire and the city of New Gondar has been constructed on the ruins of Berlin.

** According to another episode, Gotham's (i.e., New York's) neighbouring state is New Guernsey. Which is UsefulNotes/NewJersey named after a different [[UsefulNotes/TheChannelIslands Channel Island]]. And a different breed of cow.
* ''Series/Merlin2008'': Albion pops up, as the series is based on Arthurian legend.
* ''Series/{{Fringe}}'': The alternate Earth uses almost identical place names, except that some are spelled differently.

-->'''Alexandra Reid''': Please tell your wife she makes it even better than they did in Constantinople
--> '''Man''': Istanbul, ma'am. Constantinople, that is its ancient name.
* ''Series/{{Creepshow}}'': Played for laughs in the episode "The Man in the Suitcase". When Alex is arguing for stealing as much gold from the titular character as possible and fleeing the country, he suggests heading for Constantinople. Despite being in an immense amount of pain, the man in the suitcase still takes the time to point out that the city's called Istanbul now.

-->'''Mr. Peterman''': You probably know it as Myanmar now, but it will always be Burma to me.

* ''TabletopGame/DamnationDecade'', a Green Ronin d20 System RPG based on tropes from 1970s sci-fi TV and movies, renames ''everything'': America gets the slight change to Americo, Gordon Lightfoot and Edmund Fitzgerald get their names swapped, and then it gets weird (UsefulNotes/RichardNixon becomes "Stanton Spobeck," for one).
* ''TabletopGame/TribeEight'' may be the weirdest example. The game takes place AfterTheEnd when a bunch of monsters have descended from the sky and humans are organized in tribes around "Fatimas", avatars of the Goddess. The game takes place in the land of Vimary... which was once ''Montreal'' (founded in real life under the name Ville-Marie).
* ''TabletopGame/CastleFalkenstein'': Most of Europe - sorry, "Europa" - has the same names and borders as in our reality, but South America is Antillea, and the Atlantic Ocean is the Atlantean Ocean, among other things.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': Though they haven't seen use since the unification of Terra ten millenia or so before the game's setting, there are occasional mentions of places like Albyon, Jermani, the Yndonesic Bloc and Nova Yoruk.

** The name of Kislev, a country correspondng to Slavic Eastern Europe, is probably derived from Kiev (aka Kyiv, capital of Ukraine and former capital of the [[UsefulNotes/KievanRus Kievan Rus]]). Its two other major cities (other than its capital which is also named Kislev) are Praag - derived from Prague - and Erengrad, a port city that connects Kislev to the Empire and Bretonnia - a dead ringer for Russia's Saint Petersburg, which was called ''Leningrad'' at the time ''Warhammer'' was created. Meanwhile, the main river of Kislev, Lynsk, sounds both like the Siberian river of Lena and the Belarusian capital of Minsk.
* ''TabletopGame/FadingSuns'': The Empire's capital of Byzantium Secundus was originally named [[NewNeoCity New Istanbul]].
* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' features, among other things, a ModernMayincatecEmpire called Aztlan ruling most of Mexico and Central America and an elven nation called Tir na nOg replacing Ireland.

* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'': The ''VideoGame/TwentyTwentySeven'' [[GameMod mod]] features the Russian '''Con'''federation.
* The ''VideoGame/QuestForGlory'' series features Spielburg (Germanic town), Mordavia (Transylvania), Silmaria (Greece), Shapeir (Middle East), and Fricana (Africa). Scandinavia is called Jotunheim, but has the justification of having actual Jotuns.
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'''s world map is based on the real world map, with locations having similar names to their real world counterparts. For example, Portoga is Portugal/Spain, Baharata is India, Isis is Egypt and Zipangu is Japan, among others.

** ''Dark Dawn'' continues the tradition and just gets gratuitous and/or lazy with it. The Japan-analogue people got relocated to a new chain of islands, which they named ''Nihan''. You know, a slightly-mispronounced ''Nihon''? To say nothing of Champa and Ayuthay.
* ''VideoGame/GranadoEspada'' plays in a fantasy, monster-overrun version of America, which was named after the two explorers Granado and (drum roll, please) Espada, paralleling how real-world's America is named after the explorer UsefulNotes/AmerigoVespucci.
** Two of the main cities are named after real-life cities: Port of Coimbra is from Coimbra, Portugal, and the City of Auch is from Auch, France.
* ''VideoGame/{{Freelancer}}'' takes place in the future. The ships, and then the factions that sprung up from those ships, are the Liberty [USA], Bretonia [United Kingdom], Rheinland [Germany] and Kusari [Japan]. The fifth ship, the Hispania [Spain], broke down along the way and was lost. [[spoiler: You can find it, if you're so inclined.]]
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' takes place on an alternate Earth, with the game maps being based on real world regions in Japan, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and Spain/Portugal. While some liberties are taken on occasion, the most blatant being a desert in the middle of a region based on the New York City metropolitan area, every location in a given game tends to have an existing counterpart in our reality.
** [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue The first generation]] is an even straighter example, explicitly being an alternate version of Japan's Kanto region, due to the series [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness originally having an]] EarthAllAlong approach to the setting. One of Mew's Pokedex entries mentions it being from South America, while Arcanine's Pokedex entry states that it's a legend in China. Lt. Surge was even stated to be an American military veteran and had the nickname "The Lightning American."
* The ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' series has examples of these in most of its versions: The State of San Andreas (California and Nevada), containing the cities of Los Santos (Los Angeles), Las Venturas (Las Vegas), and San Fierro (San Francisco). There is also Liberty City (New York City) and Vice City (Miami).

* ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'' has 'Gallia' (the Netherlands). And, just like ''TabletopGame/CastleFalkenstein'', it takes place on the continent 'Europa'. Geographically and aesthetically it's very Dutch, with many tulips and windmills, though with some rather out of place deserts due to an earlier cataclysm, but it also shares similarities with Switzerland in its neutrality and mandatory military service.
** The USA is called The United States of Vinland, after what the Icelanders called the region of North America they found on their expeditions, though ironically that was actually Newfoundland in Canada.
* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'':
** In ''VideoGame/CivilizationIII'', if you founded enough cities to exhaust the list of names associated with that civilization, the game would start over with "[[NewNeoCity New London]]" etc., but instead of "New Istanbul" you'd get "Not Constantinople".
** The ''Rhye's and Fall of Civilization'' mod included with ''VideoGame/CivilizationIV''[='s=] expansions has a dynamic naming system for cities so what at first is Constantinople will become Istanbul when captured by the Turks. (Side note - It actually has Davao and Washington D.C. in the right places - 2x2 tile squares.)
** Inverted in in ''VideoGame/CivilizationV''. Since the Ottoman Empire and the Byzantine Empire are both playable civilizations, and have Istanbul and Constantinople as their respective capitals, both cities will exist if both civs are on the board.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fable}}'' is set in Albion which is one of the oldest known names for England.
* ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' has New Reno. However, for the most part this trope is averted, with names like The Boneyard (Los Angeles in ''VideoGame/Fallout1'') or the original city names (Washington D.C. in ''VideoGame/Fallout3''). Regions tend to be renamed too: California is known as New California or the Core Region, the D.C Area is the Capital Wasteland and the area around Boston is known as the Commonwealth.
** It's mentioned in passing that Sacramento is now known as Sac-Town.
** One follower in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' expresses an amusing frustration with this trope. Being a Mexican Ghoul who's lived long enough to see the world pre-war, he's insistant you call it 'Tuscon' instead of 'Two Sun' as the local tribals have taken to calling it. And then for that matter there's the titular ''New'' Vegas instead of Las Vegas.
* ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile'' has [[{{Wutai}} its own version of Japan]] named Yamato.
* ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' has pretty much the Earth itself but with different names, such as Apotos for Greece, Holoska for Alaska, Empire City for New York, and Chun-Nan for China.
* ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'':
** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRevelations'': This comes up at least once, given the setting (i.e. ''Constantinople itself''), naturally. Specifically, the game is set shortly after the Ottomans occupied the city. Most still call it Constantinople, but offhand references are made to some young people starting to call the city Istanbul.
** Inverted in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedValhalla''. Basim and Hytham refer to Istanbul as Constantinople since it is still under Byzantine control but the Vikings including the Raven Clan call it "Miklagard".
* ''VideoGame/TotalWar'': An earlier version of the engine allowed for cities to be renamed by scripted events. One such case was when an Islamic faction would take Constantinople from the Byzantines. It would be renamed Istanbul. Start with ''VideoGame/EmpireTotalWar'', the engine no longer allows for this, which is why St. Petersburg is already on the map while Sweden is in control of the territory (it originally was a tiny village called Nyen).
* ''VideoGame/SakuraWars'' is set in Japan during the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taish%C5%8D_period Taishou period]]. Because it's AlternateHistory, however, the first character of "Taishou" is written with an extra stroke.
* ''VideoGame/CrusaderKingsII'': When a certain nation or culture controls certain provinces, kingdoms or empires, their names will change to a linguistically appropriate counterpart, such as the province of Finland becoming Suomi when held by a Finn or Constantinople becoming Konstantiniyye when Turkish or the empire of Britannia becoming Pyrdain when held by most Celts, and this may also be done manually to provinces and cities. Additionally, with the ''Customization Pack'' DLC, it becomes possible to manually rename entire duchies, kingdoms, and empires.
* ''VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis IV'': When a certain nation or culture controls certain provinces (or in ''Crusader Kings II'', even larger titles, like kingdoms and empires), their names will change to a linguistically appropriate counterpart, such as the province of Finland becoming Suomi when held by a Finn or Constantinople becoming Konstantiniyye when Turkish or the empire of Britannia becoming Pyrdain when held by most Celts, and this may also be done manually to provinces and cities. The ''Art Of War'' and ''El Dorado'' [=DLCs=] add a custom client state creator and custom nation creator, respectively, allowing players so inclined to make an Istanbul for any given Constantinople.
* ''VideoGame/{{Terranigma}}'' has "Scandia" for Scandinavia in the localization due to CharacterNameLimits, though this is an actual older name. Also most of the names of real world cities are replaced with fictional ones such as "Freedom" for New York, "Nirlake" for Chicago, and "Loire" for Paris.
* ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' calls its setting, which is Japan during TheTimeOfMyths, Nippon[[note]]The native name for Japan in Japanese[[/note]] even in the localized versions, just to reinforce its Japanese-ness.

* ''VisualNovel/{{Echo}}'' (and it's related visual novels ''VisualNovel/TheSmokeRoom'' and ''VisualNovel/{{Arches}}'') thrives on this. It is essentially our world with anthropomorphic animals, but the place names have alternate names for some reason. A fully comprehensive list can be found [[https://echoproject.fandom.com/wiki/Place_names_in_the_Echo_Universe here]], with notable examples including Pueblo for Arizona (or Utah?), Batavia for Netherlands, Huxia for China and Southlands for Australia. Although not taking place in the same universe, ''VisualNovel/GloryHounds'' also uses the same country terminology.
* Fitting for its pre-colonial setting, ''VisualNovel/LandsOfFire'' uses none of the modern Australian place names, with the indigenous names being used instead. For example, Alice Springs is the Arrernte name Mparntwe, Tasmania is Iutruwita and Mount Conner is Artilla.

* ''Webcomic/Sorcery101'' takes place in an alternate universe, wherein the territory that is our United Kingdom is called Terra, China appears to be called Sipan and the USA and Canada are a single country known as the UPH.
* ''Webcomic/FanDanGo'' is set in an alternate England known as Anglise. Its capital city is Londinium, and the city of Lonchester is rather larger than the RealLife Lancaster.

** The main action takes place in Portstown (Boston), with occasional sojourns to Los Vicios (Las Vegas) or Oceanic City (Atlantic City). It is a bit jarring to see Boston called "P'Town," especially since in RealLife it's a nickname for Provincetown.

* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' is set in an alternate "Europa", but uses this trope inconsistently. GayParee is still "Paris", but the political geography has nothing whatever in common with Earth's, and Albia... refers to the reigning monarch, not the kingdom of Britain.

[[folder:Web Original]]

* WesternAnimation/{{Motorcity}}: The [[TitleDrop titular refuge]] is the remains of old Detroit buried underneath [[{{Dystopia}} the newer, shinier Detroit Deluxe]]. The trope comes into play when one remembers that the most popular of Detroit's nicknames was "The Motor City".

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Due to being (at least) 100 years old, Mr. Burns is prone to this. For example, in "Mother Simpson", when Burns is at the post office:
-->'''Burns:''' Yes, I'd like to send this letter to the Prussian consulate in Siam by aeromail. Am I too late for the 4:30 autogyro?
-->'''Squeaky-Voice Teen:''' (''pause'') Uh, I better look in the manual.
-->'''Burns:''' (''groans'') Oh, the ignorance.

->''"Even old [[BigApplesauce New York]], once was New Amsterdam. Why they changed it I can't say"[[note]]People just liked it better that way[[/note]]''

* ''Series/TheDefenders2017'': Alexandra, one of the centuries-old leaders of the Hand, tells a Turkish restauranteur that his wife's ethnic dish is better than they made it in Constantinople. The man corrects her that it's known as Istanbul, now.

** In another world protagonists visit later in the series, North America was colonized by the English like in RealLife, but history happened differently [[ForWantOfANail in at least two ways]]: UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution failed or didn't happen at all, but another revolution in Great Britain ''did'' succeed. So North America is ruled by a VestigialEmpire ruled by an English king who doesn't rule anything on the east side of the Atlantic. Boston is called New London in this world.

** Kislev, a region roughly corresponding to Russia, seems to derive its name from a month in the Hebrew calendar.

See also FantasyCounterpartCulture. PleaseSelectNewCityName often provides names to choose from (and real life examples should rather go there). AirstripOne is when a place is renamed in a dehumanizing soulless manner. Also compare DifferentStatesOfAmerica, which may involve renaming.

Popular choices are alternate etymologies (eg. ''Allemannia'' for ''Germany''), older names (''Yamato'' for ''Japan''), alternate names (''Albion'' for Britain or ''Columbia'' for the ''USA''[[note]]But then you have to make up something else for Colombia and British Columbia -- that is, assuming they're mentioned at all[[/note]]), names in the local tongue (''Sakartvelo'' for the country ''Georgia'', ''Nippon'' for ''Japan'', ''Gitchegoomee'' for the native American name of the lake that Americans and Canadians know as ''Superior''), things from local mythology (''Jotunheim'' for ''Norway''), possible corruptions and derivatives (''Drontheim'' instead of ''Trondheim'', though this one [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trondheim#Toponymy actually happened]]), and just taking the easy route and swapping some letters around. According to a popular theory, [[TropeNamers Istanbul itself]] is an example of the latter; the Greek name Konstantinoupolis got shortened to "Stanpol", which then evolved to "Istanbul".

Popular choices are alternate etymologies (eg. ''Allemannia'' for ''Germany''), older names (''Yamato'' for ''Japan''), alternate names (''Albion'' for Britain or ''Columbia'' for the ''USA''[[note]]But then you have to make up something else for Colombia and British Columbia -- that is, assuming they're mentioned at all[[/note]]), names in the local tongue (''Sakartvelo'' for the country ''Georgia'', ''Nippon'' for ''Japan'', ''Gitchegoomee'' for the native American name of the lake that Americans and Canadians know as ''Superior''), things from local mythology (''Jotunheim'' for ''Norway''), possible corruptions and derivatives (''Drontheim'' instead of ''Trondheim'', though this one [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trondheim#Toponymy actually happened]]), and just taking the easy route and swapping some letters around.

* In ''WebOriginal/AtlasAltera'', many countries have completely different names than the ones we know, and some names we're familiar with are used for other locations. For example, Brittany in this world is called "Wales", and "Iceland" is the name for the Svalbard islands. The "Black Sea" refers to the giant gulf dividing Europea from Siberea, while what we know as the Black Sea is called the Sperian Sea. Australia is called Tamiria, while the name Australia is used for a large island where the underwater Kerguelen Plateau is in our world.

* In the ''Literature/KushielsLegacy'' series by Jacqueline Carey, the maps at the beginnings of the book show that it is Europe. The UK is named Alba, Ireland is Eire, Spain is Aragonia, Germany and the northern lands are Skaldia, Italy is Caerdicca Unitas - Venice, or a suspiciously Venetian city, is [[CityOfCanals La Serenissima]] - the Balkans are Illyria, Greece is Hellas, Egypt and the Maghreb is Menekhet, India is Bhodistan, China is Ch'in, Japan is the Empire of the Sun, Jebe-Barkal is Ethiopia and a bit more, The Flatlands are The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, Vralia is Russia and Drujan and Khebel-im-Akkad are different parts of AncientPersia. France is called Terre d'Ange (literally Land of Angels) but that's because it's a ParodySue land for {{backstory}} reasons.

* ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' has New Reno. However, for the most part this trope is averted, with names like The Boneyard (Los Angeles in ''VideoGame/Fallout1'') or the original city names (Washington D.C. in ''VideoGame/Fallout3'').
** One follower in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' expresses an amusing frustration with this trope. Being a Mexican Ghoul who's lived long enough to see the world pre-war, he's insistant you call it 'Tuscon' instead of 'Two Sun' as the local tribals have taken to calling it.

See also FantasyCounterpartCulture. PleaseSelectNewCityName often provides names to choose from (and real life examples should rather go there). Also compare DifferentStatesOfAmerica, which may involve renaming.

** There's also [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Metropolis]]. DC eventually settled on Metropolis being in Deleware and Gotham in New Jersey, on opposite sides of the Delaware Bay. This conforms pretty well with everything that had been established beforehand (that [[ExpyCoexistence New York City exists]] and is located near Gotham, and that Gotham and Metropolis are also fairly close to each other but separated by a body of water). Both are representations of New York, though different views of it. Gotham is the seedy, dirty New York stereotype and Metropolis is the important melting pot of cultures major city of the world type.

* The ''Literature/{{Chrestomanci}}'' books have a fair few. World 12A in ''Literature/CharmedLife'' has Atlantis (North America); in ''Literature/ConradsFate'' the Series 7 worlds have Ludwich instead of London, the Thames is the Little Rhine, the Low Countries are Frisia, and Moscow is Mosskva. Though in Series 7, Britain is part of continental Europe...

* ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'' takes place in Tristain (Belgium), with other countries being called Gallia, Germania, Albion, and Romaly. Saito, the TrappedInAnotherWorld protagonist, is from our Japan, but doesn't seem to make the European connection. He does recognize the language being spoken at the school as French, however.

* ''LightNovel/InAnotherWorldWithMySmartphone'': Touya Lampshades this when he learns from Yae that the capital of Eashen is Oedo (Edo being the original name for Tokyo).

** London, Ontario, is renamed Berlin by the occupying US authorities; Roanoke, Virginia, is called Big Lick (justified in that that was the original name before the N&W Railroad renamed the town); and Hawaii is British-ruled and still called the Sandwich Islands.

* In the ''Literature/KushielsLegacy'' series by Jacqueline Carey, the maps at the beginnings of the book show that it is Europe. The UK is named Alba, Ireland is Eire, Spain is Aragonia, Germany and the northern lands are Skaldia, Italy is Caerdicca Unitas - Venice, or a suspiciously Venetian city, is [[CityOfCanals La Serenissima]] - the Balkans are Illyria, Greece is Hellas, Egypt and the Maghreb is Menekhet, India is Bhodistan, China is Ch'in, Japan is the Empire of the Sun, Jebe-Barkal is Ethiopia and a bit more, The Flatlands are The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, Vralia is Russia and Drujan and Khebel-im-Akkad are different parts of Ancient Persia. France is called Terre d'Ange (literally Land of Angels) but that's because it's a ParodySue land for {{backstory}} reasons.

[[folder: Jokes]]
A Russian joke from TheNineties spells it out. An old man is providing census information.
--> Where were you born?
--> St. Petersburg.
--> Where did you go to school?
--> Leningrad.
--> Where do you live?
--> Petrograd.
--> Where would you like to live?
--> St. Petersburg.
[[/folder]]