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From Delhi to Calcutta: U.S. towns that share names with Indian cities
From Simla to Golconda, a surprising number of American towns carry names borrowed from India’s geography and history.
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Anushka Pathak - Sat, 18, Oct 2025
- 15:16 EDT
- 22
Representative Image / Courtesy: AI-generated
A number of towns and cities across the United States share names with their Indian counterparts—a legacy of colonial trade, missionary influence, and cultural curiosity from the 18th and 19th centuries.
Many of these U.S. localities are small towns with histories tied to settlers’ fascination with the exoticism of the East or British colonial routes.
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Here are some of the most prominent shared names:
1. Delhi (New York, California, Louisiana, Texas): Named after India’s capital, these American places range from small farming communities to census-designated places. Delhi, New York, was founded in 1798 and is the seat of Delaware County.
2. Bombay (New York): Located in Franklin County, Bombay, New York, was named after the Indian city known today as Mumbai. The town was established in 1833 and is believed to have been named to honor a British trader’s connection with India.
3. Calcutta (Ohio): Calcutta, Ohio, is a census-designated place in Columbiana County. Early settlers named it after India’s Calcutta (now Kolkata), a major British trading hub during the colonial period.
4. Agra (Kansas): The town of Agra, Kansas, founded in the early 1880s, shares its name with the Indian city that houses the Taj Mahal. The reason for the naming remains unclear, but many attribute it to British or missionary influences.
5. Madras (Oregon): Madras, Oregon, began as a post office in 1902 and was named after the Indian city of Chennai, which was called Madras until 1996. The name reflected the textile trade links and colonial exposure of that period.
6. Baroda (Michigan): This village in Berrien County was settled in the 1830s and named after the Indian city of Baroda (now Vadodara). The connection came through English settlers familiar with India’s princely states.
7. Salem (Multiple states): While Salem is common in both India and the United States, the name derives from the Hebrew word for peace—'Shalom.' The coincidence highlights overlapping biblical and linguistic roots rather than direct cultural borrowing.
8. Lucknow (Pennsylvania): Lucknow, Pennsylvania, is an unincorporated community that borrowed its name from the North Indian city known for its architecture and the 1857 uprising.
9. Simla (Colorado): Named after Shimla, the hill station in Himachal Pradesh, the town of Simla in Colorado emerged in the early 20th century along a railroad line.
10. Golconda (Illinois): The U.S. town of Golconda in Pope County takes its name from the once-fabled diamond market of Golconda in Hyderabad, India—a symbol of wealth and prosperity.
The presence of these names across U.S. maps underscores historical global connections that predate modern globalization. While most of these towns are small and rural today, their names remain enduring reminders of the cultural intersections that shaped early American settlement patterns.
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