What’s in a Name?
Nashville
Thinking about the name “Nashville.” Doesn’t it have a touch of class and style, perhaps a deluxe connotation?
We associate Cadillac De Ville and Coupe De Ville with fancy automobiles. “Of the town” - that’s the French “de la ville.” They say Nashville was first called Nashborough, but “borough” was unpopular as a suffix (settlement near a hill) due to its prevalence in England, while “ville” was French. The French were popular as our friends and allies, even heroes, during the Revolutionary War. The biggest French hero was General Lafayette.
Travel writer Everette Forbes, explains, “The term “ville” is derived from the French word for “city” or “town.” However, its meaning in the Middle Ages was quite different. It originated from the Gallo-Roman word “villa,” which referred to a farm or a rural settlement. Over time, the meaning evolved, and “ville” came to signify a village.”[i]
And the “Nash” in Nashville? Francis Marion Nash was a brigadier general, leading a North Carolina brigade in the Continental Army. He lost his life in 1777 fighting the British in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Back then, Tennessee was part of North Carolina for a time, and when Nashville was named as a settlement in 1784, the Revolutionary War was very fresh in mind.
We can be especially thankful of the French influence when we imagine some of the alternatives. In England, “ham”, “shire”, “chester”, and “burg” are popular endings to a town or city names, as in Birmingham, Yorkshire, and Winchester, but it those suffixes don’t mash up well with Nash.
About the French in Nashville... Some of the earliest European visitors came in 1797. Three French princes – Louis Philippe d’Orleans, aged 24, Count de Montpensier, and Count Beaujolais. Louis Phillip later became King of France. [ii] There was also the celebrated and hearty resident Timothy Demonbreun, a French-Canadian, who first visited the region in the early 1770s and eventually made Nashville his home.
When General Lafayette came back to visit and tour the United States he had helped create, he was given a warm welcome everywhere. Arriving in Nashville by steamboat in May 1825, thousands of Nashville citizens greeted him, accompanied by church bells ringing and cannons firing. After a procession through town, he stayed as a guest in the home of a prominent doctor, Boyd McNairy.
Lafayette’s elaborate bed canopy depicting patriotic scenes of the birth of America is today with the Tennessee State Museum. The McNairy home itself was enlarged and extended to Spring Street, known today as Church Street, at the corner of today’s John Lewis Way (Summer Street).
Over time, that household converted into a fine lodging establishment. Its name was the Saint Cloud Hotel. Why that name? As it turns out, St. Cloud was a famous estate just west of Paris, France, in fact Napoleon’s favorite palace. It had a scenic river view not unlike gazing upon the winding Cumberland River of that era before high rise buildings.
Next time you visit Puckett’s or walk up John Lewis Way please admire the building and remember with a knowing smile that Lafayette was here.
Contributed by Tom Vickstrom
[i][i] Why do so many towns end with ville? - Geographic Pedia
[ii] “W.E. Beard, “It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee” Copyright 1912
St Cloud Palace
St. Cloud Hotel
St. Cloud building today
