So I've just been on holiday to Boston, we took a trip up to Maine for some skiing and as we went the above question struck me. Coming from England myself it was novelty to see and drive through all these places with familiar names, as well as seeing some places with names of European countries or capital cities.

Why did they do this instead of coming up with new and original names? I mean, if I founded a new town/city, I wouldn't name it after Brighton (where I'm from), I'd name it something entirely different. Das_Perderdernerterville or something (maybe not quite like that, you get my point).