Friday, July 15, 2011

Mapping the Popularity of Presidents

Where the Streets Have Your Name is a great application that you can use to create a Google Map showing all the places around the world that have your name.

The app can also be used to do a little research into the worldwide reputation of American presidents. If you enter Kennedy and Nixon into the app you get two very different maps.





Looking at non-English speaking countries is particularly informative. It is less likely that geographical locations in these countries are named after different Kennedys or Nixons.

The results show that continental Europe has commemorated the life of Kennedy by naming numerous places after the president. For some reason Europe has not been so keen to name streets and squares after Richard Nixon.

In fact you have to go back to George Washington to find another American president who has been commemorated in place names outside of the U.S. to quite the same degree as JFK.



Having said all that Nixon is a far more popular place-name than 'Keir' (which features not once in the whole world).

So how well does your name fare?

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