We’re not the only people to call Manchester home, as the city shares its name with an impressive array of towns, villages, hamlets and counties around the world.
And as this selection of different Manchesters we have pulled together shows, some of them are really very different to life in the North West of England.
A whole host of places across North and South America have been given the name Manchester for a wide array of reasons, including people admiring its position at the forefront in the Industrial Revolution or paying tribute to local nobility who had governing roles.
Some of them might be quite familiar - Manchester in New Hampshire crops up on the news every time the US starts the job of selecting its next president - while others, like the Bolivian village in the middle of lush rainforest only reachable by a multi-day trip up a river, are almost certainly not. If you’re interested in this subject, you might also want to try to track down a copy of Roy Cookson’s book A World of Manchesters.
Here are eight places which share our city’s name in very different locations.
1. Manchester, New Hampshire
The largest Manchester in the USA and the largest city in New Hampshire, the place was named by a merchant and inventor who envisaged a great industrial metropolis like the one back in England. Manchester receives huge media coverage during the New Hampshire primary which starts the process of picking the presidential candidates, as the state is seen as a bellwether for how politicians will fare on the election trail,. Photo: Google Maps Photo: Google Maps
2. Manchester-by-the-Sea
Manchester-by-the-Sea attracted significant attention a few years ago following the critical success of a film of that name set in the town starring Casey Affleck. It’s a scenic little town in Massachusetts known for its beaches, viewpoints and landscapes. Photo: Google Maps Photo: Google Maps
3. Manchester Parish, Jamaica
Manchester has also given its name to this parish in west-central Jamaica, named after the 5th Duke of Manchester who was the governor of the island when it was created. This picture shows the area’s main town, Mandeville. Photo: Wikimedia Commons Photo: Wikimedia Commons
4. Manchester, New York
Located in Ontario County in upstate New York, Manchester is a small town which contains a village named after the English original. Once an important location in the freight rail industry, today its greatest fame is that it contains the hill of Cumorah where Joseph Smith found the golden plates he supposedly then used to create The Book of Mormon., and which now has a visitor centre. Photo: Google Maps Photo: Google Maps