Bristols Worldwide

Bristols around the world

Introduction

Being a major seaport and point of departure for thousands of immigrants to the New World it's hardly surprising that there are plenty of communities named Bristol in America and Canada. Most, but not all, are named after Bristol, England.

Whenever I did a search on the web for "Bristol" I would get millions of hits lots of these were companies but a lot were from places named Bristol in the USA. In 1999, when the section on Bristol, England was bring written, Google would return around 2 million results. In 2005, it returned nearly 27 million. In 2026, I got curious and checked again, Google now returns 217 million results! I decided to take a break from the research for my history pages and investigate these other Bristols. I've always known there were places called Bristol in the US, but I thought there were about five of them, I managed to find 28 of them in North America and a few in other countries as well.

When I originally wrote these pages around 2000, the internet was young and mostly non-commercial. The links on the various pages went mainly to sites created and maintained by individuals. Over 25 years later things have changed and many sites I've found try to sell you something. In the spirit of the original internet I've tried to link back to original sites I found on the Internet Archive, and new sites I have added contain useful information. Anything else, you can find yourself.

Other pages in this section...

I made a YouTube playlist of the best of the Bristols around the world.

Were these places really named after the City and County of Bristol, UK?

In 1905, the United States Geological Survey published the "Origin of Certain Place Names", I have used this and the various sites I have visited to try and ascertain how some of these Bristol were named.

Bristol Larger Area Named after Bristol UK? Naming
Bristol Head Colorado, USA Yes The name "Bristol Head" was first documented in official records during the Hayden Survey of 1876 when an English settler in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado likened the mountain's distinctively shaped, cloud-shrouded profile to the cliffs of Bristol, England.
Bristol Connecticut, USA Yes In 1785, New Cambridge, as it was known then, was incorporated as the town of Bristol, named after Bristol, England.
Bristol Georgia, USA Yes Bristol, was originally known as Lightsey after early resident Jack Lightsey. The name was later changed to Bristol by Lemuel "Lem" Lightsey, honoring the English city of Bristol, reflecting naming traditions common among settlers of British descent.
Bristol Indiana, USA Yes In 1834, Samuel P. Judson, a merchant from Buffalo, New York, though his family originally came from Bristol, England, arrived and along with Hiram Doolittle set up a town, and named it after Bristol, England, on the east side of the Goshen-Bristol Road (Division Street). Dr H. Fowler arrived around on the same time and laid out a town on the west side of the road. He named it Sydneyham after his birthplace in England. Both townships merged and are known as Bristol.
Bristol & South Bristol Maine, USA Yes As early as 1625, the English established at Pemaquid Point a year-round trading post for fur trading. In 1631, the area was granted as the Pemaquid Patent by the Plymouth Council to Robert Aldsworth and Gyles Elbridge, merchants from Bristol, England. On June 21, 1765, the town was incorporated as Bristol, named after the home port of the Pemaquid Patent holders.
Bristol County Massachusetts, USA Yes Bristol in Massachusetts is not a singular place but rather a county. Bristol County was created in the southwest of Massachusetts by the Plymouth Colony on June 2, 1685, and named after its county seat, Bristol. Bristol town was named after Bristol, England.
Bristol Minnesota, USA Yes Bristol Township was created in 1858, and named after Bristol, England.
Bristol New Hampshire, USA Yes Bristol, New Hampshire is in the southeast part of Grafton county, having Pemigewasset rivrr on the east, and Smith's river on the south. The riverbanks, along with providing fertile farmland to support the early settlers, yielded a high-quality clay used in making fine china, pottery and reddish-brown bricks. The clay was similar to that used to create bricks in Bristol, England, hence the name of the new town.
Bristol Pennsylvania, USA Yes In 1681, Samuel Clift founded the Borough of Bristol, having received a land grant from Edmund Andros, who was then governor of New York. Clift was required by the grant to maintain ferry service across the Delaware River to Burlington, New Jersey, and to run a public house or inn. He named it Bristol, after Bristol, England.
Bristol Rhode Island, USA Yes Bristol, Rhode Island, was founded in 1680, by four wealthy Boston merchants: John Walley, Stephen Burton, Nathaniel Byfield and Nathaniel Oliver. Together they bought the Mount Hope Lands from the Plymouth Colony. They named it Bristol, after Bristol, England.
Bristol South Dakota, USA Yes Similar to many towns of the area and of the Midwest in general, Bristol came into being as a result of railroad expansion. The railroad, which first came through the area in the 1870s, identified the site which would become Bristol as Station #70. C.P. Prior, a district railroad surveyor and townsite agent, was given credit for naming Bristol in 1881. He named the town after Bristol, England.
Bristol Tennessee / Virginia, USA Yes By the mid-nineteenth century, when surveyors projected a junction of two railroad lines at the Virginia-Tennessee state line, Reverend James King who owned the land where the ity is now, conveyed much of his acreage to his son-in-law, Joseph R. Anderson. Anderson laid out the original town of Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia and building began in 1853, and named it after the city of Bristol in England.
Bristol Texas, USA Yes The area was first settled in the 1840s by Joshua Brock of Missouri and named Brockville. Around 20 years later, Captain Steven Mills came to the area and opened a store. Having done business in Bristol, England, he named the store Bristol and the community eventually adopted the name.
Bristol West Virginia, USA Yes Bristol is an unincorporated community in Harrison County. The community was settled by Seventh Day Baptists in the 1790s and originally called Cherry Camp Run. The current name is a transfer from Bristol, England.
Bristol New York, USA Indirectly The town area was first settled around 1788. It was named after Bristol county, Massachusetts, so only indrectly named after Bristol, England. In 1838, part of the town was used to form the town of South Bristol, and that was named after the town of Bristol.
Bristolville Ohio, USA Indirectly The town was founded in 1807, and named after Bristol, Connecticut which was named after Bristol, England.
Bristol Bay Alaska, USA No Named in 1778 by navigator and explorer Captain James Cook, "in honor of the Admiral Earl of Bristol" in England. The Earl of Bristol at the time was Augustus Hervey, the 3rd Earl of Bristol
Bristol Colorado, USA No The community is named after Chester Howard Bristol, an assistant general manager (1903-1908) of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway stationed in La Junta
Bristol Florida, USA No Bristol Township was named after the Bristol family. Although pioneer miller John Schneider was really the first settler in the township, the Bristols were better known. Lyman Bristol donated the site of the village of Bristol, now the north side of the city of Yorkville
Bristol Wisconsin, USA No There are several places in Wisconsin named Bristol. None seem to be named after Bristol, England. Bristol Village area's first settler was Rollin Tuttle, who arrived in April 1830. The village was named in 1836 for two brothers, George and Lester Bristol. Bristol Corner was once known as Nixon Corner, and it is just up the road from the community named in 1837 for a pioneer resident, the Rev. Ira Bristol.
Bristol Mountains & Bristol Lake California, USA Unknown  
Bristol Florida, USA Unknown  
Bristol Greene & Worth Counties, Iowa, USA Unknown There is a lot of information about both Bristols in Iowa but none that I can find mention why they were so named
Bristol Louisiana, USA Unknown  
Bristol Maryland, USA Unknown  
Bristol Michigan, USA Unknown  
Bristol Nevada, USA Unknown  
Bristol Vermont, USA Unknown  
Bristol Washington, USA Unknown  

Plat, Corporation and Population

In the UK, all land is within a county or local government district, both of which exercise power over their jurisdictions. When I moved to the US, I found it difficult to learn the new terms, such as platting a place, the difference between incorporated and unicorporated places, and populated and unpopulated places.

In the US, to plat a piece of land is to create a detailed plan of how the land is to be divided, showing subdivisions broken into blocks with streets and alleys. Further refinement often splits blocks into individual lots.

A place may be incorporated or unincorporated. An uncorporated place is not governed by a local general purpose municipal corporation, which means they do not have their own elected officials. A place may be entirely or separately unincorporated which means it does not take its local laws, bylaws and things like planning permissions from anyone, but generally most are simply unincorporated which means their local laws, bylaws and things like planning permissions are at the county or other level.

Corporated places are those which have their own municipal corporation and have elected officials.

Populated places are those incorporated cities, towns, and census-designated places with residents. There are few true unpopulated places outside of nature reserves or wilderness areas but I've visited some Bristols in the US that seem to have a very widely dispersed population and sometimes, none at all.

Other Sites

An alternative guide to Bristols around the globe - Bristol Live.
Bristols around the world - Bristol Live.
Bristols around the world - Bristol Live.
Bristols United (Internet Archive) was another site dedicated to Bristols around the world.
It's Bristol - but not as you know it (B24/7) a page about Bristols around the world.
List of places called Bristol - Wikipedia