h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Is Rochester NY any relation to Rochester, Kent, England, where I was born? I've never heard any evidence of this, but a great many American place names were named by English settlers after their home towns, and I wondered if this was the case here.

Oddly enough, Rochester is not named after Rochester in Kent. It was named for its founder Col. Nathanial Rochester who was granted the land way back when. Col Rochester was quite the entrepreneur and saw to it he got the falls area of the Genesee so that he could run inustries back in the pre-electricity days. Of course it is more than likely that his surname derives from an ancestor who came from Rochester in England, so in that sense there is a connection. The Catholics acknowledge the similarity of names by making the patron saint of Rochester St. John Fisher, who was Bishop of Rochester in days of yore. There is a Catholic college in Rochester (or was - haven't been there for a while) originally for men, named St John Fisher.

How interesting. Thanks.

Yes St. John Fisher is still around. A number of my friends from high school go there.