Art & Culture

This is Why So Many Cities Across the United States Are Called ‘Tunis’

BYYassine Hariss

May 20, 2026

If you know me, you know geography was never my strong suit. Back in school it was probably the one class where I spent more time doing literally anything else than paying attention to what my teacher was trying to explain. It’s safe to say that, until now, maps, borders, and the history behind some of the world’s most important cities have remained a relatively blurry subject to me.

So, when I learned that eight cities across the United States were called Tunis, I briefly regretted not paying more attention in class. I saw this gap in knowledge as the perfect excuse to finally figure out what exactly happened there.

Across eight different states— namely Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, Michigan, Montana, Maryland, Arkansas, and New Mexico— the North African capital city appears to have lent its name to quite a few places scattered across the American map, raising one question: How exactly did Tunis become such a recurring name across the United States?

From my quick scroll through the internet, the main explanation seems to be that, because the United States was created relatively recently, many early settlers chose to name new towns after cities that already existed elsewhere in the world. This would explain why a few places called Carthage, Tangier, Damascus, and even Cairo spread across the country, with many of those names pulled from places tied to either ancient history, religion, trade routes, or broader cultural fascination at the time.

Fairly satisfied by the answer to a certain degree, especially considering the amount of foreign city names I came across not only from our region but even beyond, during my research, I stumbled upon one explanation that, admittedly, remains far more entertaining than historically convincing. According to one Tunisian content creator, called Gwadahrissa, the reason Tunis appears so frequently across the United States may be the result of an influential breed of cattle.

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A post shared by Gwadahrissa 🇹🇳🇬🇵 (@gwadahrissa)

Per one of his videos, in 1799, the Bey of Tunis, Hammouda Pacha, decided to send 10 sheep to the United States, offering them to the country’s first president, George Washington, as part of a peace treaty intended to strengthen relations between Tunisia and the newly established American nation.

Out of the 10 sheep sent by boat, only two reportedly survived the journey. Luckily enough, however, they happened to be one male and one female, allowing them to reproduce once they arrived. According to the theory, Americans quickly grew fond of the breed because of the quality of its meat, eventually referring to it simply as the “American Tunis” sheep — before allegedly dropping the “American” altogether over time.

Digging deeper into the topic, it turns out there may actually be some truth to the story. Information published on official state websites appears to confirm parts of the claim, while also adding a bit more nuance to it all. On the website of the state of Oklahoma—home to one of the eight places called Tunis—officials note that descendants of the original sheep eventually became established across Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, with several cities in those regions now carrying the same name as the breed and the capital itself.

We still don’t know exactly how those places were named, or just how accurate the connection between the sheep and the cities really is. But sometimes, ignorance is bliss, and the legend honestly sounds better than the fully verified version anyway. So although none of this is 100% confirmed, we’ll gladly take the story for what it is and make sure to bring it up every now and then whenever a fun-fact conversation starts running dry.

This is Why So Many Cities Across the United States Are Called ‘Tunis’

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This is Why So Many Cities Across the United States Are Called ‘Tunis’

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