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OP
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There are a lot of cities with strange sounding names, and they have to come from somewhere, right? Here's the place to enlighten everyone with your knowledge of city name origins.
Here are my two cents to start it off:
In times of trouble in the Roman empire, the Senate would appoint a dictator to take over for a period of six months. This dictator had total control of Rome for that time, similar to Marshall law, I would say. In one time of trouble, they appointed a civilian farmer to become dictator. He took power, and when the trouble was over, he abdicated his position and returned to farm his fields, having been in control for far shorter a time than six months. The name of this humble farmer was Cincinnatus, thus the city of Cincinnati.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Louisville was named in honor of King Louis XVI of France, as a way of thanking him for his assistance during the
American Revolution. Kentucky is taken from a native
American word, pronounced something like kan-too-kee, that is thought to have meant prairie.
And, er--which Marshall was it that that law you referred to was named after? Possibly Matt Dillon, as when in the Old West, the marshalls pretty much ruled some towns? (Yes, folks, I do know that not everyone reading this will get the reference. I just want to see what kind of responses this might lead to. Explanation gladly given if asked Private.)
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Rome was named after Romulus - the twin brother of Remus - according to legend but the jury is still out on that one. Paris was named after the famed Trojan general and leader who was the brother of Hector (slain by Achilles who was, in turn, killed by a single arrow to the heel by Paris). Berlin was named after the site where thousands of Bears were supposed to have been slain in the dark ages. The capital of North Dakota, Bismarck, was indeed named after the wily Prussian chancellor but not for of any commemorative reasons. The then governor (if it was a state then) named it in his honour in the hope of receiving monetary assistance (and perhaps an influx of German immigrants). This was never forthcoming. Sydney was named after the intrepid English explorer Sydney Harbour-Bridge...... I think. 
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enthusiast
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sapporo was named after the beer of the same name.
sorry.
seriously though, there is an area of tokyo called ebisu which is named after the brewery "yebisu", which still makes a beautiful beer.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Devils Lake ND, where I grew up, derives its name from the Indian name Miniwakan, which means "Bad Water" - undoubtedly a description of the lake's brackish water. Early explorers incorrectly translated the word to mean "Bad Spirit" which was bolstered by legends of drowned warriors -- from there it was an easy transition to Devils Lake. The lake is spring-fed but has no natural outlet; for the last several years the lake has been rising, flooding farmland and nearby farm communities. There is talk of the town itself (pop. ~7500) being threatened in the coming years if relief in the form of diversion (or drought) isn't forthcoming. Bad spirits indeed. update: I neglected to mention that one of the farm communities threatened by the rising waters is the community of Minnewaukan (see above). here is a link that shows some pictures: http://www.minnewaukan.com/flood.htm
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OP
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I think I'll add another:
Atlanta, I assume comes from the name of the Greek heroine, Atalanta. The resemblance in the two names is so similar that I'd be surprised it this isn't the origin. Atalanta was abandoned at birth by her father, who wanted a son, and she became one of the Argonauts. She was unwilling to be married but consented that she would marry anyone who could beat her in a foot race. (Apparently she was pretty fast.) Aphrodite, the goddess of love, gave one of the suitors golden apples to put in Atalanta's path. She could not resist the apples because they were magical, and bent down to pick them up, letting the suitor, her destined husband, pass her.
I don't know what this has to do with a city in Georgia, but I guess it's just an interesting name.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Jazz (if I may call you by your "first" name):
You are correct that Cincinnatus was the ultimate root from which the name Cincinnati derived, but there was a very important intermediate step:
In 1790, General Arthur St. Clair, the first Governor of the Northwest Territory, arrived at Fort Washington and renamed the settlement Cincinnati in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati, an organization of Revolutionary War Officers to which he belonged. The society took its name from the Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, a partician farmer of ancient Rome who was pressed into military leadership several times to save the republic.
TEd
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>>>And, er--which Marshall was it that that law you referred to was named after? Possibly Matt Dillon, as when in the Old West, the marshalls pretty much ruled some towns? (Yes, folks, I do know that not everyone reading this will get the reference. I just want to see what kind of responses this might lead to. Explanation gladly given if asked Private.)<<<
I'll have to marshal my thoughts on this one, but I do know that a two-ell marshall is generally a given name, while one-ell marshal is variously a military officer, an officer of the courts, or a peace officer. I think the law to which Jazz was refering is martial law -- temporary military rule imposed on civilians, especially in war time. A one-ell marshal is frequently named Shorty.
Reminds me of an Ogden Nash snippet:
A one-ell lama, he's a priest.
A two-ell llama, he's a beast.
But I will bet my silk pajama,
You've never seen a three-ell lllama.
(The author's attention has been invited to a conflagration known as a three-alarmer)
TEd
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I knew about the Society, Ted, but I was just going to the ultimate source of the city’s
name. George Washington himself was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati.
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>Sydney was named after the intrepid English explorer Sydney Harbour-Bridge...... I think<
He and his close friend Oprah House are the spiritual parents of the nation....
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