Why are so many places in the US called 'New' such as New York, New England, New Hampshire, and New Orleans, instead of having original names?

The first European settlers named many of their cities in America after their European home towns.

Not wanting to use the same name that could cause confusion they put a "New" in front of it.

New Mexico. New Brunswick.

Good answer star_gazer (as always!) but why are there lots of cities in the States that are named after European cities, especially (it seems) English ones, but don't have a 'New' pre-fix, such as:

Boston, Lincolnshire vs Boston, Massachusetts

Birmingham, West Midlands vs Birmingham, Alabama

Richmond, Surrey vs Richmond (25 American Richmonds!
But most famously, Richmond, Virginia)

Cleveland, North-East England vs Cleveland, Ohio

Durham, County Durham vs 30 different US Durhams!

Worcester, Worcestershire vs Worcester (in 5 States)

Manchester, Lancashire vs Manchester (nearly 30) but most famous Manchester, New Hampshire)

Portsmouth, Hampshire vs Porsmouth, Virginia (and
others)

Chester, Cheshire vs Chester (22 of these, even in Texas and California)

And I believe there is even a London, Caifornia and a Paris in the state of Texas?

The above list of just a small example. It's all very interesting though!

In my home state of Ohio, you'll find a Versailles; here in Illinois, there's a Cairo; and in upstate New York are Syracuse, Troy, Ithaca, and Utica. Also Rome.

Versailles, Ohio once had a number of residents of French descent. The Greek, Italian, and Phoenician names in New York were influenced by late 18th-century enthusiasm for all things classical. (Ithaca was once called "Ulysses" and Syracuse nearly became "Corinth".)

We're a big country, and many people had the privilege and the fun of naming new towns and cities. Sometimes they felt nostalgia for the old country, but sometimes they just picked names of older cities that reflected their special interests.

When the colonists came over, they named things based on places back in Europe.

To agree with lanfranco, we have all heard of New York City but there is also a well known city called York in Pennsylvania. Why did one York chose to put a New before their name and the other didn't could be for many reasons but all based on the mood of City folk at the time both the cities were named.

My own impression is that American place-names without 'New' are even more common than those with it. Just look at all the places in the U.S. called 'Berlin'!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_%28disambiguation%29

If you think Americans may be lacking in imagination on calling their towns after European ones, consider that there are dozens of places in England called Newtown or New Town, most of them far older than any US town.

Well, I suspect its more of a rivalry thing. The Dutch explorers and colonists named their state New Netherlands (with what is now known as NYC originally being New Amsterdam). The British came and decided to set up a "New England" as well. When the British took over New Amsterdam, they simply restyled it New York, rather than look to their Bibles for good place names (which is the way most other places were named by the English settlers).

New Town, England? NEVER heard of it.

Newtown, England. Just West of Birmingham.

http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=m&q1=new+town+england&trf=0&lon=-3.351517&lat=52.521235&mag=8

Just try Googling for Newtown England, Billy. Loads of them. And more in Wales, and Scotland (part of Edinburgh is the New Town - around George St). And then there's Newbury, Newburgh and so on which mean new town.