Bangor residents may be unaware that they have clones worldwide. No kidding, there are Bangors worldwide. Last count says there are 19 Bangors in the United States, Canada, Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, and even South Africa.

In the U.S., the list of 10, arranged by size, with populations follows: Bangor, ME (31,643); Bangor, Pa. (6,700); Bangor, Mich. (1,409); Bangor, Wis. (847); Bangor, Wash. (287); Bangor, N.Y. (250); and Bangor, Iowa (50). Bangor, S.D. disappeared from maps after 1900, and doesn’t count.

Canada has two Bangors: one in Prince Edward Island and one in Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan, Bangor is separated from Brewer, Saskatchewan only by the towns of Cana, Waldron, and Melvills.

Bangor, Ontario has also disappeared from the maps in recent years.

The United Kingdon is runner-up to the United States with four Bangors. The biggest, and the second Bangor in size in the world is that in Northern Ireland, with a population of 19,350. Like us in Maine, it is near Belfast, but in Northern Ireland, Belfast, and not Bangor, is the big city with 451,835 inhabitants. The other U.K. Bangors are in Caernavonshire, North Wales; Cardigar, Wales; and Flint, Wales.

County Mayo in Ireland has a Bangor. So does Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, about 200 miles inland from the Cape itself.

Bangor is an old Celtic word that means “the white choir.” Bangor Northern Ireland was an ecclesiastical center. St. Comgall, the great missionary, moved there in the year 558.

Celtic Christianity accounts for the earliest history of Bangor, North Wales. In Welsh, Bangor means “high choir.” Bangor, Maine got its name from the hymn tune “Bangor” by Tans’ur, which name derives from the bishopric of Bangor, North Wales.