Maybe you should get your facts straight first. The spelling of French cities in English is different from the original. French - English Lyon - Lyons Marseille - Marseilles Reims - Rheims Just to name a few. Another thing is that France and England have a long history. You might have heard of the 100 years war and England used to own a large part of France. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/colbeck/england_france_henry_i.jpg And Spanish and English don't always have the same spelling either, Sevilla vs. Seville for example. German - English Berlin - Berlin Bremen - Bremen Hamburg - Hamburg Frankfurt - Frankfurt Dortmund - Dortmund Wuppertal - Wuppertal etc. etc. Changes in spelling usually occur when the pronunciation is difficult. To take my own country as an example. Dutch - English Amsterdam - Amsterdam Rotterdam - Rotterdam Den Haag - The Hague English just doesn't have the "g" sound so they change the spelling.