A quirk of colonial history has helped a commuter town best known as a haven for ageing rock stars and minor royalty become the settlement in Britain most mimicked worldwide.

Richmond-upon-Thames, the affluent southwest London borough that is home to celebrities including Sir Mick Jagger and Princess Alexandra, has given its name to 55 settlements on three continents, making it the most widely copied place name to emerge from these islands.

It has beaten London into second place in a league table compiled by The Times Universal Atlas of the World that identifies the top ten most influential British place names.

America, Africa and Australasia are peppered with Richmonds after settlers either paid homage to Surrey's aristocracy or fondly imagined that their fledgling settlement bore a resemblance to the riverside town.

Richmond — itself named after Richmond in North Yorkshire, and thus already a name to be used with care on sat-navs — is one of four towns in the top ten that have a surprising dominance in the world, given their low profile at home. Wellington, Springfield and Arlington have all attained global fame.

The secret of Richmond's success is partly a result of three Dukes of Richmond who exerted their influence in the colonies in North America. They gave their names to US Richmonds in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and Canadian towns in Ontario and British Columbia.

Charles Gordon-Lennox, the current Duke of Richmond, recalls that his ancestor Charles Lennox, the fourth duke, was a gregarious sportsman who made a name for himself while performing his colonial duties as Governor-General of Canada in 1818.

“He enjoyed riding out to visit the garrisons, sometimes playing a game of cricket with the soldiers,” he said. “Sadly, he died of rabies after only a year, having been bitten by a pet fox belonging to one of the soldiers.”

Richmond grew exponentially after William Byrd, the founder of Richmond, Virginia, observed that the view over the James River resembled the view from Richmond, Surrey, over the Thames. Byrd's town, in turn, was inspiration for 30 more US Richmonds.

South Africa has five Richmonds, Jamaica and Australia each have four, and Grenada has two. There is one apiece in the Bahamas, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

London, which has spread to 46 settlements on six continents, is second on the list, followed by Oxford (41 on three continents) and Manchester (36 on two continents). Bristol is fifth, equal to Wellington, with 35.

Wellington owes its success to Arthur Wellesley, first Duke of Wellington, who took his title from Wellington in Somerset. Springfield, seventh in the list, has 34 namesakes, all in the US, including the home town of The Simpsons. The source is a village near Chelmsford, Essex. The last surprise in the top ten is Arlington, which owes its name either to Harlington in northwest London or Arlington, Gloucestershire. John Custis, an American settler in the 18th century, established a plantation by that name in what is now Washington DC.

Piers Brendon, a specialist in the history of the British Empire and a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge, said that colonialists routinely named settlements for nostalgic reasons or to curry favour with influential aristocrats. "They were trying to create a Britain in the southern hemisphere or somewhere else, or else it was homage to an imperial patron who loomed large on the scene at that moment.”

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