Welcome OP! There are two great posts (here and here) from years past that dive down into some of the differences. We are named after your city and were supposed to be the "Manchester of America" based on your industrial past.

We're a much smaller city of around 115,000 people. Similar to your Manchester, our city was based around textile manufacturing for many decades. Our location was decided because of a significant drop in elevation in our river (Merrimack River) that allowed for a canal system to be constructed parallel to the river to move maritime boats up and down the river without going against the current. This significant current was later used to power textile mills. We were a company town run by the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in the early days, with most of the city's design planned before any major construction took place (our grid system of roads and architecture can be attributed to this as well). After the original company went bankrupt in the 1930s, Manchester switched to wartime production during World War 2. Most of the manufacturing in the city was gone by the 1980s and the Millyard as we call it started to make the switch from industrial to offices/apartments, where high-tech companies are now based such as DEKA Research (engineering firm that helped develop the Segway through a subsidiary), Dyn (software company acquired by Oracle) and ARMI (tissue regeneration).

Our city isn't well known outside of the northeast US, but it serves as an important regional city in New England and is the largest center of commerce and business in Northern New England. We generally say New Hampshire since we are a small state and no one town or city is well-known nationally that I can think of.

About once a year we get somebody trying to join our Makerspace who was obviously looking for "Hackspace Manchester" in the UK.

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>Are people in Manchester generally aware of the UK Manchester or is it pretty unknown.

Aware mostly because of "Manchester United F,C," marketing and outerwear.

Hi Manchester, UK. Yes, sometimes there is some confusion. At my work we've received a CV from someone in Manchester, UK not realizing they were applying out of country. I've also done some community work where complaints from Manchester, UK residents were sent to organizations here in the US.

When I'm traveling out of the US and people ask me where I live, I tell them north of Boston. That's usually the nearest location that folks know globally. If I'm somewhere else in the US, I say I'm from New Hampshire, sometimes I have to tell them that's in the northeast of the US bordering Canada.

Manchester is the largest city north of the Boston metro area - that includes the US states of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. So, yes, it's probably the most well-known Manchester - certainly in those 3 states and New England. I'm no sure if it's the most well-known in the US. There's a big music festival in Tennessee called Bonnaroo. That is held in Manchester, Tennessee. That alone might make that Manchester more well-known to other US Manchester's. However, NH has held the first presidential primary in the US for the last 100 years, giving our Manchester quite a bit of limelight every 4 years.

Ah, many similarities beyond the name then. Thanks and will have a look at those two posts you linked.

I reserved a rental car in the UK Manchester when I moved here. They were all out of cars in NH too. I had to get an Uber to take me to my new apartment from the airport, then take an Uber back when a car was ready. I was not happy.

- Manchester England is generally a city people recognize in the States, and I'd say more so in Manchester, NH for sure. While people might not know a lot about Manchester in the UK, I'd say most would know that it was formerly a famous industrial manufacturing capital, and is in the north of England, and is one of the country's largest cities.

- We also use Mancurian.

- While we are obviously named after your city, it was previously called Derryfield. It was changed to Manchester when we became a major textile manufacturer in the 19th century specifically to evoke the industrial success of your Manchester. So we also have a history of being associated with major mill-style manufacturing through at least the first half of the 20th century.

- Americans are often wildly ignorant about their own geography, so some people don't even seem to know New Hampshire is even a State or can't place its location. Most will understand NH is a state though, that it is in New England, North of Mass, and many will recognize Manchester. If nothing else, every 4 years presidential election coverage focuses on NH as the first state to hold its "influential" primary votes for the two major political parties. Manchester being our largest city means most of the that news and campaigns are based out of here. Growing up here I've personally met a many major Presidential candidates and future Presidents as a result.

- Anyone in the New England region will definitely be familiar with Manchester, NH. When telling someone from another part of the country I would always say, "Manchester, NH" it's not specific enough to simply say, "Manchester".

- A few times a year I will get a confusing Google result for Manchester UK before I realize what's happened.

- Manchester is a small city, but the largest North of Boston in New England. Vermont and Maine's largest and most metropolitan cities are much smaller

- New Hampshire is primarily known for its outdoors. Manchester being its most urban location, often gets a lot of shit-talk from "country folk" that seem to have a wild lack of perspective on how safe and and well managed it actually is, at least by comparison to pretty much anywhere else in United States. NH is one of the safest places in America, and usually comes in first or second in terms of most educated, and first or second in terms of least religious.

- While Manchester is more urban than anywhere else in NH, it's not necessarily more metropolitan. It's come a huge way in the last 20 years from what it was in terms of diversity, good restaurants, the arts, etc. However, there are much smaller cities and towns in NH that do a much better job with the arts, local music scenes, independent businesses, and exciting cuisine, stuff for families to do, etc. But again, there's isn't a poverty of that stuff here, and it is always improving here and more rapidly as a number of local colleges have significantly expanded, as well as a booming tech industry bringing in younger professional with expendable income from all over the country. But just pointing out that some our smaller communities have done a better job over the years at fostering these aspects over our largest city.

- With the above mentioned growth, one major issue right now is a serious housing crisis. While this is an issue nationwide, it's especially acute in NH which became a desirable location during the pandemic. Right now in town there is 0.4% vacancy rate for rental properties. It's incredibly hard to find anywhere to live, never mind something affordable if you're renting. For those who would like to buy, many have been similarly priced out. I managed to sneak a great deal on a condo in during the pandemic but am watching a lot of peers, capable adults with good income, struggle with this. Never mind other friends and citizens at large with much lower incomes. Homelessness and what to do with the ever-growing population that isn't housed and their camps is a major issue. Much of that is related to addiction, with now increasing costs of living and scarce housing contributing even further. In the last decade Manchester has been used by more than one new outlet an illustrative example in of communities struggling with opioid addiction.

Sorry end of a slight bummer, but that's a little primer on Manchester, NH based on your questions. :)

Cheers!

Every time I talk to a support rep based in the UK they are super confused for a second

I call us Mancunians but I’m pretty sure I’m the only one.

Thanks! lot of info there. Sounds like it is on a good trajectory with the tech companies choosing a base there.

Yeah, the housing shortage is a downside. There is a similar problem in Manchester UK. It really is hard to get the deposit large enough and qualify for a mortgage to buy somewhere here on an average salary or even above average salary. Then, if you have to rent somewhere you end up paying considerably more in rent than what you would pay on a mortgage which makes it even harder to save for somewhere to buy. Seems unfair since it wasn't so hard for our parents generation where house prices were 3 or 4 times average salary - now it's more like 10 times!

During the pandemic there were many people in London that chose to relocate to manchester as working from home became more widely permitted. Typically, they kept their London salaries though and this inflated the housing market here. Plenty of homelessness here too. A lot, but not all, of that is connected to addiction sadly.

Don't worry about the Geography ignorance. Ashamed to say I didn't really understand that New England was not a state but a collection of states. I had heard of the term New England though, mainly because of the New England Patriots. Reading about it now a little and I see it is heavily linked to the history back to the 16th century. Perhaps some of the other states in NE are more famous than NH over here, Maine (especially the Lobster) and Vermont evoke an autumnal paradise with the oranges/red/yellow maple leaves. Would love to see it myself someday.

Manchester UK is more well known than Manchester, NH, on a global level. In the US, Manchester NH is not well known outside of New England.