Living in a country with two languages (French and Dutch; German doesn't really count, only making up about 2% of the Belgian population), you obviously encounter different words for nearly everything. But the one area where you could hope to find some commonality might be in place names. I mean, Paris is Paris; London has to be London, right? Wrong.
There are "three degrees of separation" when it comes to place names, French vs. Dutch. The first category is where the names are so nearly identical that you have to wonder why, just this once, the two language groups can't find some common ground and agree on something, anything. "Tell you what, we'll use your spelling for Paris if we can use mine for Brussels. Deal?" No deal. Examples (French, then Dutch): Bruxelles/Brussel; Hal/Halle; Ypres/Iepres; Dixmude/Diksmuide; Ostende/Oostende. Can't we all just get along? Nope.
The second category includes those that are fairly close: Louvain/Leuven; Tongres/Tongeren; Anvers/Antwerpen; Gand/Gent.
Finally, there are the crazy ones that make you ask yourself just who's in charge around here. Examples: Leau/Zoutleeuw; Mons/Bergen; Braine l'Alleud/Eigenbrakel; and, my personal favorite: Montaigu/Scherpenheuvel.
There are actually hundreds of towns with just a single name, either French or Dutch. It must be sad to live there, knowing that your home town is so boring or meaningless that the two groups can't even find it in themselves to argue about its name...
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