Nokia, Finland, population 36,000. Cellphones, tyres, rubber boots, ...

Hallstatt - Austria

The city so beautiful that the Chinese copied it.

For France it's probably Vichy, infamously well known internationally for being the capital of the French pro-Nazi government during the Occupation. Only 25'000 inhabitants.

Chornobyl, Ukraine. "50 thousand people used to live here, now it's a ghost town"

There are many more ghost towns now, due to the war. Adviivka, Bakhmut and many others, some small, some relatively big. Everyone has heard of those small cities.

I guess the one that pretty much everyone knows in Germany is Buxtehude. It is being used as the poster child for a backwards town, far away from cities. Which is funny because neither is it backwards, remote or even very small. With a population of 40k it’s relatively large, compared to many other places in Germany, even just right next to Buxtehude. It is not far from Hamburg and its historic core is worth a visit. I think the name itself is the reason why it is being made fun of so much. Though there are so many other, much quirkier named towns in Germany but it somehow became Buxtehude.

I’m in the US and I can’t say I’d heard of Oregon City before this post…

How about: name a country and name the smallest city you recognize from there. Like New Zealand you could say Rotarua

Unfortunately, I would guess that school shooter locations are probably the most easily recognised in the US. Uvalde has a population of ~15,000, for instance.

Not my location, but Scranton, PA?

Gibraltar has a population of 32,000, which by some definitions is too small to be considered a city.

What do you consider small? A lot of people know Cupertino California because Apple are based there, but it's only got a population of 57k. It's arguably more recognizable than the closest major city (San Jose), which has a population of nearly 1 million.

Paris. It's also a city in Texas.

I think people really overestimate how much everybody knows about the US.

I'd say there's a large population that only know NYC, LA, and Chicago.

Selma

Hell, Michigan

It might not count as a city but Nome Alaska has the Iditarod with only, 3700 people. Or maybe some famous battlefield, Gettysburg has 7100 people. A ski resort like Aspen could count with 7000. We all had to memorize state capitals so maybe somewhere like Montpelier, Vermont has more recognition but has 7800 people.

If you mean people from my country.... All of them.

New Zealand only has like 10 actual cities. It is not some great feat of memory to know them all.

I'm not from there, but who doesn't know the name of Scunthorpe?

Lajitas, Texas, which once elected as their mayor a goat that drank beer, has a population of 75.

Terlingua, Texas, as made famous by Jerry Jeff Walker and home of the Terlingua International Chili Cook-off, has a population of 78.

Luckenbach, Texas, as made famous by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, has a population of 3.

Dildo, Newfoundland.

Not really though.

Off the top of my head I’d say places like Gander, Churchill, Iqaluit - places known maybe for their location as much as their people and unique situations?

Edit: another comment (Aspen) made me want to mention Banff but Alberta isn’t acting Canadian anymore so it no longer counts.