Montreal (an island on which is situated the largest city in Quebec, Canada); Montréal (a commune of Ardèche department, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France); Montréal (a commune of Aude department, Occitania, France); Montréal (a commune of Gers department, Occitania, France); Montréal (a commune of Yonne department, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France)
Inherited from Middle French Montreal, from Mont Royal (“Mount Royal”), after the nearby mountain, Mont Royal, named by Jacques Cartier. It is uncertain how Royal became -real. A common explanation is that real is the Middle French form of Royal, but Cartier himself recorded le mont Royal when he named it. It may have perhaps been from the Italian G.B. Rasmusio's 1556 map translating the name to Italian as Monte Real.